what’s so significant about the numbers seven eight?
To explain seven eight I must first begin be telling you about my ‘mascot’—that little orange fella.
That little orange fella is a daruma, a Buddhist doll—the dharma. I am not, myself, a Buddhist, however I grew up seeing this guy in my grandmother’s home. She was of Christian faith but I came to know the symbolic nature of his presence that was deeply rooted in my Japanese culture and specifically the town which my grandma’s family was from. Daruma dolls are a symbol of perseverance and good luck, making them a popular gift of encouragement. When you receive a daruma you are to make a wish or a goal and color in one eye. When you receive your wish or reach your goal, you color in the other eye. Sadly, the daruma that I grew up seeing in my grandma’s house had neither eye colored in.
As a young adult, I had an understanding of the doll’s symbolism and I felt sad that my grandma had neither a wish nor goal to hope for; worse, I felt sad that she had never received the thrill of getting her wish granted or the feeling of success.
Later in life, I was to learn that these dolls are a type of “okiagari” which literally translated means get up and arise. It describes the shape of the daruma doll-like the blow up clown that no matter how hard you hit will bounce back up. My grandmother had made many sacrifices in life so that her family—myself included—could achieve success. Her life was not misspent as originally I had pondered, wondering if she had regrets not making wishes or goals for herself in life. All these years I felt sad that my grandma’s daruma had clear eyes when I took for granted that she was demonstrating by her life’s example the gift of the daruma. She persevered. Her legacy, like that of the daruma, was to give the gift of opportunity—so that her children could wish, dream and achieve success. There is a saying that follows this ideology. Seven times down. Eight times up.
So now you know. Seven Eight Create. Seven times down. Eight times up. No matter what, I don’t ever want to stop creating—create art, create beauty, create opportunity, create change. It is both my mantra and my wish for you—I hope you will make a wish and receive it; set a goal and achieve it.
seven eight defined
To explain seven eight I must first begin be telling you about my ‘mascot’—that little orange fella.
That little orange fella is a daruma, a Buddhist doll—the dharma. I am not, myself, a Buddhist, however I grew up seeing this guy in my grandmother’s home. She was of Christian faith but I came to know the symbolic nature of his presence that was deeply rooted in my Japanese culture and specifically the town which my grandma’s family was from. Daruma dolls are a symbol of perseverance and good luck, making them a popular gift of encouragement. When you receive a daruma you are to make a wish or a goal and color in one eye. When you receive your wish or reach your goal, you color in the other eye. Sadly, the daruma that I grew up seeing in my grandma’s house had neither eye colored in.
As a young adult, I had an understanding of the doll’s symbolism and I felt sad that my grandma had neither a wish nor goal to hope for; worse, I felt sad that she had never received the thrill of getting her wish granted or the feeling of success.
Later in life, I was to learn that these dolls are a type of “okiagari” which literally translated means get up and arise. It describes the shape of the daruma doll-like the blow up clown that no matter how hard you hit will bounce back up. My grandmother had made many sacrifices in life so that her family—myself included—could achieve success. Her life was not misspent as originally I had pondered, wondering if she had regrets not making wishes or goals for herself in life. All these years I felt sad that my grandma’s daruma had clear eyes when I took for granted that she was demonstrating by her life’s example the gift of the daruma. She persevered. Her legacy, like that of the daruma, was to give the gift of opportunity—so that her children could wish, dream and achieve success. There is a saying that follows this ideology. Seven times down. Eight times up.
So now you know. Seven Eight Create. Seven times down. Eight times up. No matter what, I don’t ever want to stop creating—create art, create beauty, create opportunity, create change. It is both my mantra and my wish for you—I hope you will make a wish and receive it; set a goal and achieve it.
Okiagari! Get up and arise!