May Column

Our minds…. The Quiet Power That Shapes Our Lives

There comes a moment in every life when a person is faced with a choice that no one else can make for them.

It is not a choice of circumstance.
It is a choice of response.

My father, Sir Jason Winters, came to that moment when he was told his life was coming to an end. The body had weakened, and the world around him had already begun to accept what was said to be inevitable.

But he did not accept it.

Not because he denied reality—but because he understood something deeper.

He understood that within every human being exists a force that is often overlooked… the power of thought.

In the meaning behind my book “Kotodama,” thought is not empty. Words are not casual. What we hold within ourselves carries vibration, intention, and direction. It shapes the way we move, the way we act, and ultimately, the life we experience.

My father chose not to surrender his thinking to fear.

Instead, he asked a different question: “What can I do?”

And from that question came action.

He began searching, studying, traveling—learning from nature and from ancient traditions that understood something modern life often forgets: that the body, when supported, has an extraordinary ability to restore and defend itself.

In the face of death, he chose creation.

What emerged was not simply a tea—it was an extension of his will to live, a reflection of a man who refused to let the end define him. And in doing so, he did something remarkable: he turned his personal struggle into something that could benefit others.

This is where the deeper lesson lives.

You see, health is not just something that happens to us. It is something we participate in—daily, quietly, consistently.

Through how we think.
Through how we feel.
Through what we put into our bodies.
Through the actions we take… or choose not to take.

A negative mind can weaken even a strong body.
A determined mind can begin to rebuild what seems lost.

This is one of life’s greatest truths…

We see it in people who rise beyond what they were told was possible.

We see it in those who refuse to give up, even when the outcome is uncertain.

And we saw it in my father.

He did not control everything that happened to him.
But he never surrendered control over how he responded.

That is the difference.

May is a season where life begins to show itself again—in growth, in renewal, in possibility. But the same renewal exists within us, if we choose it.

We can choose better thoughts.
We can choose better actions.
We can choose to participate in our own well-being.

Because in the end, the most powerful influence over our lives is not outside of us—it is within us.

And once that is understood… everything begins to change.

Because in the end, the most powerful influence over our lives is not outside of us—it is within us.

And once that is understood… everything begins to change.

In the spirit of my book, my philosophy of Kotodama—

the word becomes the thought,
the thought becomes the path,
and the path becomes life.

心の声が、未来を創る
(Kokoro no koe ga, mirai o tsukuru)
“The voice within the heart creates the future.”