life is a garden ➿ and the roots are all touching
school of harmonious living & alignment ☆
scaffolding for a hypothetical school! feel free to borrow references and ideas, just email me to let me know you did :) 
↳ayaka333takao@gmail.com 

references and coursework

required reading: 
    ★ the burnout society, byung chul han 
    ★ on kindness, adam phillips and barbra taylor 
    ★ a general theory of love, fari amini, richard lannon,thomas b. lewis    
    ★ the agony of eros, byung chul han 
    ★ the divided self, r.d. laing 
    ★ the tao of pooh, benjamin hoff
    ★ home is where we start from, d.w. winnicott
    ★ a thousand plateaus, felix guattari and giles deleuze 
    ★ be here now, ram dass 
    ★ tell them i said no, martin herbert 
    ★ daybook, anne truitt 

four divine abodes in mahāyāna buddhism:
    ★ loving kindness
    ★ empathetic joy 
    ★ compassion 
    ★ equanimity 
                 
objectives
  ☆ to deconstruct our “repression sandwich”
    ↳ confront our shortcomings! accept our fears! think of the things we truly like about         ourselves! looking ourselves in the mirror and being honest about whatever the hell is           going on! all while reminding ourselves: you are loved! you are loved! you are loved!     release yourself from judgement!
  ☆ to define love in it’s purest form
    ↳love is a verb that requires intention. love is a constant work in-progress. love is the       acceptance that we may never fully understand the Other and to put faith in them anyway.         what shape does love take for you? 
  ☆ to gain self-awareness and begin self-actualization
  ☆ to cultivate community and define systems of care
    ↳what does truly it mean to have friends? family? a lover? do we a good job of these           things, or are we on auto-pilot?     
  ☆ to walk towards equanimity 
    ↳ “equanimity is a state of mental calmness, composure,and evenness of temper, especially       in a difficult situation. It involves a mindful awareness of one's emotions and reactions,       without being swept away by them.” how could a moment of pause benefit us?
    keyword: stillness  

pillars
  1. purity of intention 😇
  2. holistic creative living ✎
  3. radical self acceptance ☮︎
  4. compassion for fellow man 💛
  5. respect for others (sentient and non-sentient) 💫
  6. above everything, love with your whole heart 💟

exercises: 
close your eyes and imagine you are standing in the middle of a field. what are you thinking about? 

last edited 7/23/25