Creative Meditator:

It is believed an average person can have up to 60,000 thoughts a day, most of which are repetitive and wearisome. Thinking can be impulsive and often just “happens” to us regardless of whether we want it to. From the best of us to the rest of us, we all share the same fate of being dragged along by our thoughts, helplessly and endlessly. This is why I do meditation. It is not just that I seek personal salvation or peace for the mind and rest for the body, I equally do it to think better.

Learning to clear our mind, I believe, is learning how to wield its power. For it is only when the mind is still and clear that profound insights from the depth of the unconscious can rise to spark a truly creative idea on the surface of our awareness. I believe that the mind can be mastered not only by practicing thinking actively but also through practicing not thinking unnecessarily so that it can perform to its potential when necessary.

As a Creative Director at Spa-Hakuhodo, my job is to empower our team to create while staying true to what creativity means. I believe creativity should be constructive, can be disruptive but should never be destructive. Hakuhodo’s Sei-katsu-sha* Insight philosophy encourages us to see people not merely as consumers, but as individuals with hopes and dreams. We therefore strive to embrace the diversity of humanity so we can really create with empathy in its truest sense.

* “Sei-katsu-sha” is a term we use to describe people not simply as consumers, but as fully rounded individuals with their own lifestyles, aspirations and dreams.

Roles and titles current when this article was published in June 2024.