Omoiyari
JCI Metropol
organised Omoiyari training for the first time in Finland in Helsinki in the
beginning of May. Omoiyari is an official JCI course born in Japan, and which
covers the Japanese concept and philosophy that aims for mutual understanding
through examining others perspectives.
Omoiyari (おもいやり)
is a combination
of two Japanese
language verbs: omou (omoi) "think, take into consideration" and yaru (yari) "do an action, act (on something)". Omoiyari
is not only about thinking, it is the way of acting. Any kind act done with
conscious forethought is omoiyari. Sure you have had someone opening a door for
you or picking up a thing that you dropped. These little things are also
omoiyari. When was the last time you did
something for other person without anticipating anything in return?
Having got to
know a few Asian countries and especially Japan, it may be true that having
more omoiyari towards others is expected and imbedded in people there. In Japan people have been living in a rather tightly knit unit of
society for several centuries in the rather resource-scarce land. This has led them to learn consideration for others and
mutual understanding. You can see this in little things such as in pouring
drinks for others. A Japanese person will never, when in a group, pour a drink
to themselves. The person next to one has failed to consider the other, if
someone needs to pour their own drink.
However,
omoiyari is present everywhere in the world, and everyone needs some of the
qualities such as consideration, compassion and empathy for a society to be
sustainable. As Dalai Lama has once said: “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion
and if you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
I encourage everyone of you to
consider your own actions: have you been considerate to your friends, spouse
and co-workers? Of course it doesn’t mean that you’ll have to consider all the
other people before you but to be considerate to your inner circle, as good
manners are a separate thing.
Text: Noora Rissanen JCI Helsinki
Images: Pia Pilli
Text: Noora Rissanen JCI Helsinki
Images: Pia Pilli