7 Quotes of Ichiro Kishimi That Increase Self-Acceptance and Consciousness
What if the past doesn't exist?
Ichiro Kishimi is a brilliant author who wrote: “The Courage to be Disliked”.
I finished reading that book last week and there are so many amazing takeaways from this book that might increase your self-acceptance and consciousness.
Things that I think we still lack in 2024.
In this article, I’ll put together seven of the best quotes from Ichiro Kishimi to help you achieve exactly that.
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You’ll always be lonely
“There will always be more ‘you and I’, and more ‘everyone’, and larger communities that exist.”
The thing with happiness and loneliness is that you’ll always feel it when you know people around you.
In the book “The Courage to be Disliked” the philosopher explains that we will always desire to meet with people or other living creatures as long as we know that they’re around — even if they’re on the other side of the world or universe.
We want to be part of groups.
Even introverted people need to have a feeling of community (we don’t want to admit it though).
Yes, you’re always right
“If you think you are right, regardless of what other people’s opinions might be, the matter should be closed then and there.”
You’re right.
You’re always right and it doesn’t matter what other people think about this.
To be utterly self-accepting you shouldn’t care about people that don’t agree with you. It’s fine that they exist and they have a different view, but don’t get bothered with it.
Don’t overcomplicate it.
Because if you were to put your energy into a debate that would end up in a fight you’re just wasting your precious time.
Care about yourself.
You decide your life, own it
“Your life is not something that someone gives you, but something you choose yourself, and you are the one who decides how you live.”
Your mother only gave birth to you, your parents nurture you and from the moment you’re able to think you can decide the path of your life.
That’s the whole point.
Own it.
Other people aren’t going to help you and on the other hand, aren’t the ones that are holding you back.
That’s just you.
So the next time you blame other people or things for your failure, hit yourself and get back to work because you’re responsible for your own life.
We’re always lonely, use that space
“Loneliness is having other people and society and community around you, and having a deep sense of being excluded from them.”
This beautiful sentence is getting back to that feeling of loneliness.
We’ve always been like this and will always be like this. Realizing this is a step in the good direction.
What I do when I feel lonely is close my eyes and enter my own world. — meditation helps with this. Creating a universe in your own mind can help you do the things you’d like to do.
Sort things out inside your head and store them in “virtual boxes”.
Once I’m lonely again I can access these boxes and continue building on these projects.
You need resistance and resilience
“Children who have not been taught to confront challenges will try to avoid all challenges.”
Challenges are good for us.
We need to face challenges and resistance once in our life to be able to face life really.
What Kishimi says is that children who have never been taught to face challenges are going to have a lot of trouble in the rest of their adult lives when they will face a lot of resistance.
If you feel like you’re a person that does this, try to face them more. Don’t run away from challenges and fight.
The word you need is “courage”
“We do not lack ability. We just lack courage. It all comes down to courage.”
Courage is what the whole book is about.
What Kishimi is trying to point out here is that it’s all about your personal courage to achieve something. It’s not that you aren’t capable of talking to people when you’re shy or introverted but you just don’t want to make any effort to do it.
That’s what it comes down to.
The courage to change your comfort zone. Your easy life with obvious choices for you is the thing that you’d like to keep as they are.
Because that’s how you feel good. You need to face a challenge by stepping outside that comfort zone.
Break down the world to its most simple core
“The world is simple, and life is too.”
People around me tell me that life is difficult.
I always tell them that it isn’t. Life isn’t difficult, we make it very difficult.
When we break our lives and the world down to its most simple form, it’s very easy actually. What’s difficult about life? Everything we say is difficult was created by ourselves.
Again, step outside that box (discomfort zone).
Final thoughts & takeaways
Having read all these quotes again made me realize how simple life can be if you’d break it down like this.
If you feel like you need to develop self-acceptance, take a look at these quick takeaways:
Don’t overcomplicate life too much; it’s not as difficult as we seem to make it.
You’re the only one who is in control of your life; act like it and don’t blame other people or events for your failure.
The only thing that’s holding you back is your own conformity.
“Simply put, people have various complaints about things, but it’s easier and more secure to be just the way one is.”