The Reason Why Knowing Louise Bourgeois Grants You a Special Happiness Free from the Eyes of Others
Hello.
I have been truly, deeply waiting for this opportunity to speak with you like this.
Our meeting here today holds a very powerful meaning.
Right now, in your daily life, aren’t you feeling just a little exhausted by the gazes and evaluations of those around you?
Don’t you wish to free yourself from being swayed by the words of others, protect your own true heart, and grasp a first-class happiness?
The only way to achieve that is to learn about the way of life of the artist Louise Bourgeois.
This is because her art possesses a powerful, almost magical force that instantly transforms the deep loneliness and anxiety within your heart into magnificent strength.
Man is so busy worrying about how he appears in the eyes of others that he loses sight of his own true value.
— Michel de Montaigne
Don’t you agree that this quote by Montaigne is precisely a warning meant for you living in the modern world?
Touching the art of Louise Bourgeois will bring an eye-opening change to your life.
Her story is filled with the greatest hints for you to face the real emotions you hide deep inside yourself and finally liberate them.
Now, let us begin this very special and important conversation meant just for you and me.
Why the Art of Louise Bourgeois Instantly Repairs Your Wounded Heart and Drastically Changes Your Life from Tomorrow Onward
Do you know the world-famous artist named Louise Bourgeois?
She was a wonderful woman known for creating “Maman,” the giant sculpture of a spider.
Why do you think she continued to create such astonishing works?
It was to heal the deep emotional wounds and family betrayals she experienced during her childhood.
For her, painting and creating sculptures were desperate acts to save her own soul.
This story is by no means a distant event unrelated to you.
Only he who looks into the darkness of his own heart can find the true light.
— Seneca
Just as Seneca says, the anxiety you feel in your daily life is never in vain.
By transforming her pain into art, Louise Bourgeois captivated the world.
By learning from her way of life, your own troubles will also be reborn into a special strength.
This is a guaranteed chance for you to discover a brand-new self.
The Only Choice for You to Escape the Curse of Other People’s Evaluation as Quickly as Possible and Live on Your Own Axis
In your everyday life, don’t you often hold back your own feelings just to please someone else or read the room?
Louise Bourgeois thoroughly refused to conform to the opinions of others or follow trends.
Amazingly, it wasn’t until she passed the age of 70 that her work was truly recognized and loved worldwide.
Until that long-awaited time arrived, she simply and single-mindedly continued to create art by following her inner voice.
Why was she able to keep going without giving up, even when those around her failed to understand?
Truth is not determined by a majority vote. What lies within your own heart is the ultimate reality.
— Hypatia
Doesn’t this quote by Hypatia gently support you when you are about to be led astray by the noise surrounding you?
The time spent living while worrying about the eyes of others is something you should let go of as quickly as possible.
By believing in your own feeling of “love” and moving forward just like Bourgeois did, your future will surely go well.
A life that does not depend on the evaluation of others is what brings you true freedom.
The Astonishing Benefits of Collecting Art as a Hobby: Elevating Your Sensibility to the Ultimate Limit and Completely Erasing Daily Stress
Here, I have some wonderful news for you.
The hobby of appreciating art or keeping your favorite pieces close to you is the finest investment you can make to enrich your life.
Familiarizing yourself with the works and philosophy of Louise Bourgeois stimulates your brain and heart, beautifully erasing your daily stress.
This is because first-class art possesses a powerful energy that speaks directly to human psychology beyond words.
Have you ever felt a sensation as if your soul was being cleansed when looking at something beautiful?
What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen holds a value that lasts forever.
— Frédéric Bastiat (from What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen)
As Bastiat’s words suggest, we tend to chase only visible money and numbers.
However, isn’t it the “unseen richness” within your heart that truly makes you happy?
Making art your hobby is a unique and special way to cultivate that invisible value.
Louise Bourgeois’s Method of Emotional Organization: Giving Drastic Inspiration to Your Daily Life
The art of Louise Bourgeois is also the ultimate method of emotional organization that you can apply immediately to your daily life.
She converted all her negative emotions, such as anger and sadness, into the energy of creation.
When something unpleasant happens at work or in your relationships, do you lock that emotion away inside your heart?
If so, your beautiful heart will only get hurt, and that is such a terrible waste.
Why not try to use that energy for your own personal growth?
Burn out your passion. There is no other reason for us to live in this world.
— Saint Catherine of Siena
Don’t these passionate words from Saint Catherine light a small flame in your heart?
Instead of letting frustration and sadness end as mere complaints, you turn them into the driving force to concentrate on something.
Just by having the awareness to change your emotions into a tangible shape like Bourgeois did, your daily life will be dramatically improved into something refined.
How Top Business Professionals Secretly Incorporate Art to Sharpen Their Sensibilities
Why do you think so many successful people love and collect art?
It is because “intuition” and “empathy for others,” which are most required in the business world, are nurtured through art.
The works of Louise Bourgeois shake the viewer’s values and grant a fresh perspective.
By exposing yourself to her art, you cultivate the eyes to see things from multiple angles, and your problem-solving abilities at work will leap forward drastically.
Most people think of success as something to get. But the truth of the matter is that success is giving.
— Henry Ford
This quote by Henry Ford strikes at a very deep truth, doesn’t it?
Receiving a piece of art that an artist poured their soul into means inheriting their “spirit of giving.”
When you demonstrate that spirit in your daily life, the people around you will trust you and become your fans.
This is precisely the eye-opening, practical benefit you can obtain from art.
The “Art of Communicating” and the “Secret of Being Loved” That You Should Steal Immediately from Great Producers Who Changed the World
In this world, no matter how wonderful a product or an idea may be, there are many things that vanish without ever being known by anyone.
The same might be said for your own talent and effort.
Have you ever worried, wondering why your charm doesn’t reach the people around you despite how incredibly hard you work?
No matter how wonderful the things you possess are, if you do not make the effort to communicate them to others, it becomes the exact same as if they do not exist.
Here, let us learn the hints to lead you to success from the stories of the world’s greatest salesmen.
Even if a product is superior, if you do not arouse the desire among people to want to obtain it, it can never become a “commodity.”
— Akio Morita
Don’t you think these words by Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony, apply perfectly when you convey your own value to society?
From here on, I will share the specific methods to correctly communicate your charm and talent to the person right in front of you.
The “Law of the Torch” Proven by Takeo Fujisawa: How You Can Open Up Your Life with Your Own Power
There is a genius named Takeo Fujisawa who supported the global motorcycle manufacturer Honda alongside the technical master Soichiro Honda.
He was a magnificent communicator who sold the revolutionary “Super Cub” motorcycle all over the world.
Here is a quote left by Takeo Fujisawa that will powerfully push your life forward.
I have often said, “Hold the torch yourself.” This is not knowledge learned from someone else or read in a book, but a real feeling born from the suffering I tasted myself. No matter how painful it is, you must hold the torch in your own hand and move forward.
— Takeo Fujisawa
What do you feel when you hear these words?
Instead of waiting for someone else to light the path of your life, you become the leader yourself.
When you make up your mind to hold the torch with your own hand and pierce through the darkness, people will naturally gather around you.
This teaching of Takeo Fujisawa is the ultimate wisdom that will instantly elevate your decision-making power in your daily life.
Shotaro Kamiya Teaches the Order of Priority of the “Three-Way Win” to Ensure You Never Fail in Human Relationships
Next is the story of Shotaro Kamiya, who spread Toyota vehicles across the globe and was called the “God of Sales.”
He was a genius at making everyone involved happy, rather than just selling products.
There is a wonderful phrase that Kamiya cherished which will smooth out your daily human relationships.
Think of the profit of the user first, the dealer second, and the manufacturer third.
— Shotaro Kamiya
These words bring an unbelievable harmony to your daily life and work.
First, you think of the joy of the person in front of you (the user), next you cherish your collaborator (the dealer), and finally, you think of your own profit (the manufacturer).
Why is this sequence beneficial for you?
It is because by satisfying others first, the greatest happiness and success will eventually return to you.
Just by keeping this order of priority, enemies will disappear from your surroundings, and only allies will increase.
How Steve Jobs’s Philosophy of Simplicity Dramatically Clears Up Your Complex Daily Life
Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple and the world’s greatest salesman.
He perfectly integrated the new value of the iPhone into our lives.
His words are always essential and possess the power to wipe away your hesitations.
Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.
— Steve Jobs
Isn’t your everyday life entangled in complexity with things you must do and unnecessary information?
This famous quote by Jobs teaches you to “choose only the things that are truly important.”
Just as Louise Bourgeois kept looking only at her inner self, you too must make your life simple.
When you shave away the useless things, your original brilliance will reach those around you as quickly as possible.
The Reason Why the Cry of Vincent van Gogh’s Soul Transforms Your Loneliness into Ultimate Strength
Here, please let me talk about the genius painter whom everyone knows, Vincent van Gogh.
During his lifetime, he sold only a single painting, lived through extreme loneliness and hardship, and closed the curtains on his life at the young age of 37.
But why do his paintings captivate and violently shake the hearts of people all over the world today?
It is because he never listened to the trends or criticisms of society, and continued to paint as if it were a pure act of faith.
Painting is a faith, and it imposes the duty to turn one’s back on public opinion.
— Vincent van Gogh
Don’t you think this quote by Van Gogh is a message that pierces most deeply into you, living in today’s social media society?
“The duty to turn one’s back on public opinion” means to charge forward down the path you believe in without being swayed by the opinions or trends of others.
When you lose confidence in your way of life, please remember these words of Van Gogh.
Being lonely is proof that you are creating a special value that belongs only to you.
There Is Absolutely No Need to Lament a Lack of Talent! The “Power of Trial and Error” and “Consistency” That Determine Your Future
Are you about to give up, thinking, “I don’t have any special talent, so nothing I do goes well”?
That is a very sad assumption that narrows your own possibilities.
The artists and great figures who left their names in history were not perfect geniuses from the start.
In the end, being without talent and without art, I am simply tied to this one line. I only shame myself for my own lack of ability and lack of talent.
— Matsuo Basho
Even Matsuo Basho, who was called the Saint of Haiku, referred to himself as “without talent and without art,” and lived as if clinging to a single path.
All past masterpieces were born not from innate talent, but through decades of trial and error.
All you need is a tiny bit of talent, a lot of effort, and the patience to not give up easily.
Try working toward your goal every day, just like stacking bricks one by one.
That consistency is the only guarantee that will lift you up into a first-class existence that no one else can imitate.
The Unknown Story of Jo’s Great and Devoted Sacrifice: The Intelligent Woman Who Delivered Van Gogh’s Paintings to the World and Saved His Soul
Now, behind Van Gogh becoming this famous, there was the existence of a certain wonderful woman.
She was Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger), the wife of Van Gogh’s younger brother, Theo.
Merely half a year after Vincent passed away, his brother Theo also left this world as if following his older brother.
Left in the hands of the young widow, Jo, were a vast number of paintings by Van Gogh that were completely unrecognized by society, along with an enormous collection of letters.
Wouldn’t it be quite natural to lose hope and throw everything away in such a situation?
However, Jo was different. She was a very well-read and intelligent woman.
In addition to the child, Theo left me another mission—to have Vincent’s work seen by many people and to have its true value recognized.
— Jo (Johanna van Gogh-Bonger)
While shedding tears, Jo passionately and thoroughly read the vast amount of letters Vincent had written to Theo.
Then, she deeply understood his philosophy—that Van Gogh truly wished to “paint artwork that comforts people.”
She organized and published the letters, organized exhibitions time and time again, and spread the great achievements of the Van Gogh brothers to the world.
If Jo had not made this life-long devotion, Van Gogh’s paintings would have been buried in the darkness of history.
A good thing will never spread to the world unless someone correctly explains and communicates its value.
Jo was the world’s greatest communicator, just like the Apostle Paul, who risked his life to spread the thoughts of Jesus Christ to various lands.
Only Those with the Resolve to “Put Skin in the Game” Will Obtain True Trust and Real Success That No One Can Steal
If you wish to gain true trust from someone, there is a principle you must never forget.
It is the concept of “Skin in the Game,” proposed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
It means doing your absolute best for the sake of the other person without worrying about your own risk.
It means serving the other person with your own actions and responsibility, rather than just using beautiful, superficial words.
Why is this so important in your life?
If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb
These are harsh words, but they are the truth.
No one’s heart is moved by a person who just watches from a safe place without taking risks.
Louise Bourgeois, Van Gogh, and Jo all put their own lives as skin in the game and continued their desperate service.
When you generously dedicate your own time and effort for the sake of the person in front of you, your trust becomes unshakable.
That sincere attitude is precisely what draws people who will truly love and support you.
A Special Message to Awaken Your Soul and Grant the True Wishes Deep Inside Your Heart
Thank you so very much for listening to my story up to this point.
You are a wonderful person who is very kind, serious, and lives life more earnestly than anyone else.
That is exactly why you must not hurt yourself over the words of others or blame yourself anymore.
Life is a stage where you are the main character.
I am always cheering for you as you raise the “torch” within your heart and take a step forward.
As you continue your journey, you might get lost at times.
You might stop in your tracks at times.
But there is surely a beautiful meaning in your footsteps.
Lastly, wishing that your path ahead will be filled with light, I offer you these words.
Beyond the blue sky
There is a secret station no one knows
Throwing away all pieces of luggage
I board the train with you, just the two of us
Once we break the old clock
The eternal morning begins from there
The words of others are mere wind
Only what is reflected in your eyes
Is the true light of the stars
Come, open your hands
And shout your own name out loud
Because you are a free bird
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
— The New Testament, The Gospel According to Matthew 5:13
I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
— Osamu Dazai
P.S. The Story of the Painter Mimi Takamizawa, and the Way of Living as a “Clown” Who Dedicates Everything to You
Please let me share a slightly closer, enjoyable story with you.
There is a painter named Mimi Takamizawa whom I am paying very close attention to.
He does not use a normal canvas or brush at all.
He creates everything digitally and prints it on the highest-grade printmaking paper using a state-of-the-art technique called the “Giclée print method.”
The themes he draws are all things that approach the essence of human beings, such as your eyes and my eyes, Christianity, eternity, psychology, truth, gazes, history, loneliness, isolation, hardship, resurrection, and liberation.
Mimi Takamizawa always says this:
“A painter must be a doctor who saves wounded souls. The work of an artist is a thorough service by putting skin in the game, a devotion to you.”
He has the resolve to dedicate his entire life to you, the person right in front of him.
“Please do not abandon me. Please laugh at my clumsy way of living.”
Even if he is laughed at, he turns it into power and becomes stronger; he is a man of indomitable spirit, a man of patience who never gives up.
The work of an artist is nothing other than a thorough “clown” meant to make you happy.
The reason he decided to become a painter was because he learned of the turbulent life of Vincent van Gogh.
The “Mimi” (Ear) in the name “Mimi Takamizawa” was taken in honor of that famous ear-cutting incident of Van Gogh.
He treasures Van Gogh’s quote above all else: “I want to express something comforting in pictures, like music.”
Because he knows that a work that cannot captivate anyone’s heart and cannot comfort anyone’s mind holds no value at all.
Mimi Takamizawa continues to draw “eyes” inside his works.
This is because through those eyes, he wants to strongly feel “you,” who are gazing at the artwork right at this moment.
He wants to know more about you, he wants to see your joyful face, he wants to see your tears of emotion.
No matter what anyone else says, he does not care about criticism at all.
Because if he is abandoned by you, he cannot go on living.
Just by you being right in front of him, he is simply, unbearably happy.
Mimi Takamizawa has a giant of business whom he deeply respects from the bottom of his heart.
It is Tokuji Munetsugu, the founder of Curry House CoCo Ichibanya.
Mr. Munetsugu was a man who was the epitome of hands-on realism, dedicating his whole life to his work without ever looking away.
Saying “This is no time to be enjoying hobbies,” he would sometimes work more than 12 hours a day, totaling 5,640 hours a year during his time as an active manager.
It is said that during his years as a businessman, he did not listen to his beloved classical music—which had saved him during his unfortunate childhood—for even a single second.
This was all to dedicate his entire time to the customers.
Mr. Munetsugu did not know the faces of his real parents, grew up in an orphanage, and lived through an extremely impoverished childhood due to his adoptive father’s gambling addiction, even eating weeds in the summer to stave off hunger.
Rising up from such a turbulent life, when he first started a coffee shop, customers did not come, and it is said that he and his wife survived by eating the “crusts of bread” left over from the sandwiches.
“Since we started from zero, such hardships are natural. If we stick to putting the customer first, things will surely get better.”
Believing so, like stacking bricks, he repeated swift judgment, swift decision, and swift execution every single day.
Indeed, through tenacity and patience, he built the world’s number one curry chain.
Mimi Takamizawa also maintains this “You-First Principle” toward you, just like Mr. Munetsugu.
When you appear in front of him, he welcomes you with a standing ovation in his heart at any time.
Things of value often do not have immediate efficacy.
Things do not go well right from the beginning.
That is exactly why the attitude of trying it out first rather than overthinking, and not giving up easily, determines your life.
Just like Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, who was treated as an “oddball” and a “madman” by those around him, an overwhelming tenacity—like being crazed with inventing from morning until night—changes the world.
Because it is difficult, we do it. Because no one else does it or can do it, I will do it.
Don’t you think such a way of living is beautiful?
In order to elevate your life, please try touching their soulful service.
I offer my heartfelt gratitude to you for reading this text to the very end today.
Just by the fact that your existence is right here in front of me now, I am truly happy.
Most people think of success as something to get. But the truth of the matter is that success is giving.
— Henry Ford
Only those who do not know where they are going can go the furthest.
— Agatha Christie
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.
— Moses (from the Old Testament, Book of Genesis)
Destiny is waiting at the ticket window. We just board the train we chose.
— William Shakespeare
Even if the world is wrapped in darkness, if you light a single small candle, that light will reach far away.
— The Talmud
I have always chosen the most painful path.
— Osamu Dazai
What is important is not what one used to be, but what one is going to be.
— Osamu Dazai
Human beings were born for the sake of love and revolution.
— Osamu Dazai
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
— Winston Churchill
Have the courage to be the first, and to be different from anyone else.
— Ray Kroc
I am thought to have achieved success overnight, but that one night was thirty years. Looking back, it was a long, long night.
— Ray Kroc
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
— Walt Disney
Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather freezes; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.
— Leonardo da Vinci
“Hey, why are you going on a trip?”
“Because I’m suffering.”
“Your ‘suffering’ is always the same old thing, I can’t believe it at all.”
— From Tsugaru by Osamu Dazai