What A Japanese Anime Can Teach You Faith And Being Fit?
Lessons about faith and how to achieve the body shape you desire
A few days ago, I watched a Japanese anime called “Weathering with you”. It tells the story of the “sunshine” girl, Amano Hina, who can manipulate the weather. When Tokyo is deep in rain, she can go to the rooftop and pray; within seconds, the sky will be clear again.
Of course, the movie is fantastical. No one in real life has the power to stop the rain. Yet, it’s a perfect demonstration of a wonderful secret of life:
“Ask and it shall be given to you” ~ Bible.
If you really want something, ask and you shall have it. If you want health, you will have health. If you want to be in perfect shape, you will be in perfect shape. Whatever you wish, if it’s sincere and reasonable, God is happy to supply.
Now you may wonder if it’s true, why are you still out of shape? You’ve been wanting to be in the perfect shape for years, but why does nothing happen? Not a slightest change. You remain fat and chubby.
The thing is wanting, wishing or even praying isn’t enough. Mere prayers are only words. They have no real power to transform your life.
What you’re missing is steady faith for the things you wish for.
What is faith?
Faith is your desire propelled with a strong purpose to realize it (paraphrased) ~ Wallace D. Wattle in “The Science of Being Well”.
Faith isn’t just wanting to be fit, but also why you want to be fit for.
It’s hard to have faith because reality often contradicts with what you want to be.
For example, you may want to believe you are in perfect shape. But everytime you look into the mirror, the imperfect body shines back onto you.
Or when you watch TV, the images of skinny models make you bleed inside. You start to think negatively, and stop believing altogether.
That said, you can learn to keep your faith to achieve what you want. Despite your appearances , despite what people tell you, despite what the media pumps into your head.
You just have to do things the way the “sunshine” girl did. And here’s what she did to make the sky clear again:
- Believe
- Have a purpose
- Be grateful
Your desire is accompanied by these, you can accomplish anything. Let me dig futher:
1. Believe
Hina, a.k.a. the “sunshine girl” in “Weathering with you”, isn’t being wishy washy. She believes in what she wants. She believes that the sun will rise again. Despite how pessimistic people seem to be, she believes. That’s why her prayers are returned.
Many of us want to get into good shape, but we don’t believe it at all. We keep calling ourselves fat, ugly, something to be “fixed”. So, we remain who we are.
If you want to be in great shape, you’ve got to believe you are fit already. Nothing’s wrong with you. You’re getting into your perfect shape.
Then it should be remembered that the perfect shape won’t happen overnight because you don’t have the ability to call out the sun immediately.
This is for your own good too. Because if all of your wish are granted at once, you might be in trouble. Say you wouldn’t want an elephant in the room in your room the moment you think of it, right?
So after you make a wish, God let you sleep on it for a while, lest you change your mind. If you still want it no matter what and keep thinking about it everyday, you will have it. When you have it, you will be content. God just wants to make sure you’ll be happy when you get what you want.
Here’s another way to think about it:
The moment you think about what you want, you’ve sown a seed. If you water the seed every day with a belief of a handsome tree it will become, the seed will grow into a tree.
The same goes for your desire to achieve a perfect body shape. You may not see it, but changes already take place. With every positive thought, you quicken the change. And if you hold strong enough beliefs, you will soon get into the shape of your dream.
Yet, you can’t rush the process, just like the tree which takes time to grow.
While holding your beliefs, there are moments when you are fooled by the appearances. For instance, you look into the mirror and see the “untrue” image of yourself reflecting back. In those times, it’s important to remind yourself that:
Appearances aren’t the truth, the truth is what you believe.
Instead of judging, blaming, shaking your heads in shame, you can say compassionate words to yourself. This post on Thrive Global includes many positive affirmations about health and fitness. Here’s a couple:
- “I am healthy, happy and radiant”
- “I appreciate and love my body”
- “I love feeling fit and strong. It is easy for me to eat well and exercise regularly”
Our mind has a soft spot for repetition. If you say something over and over again, your mind will take it as true and your body will take shape of it.
A bonus tip: Smile at your reflections in the mirror. Be gentle and kind to yourself. The person standing before you is not your enemy. You can’t make her better by being mean or heartless. Love her unconditionally, and you can act for her interest. Then she will obey you, and you both can get better.
2. Have a purpose
The “sunshine” girl has real purposes. She doesn’t want it sunny again to be ignorant about it. She wants the sun come out so that people can get the most out of their special moments. She wants Hodaka to see Tokyo in beautiful sunlight. She clears the sky for Hodaka to admire Tokyo’s beauty, for people to celebrate weddings and parties, and see the shooting stars, etc.
So it’s not enough to say I want to be healthy. But what for? Maybe you want to be healthy so that you can carry out daily tasks with ease. Maybe you want to never feel tired and work more productively. Maybe you want to be energetic all the time to get the most out of life, to travel, cycle, meet people, read, see nature, and create your art.
Remember:
Purpose is the backbone of faith. You can’t have faith unless you have a strong enough purpose.
So, take time to contemplate on your purposes. Set it to your mind. You’ll find it easier to believe and doubts will lessen.
A bonus tip: Lie down and start to think. Keep asking why until you find a strong enough reason for what you want. Then you may want to write it down. If you’re lazy to write, just ponder your purposes a little more to fix them in your mind. Every time doubts show up, picture what you want and think about your purposes.
3. Be grateful
When the sun comes, Hina throws herself into its embrace. She enjoys the moment. That’s how she says thankful to God. Because she says thanks continuously, God gives her more of what she needs. The weather girl never fails to call out the sun, even in the stormiest sky.
Are you thankful for the health you’re given?
We’re too good at blaming our body, at how we look, at the blemishes, or defects at birth. We forget he wonderful gifts we have been given — like this body, this moment to live, and the abundant air to breathe.
But know this:
God never gives again to those who are ungrateful.
He has his reasons for handing you what you want. He gives you health so that you can function properly. But if you’re not thankful for what you have, if you don’t say thanks continuously, God will cease giving you.
Those who want to be thin, but malnourished their body instead of being grateful for the body they’re given, will remain forever discontent. No matter how thin they get, they’ll never be thin enough, they’ll never get into the right body shape they desire.
So be grateful for your current health and body
A bonus tip: It might help to cultivate gratitude in every aspect of your life. Say thanks to every good in your life. If you’re able to read this far, I bet you have a whole lot to be thankful for. The laptop or phone you read on. Your eyes. Your brilliant mind that keeps you alert and not drool off at my boring lines.
Wrapping This Up
Many times you wish for something, you don’t have it. It’s not because you haven’t asked for it enough. It’s because you don’t believe in what you want.
Be like Hina in “Weathering with you”, have faith in what you ask for. In other words, believe, have a purpose and be grateful. Whatever you ask you can have it.
Here’s my challenge for you today: (Do at least one of these)
- Spend 5 minutes visualize being in full health. For example, in your mind, you see yourself striding confidently on the street, working with great vigor or feeling energetic all the time.
- Find one affirmation about health and self-love. As you go through the day, recite it to yourself.
- Give yourself a big fat smile every time you stand before a mirror.
Or if you do anything today to cultivate body love and strengthen your faith for health, let me know in the comment.
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