Kaizen

Kaizen… continuous improvement.

For as long as I can remember, I've been using the concept of kaizen to mentor, teach, coach, facilitate, and learn. Kaizen can be roughly translated from Japanese to mean "good change" - and such a good change we have made.

After almost two years in Stockholm, David and I found our most important values were being challenged: connection with friends, family, music, culture, and an anchoring sense of home.

Admittedly, our Stockholm apartment was absolutely stunning, and traveling around the world was not too shabby either. My historically nomadic lifestyle began to take its toll though. With age it dawned and our overwhelming sense of roots had already grown too deep in NYC. We realized were unwilling to sacrifice the relationships we had made back home to ground new ones in Sweden. We really learned that New York City is our city, and it’s simply irreplaceable.

We found a large, cozy 1 bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn thanks to the help of our wonderful and generous friends that we’re so grateful to have in our lives. After putting in some elbow grease, paint, hard work, and a lot of love, our apartment has a warm and welcoming Italian-Filipino vibe that accurately reflects our tastes and backgrounds.

To celebrate, we recently threw a little shindig, sitting around our dining table with loved ones sharing our favorite international foods. Salty, sour, savory, sweet - we enjoyed delicious drinks, dishes, and rolling laughter. More importantly, we were together.

We’ve met a new friend and talented musician in our neighborhood and almost immediately started exchanging and collaborating on new music.

My biggest kaizen takeaway: I don’t have to move across the world to be closer to my passions and the people I love. Sometimes the distance certainly helps you see what you may or may not have taken for granted.