Members' Practices

My company is a long established store that has been operating for eight generations in Kyoto. It had implemented a loyalty-based management style. However, after the economic bubble burst, the sales started to decline and it went downhill from there. Nothing we did seemed to work. Our clients in the forest industry went into a slump and its wholesale operations, which had been stable until then, had gone into structural recession.

Just when I thought everything was all over, I had a chance to meet Takahashi Sensei. Sensei told me “People only see what they want to see. There still must be other ideas. The limit of our imagination becomes the limit of our creativity.” With those words, she guided me so that my understanding of the Study of the Soul was not limited to knowledge but led me to truly live it. It was as if a wind had blown through my mind that was swollen up and caught up by the feeling that our business was at an end.

I had been impeded by preconceptions about business policies and products which had been passed down through many generations. I deeply regretted blaming others than myself for the cause of the management problem and not looking into my mind-heart, which was the closest to me. It made me want to free my mind that was bound by old values, to see reality in a new perspective, and to fight and take on the challenge head on. I promised myself to relive and to realize my wish, and worked on Wisdom sheets every day.

First, I decided to take on the pain of an experienced employee who felt his limitations in handling business. I opened up my heart and interacted with him with the feeling of “let's take off our old jackets and challenge the new field.” That led to the development of a new product. It was a protective net that prevented damage caused by wild animals in agricultural areas and was far from being a cutting-edge industry.

By four years later, the new project had developed smoothly and we obtained a patent for the product, with increase in sales occurring. Surprisingly, the project for prevention of damage by animals as an environmental issue was valued highly by those in the field of agriculture and a path toward social contribution opened up. Exhaustion and dissatisfaction that was in the air at work also changed and vitality was restored. Indeed, by breaking through the limitation of my imagination, a new creation was born which led to overcoming the company’s crisis.