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Home JJ Sage Sodatsu Pillars Evolution Stages Projects
FIELD STUDY / INDEX How this journal grows →
FIELD 01
Sodatsu / the root idea This chapter asks what growth means before the journal starts measuring it.
I'm J Sage
I GROW AS
NerdGeek, GamerCoderMusician Artist Spiritualist PhilosopherNaturalist Outdoor Wanderer
click a word many ways of growing

Each one opens a different part of me.

SODATSU / 育つ
To grow. To develop. To become.
育つ / KEEP GROWING one page, one practice, one small change at a time.

a small thing takes root growth becomes a way of seeing
specimen 01 / beginningMost growth is unimpressive when it first appears.
01 / Embrace Growth

Sodatsu

a site of becoming

育つ そだつ — means “to grow”
🌱
growth in motion

Development is a continuous journey. It isn't only about reaching a destination, but about embracing the process of change and evolution. Each step brings new experiences, lessons, and opportunities to grow, adapt, and become.

A tree grows from a single seed. Keep growing.


notice what changed growth becomes a system
below the surfacePractice first looks like roots: invisible, repetitive, necessary.
02 / The Growth System

This site is my record of becoming.

Sodatsu isn't a destination I'm trying to reach. It's how I'm approaching the things I'm curious about.

I explore. I learn. I make things. I fail at things. I change direction. I return to old interests with new eyes. Some interests become projects. Some become skills. Some simply lead me somewhere I didn't expect.

This site is where I document that process.

WHERE I GROW The Four Pillars Exploration · Creativity · Innovation · Connection
HOW I GROW The Evolution Cycle Foundation · Adaptability · Persistence · Flourishing · Evolution ↺
WHO I'M BECOMING The Growth Stages From Root to Sanctuary

There is no final stage. Evolution creates another beginning.

carry this forward the system finds direction
branch studyOne thing learned tends to touch another.
03 / Four Pillars of Passion

The things that keep the tree growing.

The Four Pillars guide my evolution, revealing a path toward growth. They aren't destinations; they're directions I keep returning to.
🌳
探求Exploration / Tankyū
創造Creativity / Sōzō
革新Innovation / Kakushin
繋がりConnection / Tsunagari

another branch appears direction becomes a rhythm
growth ringsThe older layers do not disappear. They become part of the structure.
04 / Path to Evolution

Growth has a rhythm.

Not a rigid ladder, but a cycle I move through again and again. Every new skill, project, interest or challenge can begin with a foundation and end by creating the conditions for another beginning.

This is how I grow through the things I do.

Learning an instrument. Building something with code. Trying a new outdoor skill. Making art. Getting better at a game. Following a new obsession. Starting a project I don't entirely know how to make yet.

Each one has its own cycle. I begin somewhere. I learn what works. I adapt. I hit friction. I keep going. Eventually something begins to click, take shape, or become visible. And what I learn changes how I approach the next thing.

01Foundation

Kiso — establish the base.

02Adaptability

Tekio — change with what you learn.

03Persistence

Nintai — keep moving through friction.

04Flourishing

Kaika — let the work become visible.

05Evolution

Shinka — continue becoming.

SEE THE CYCLE IN SOMETHING I DO
MUSIC Learning an instrument
基礎適応忍耐開花進化 Evolution doesn't close the path — it changes the foundation for what comes next.

keep what matters 🌿 the rhythm becomes a life
05 / Growth Stages

From root to sanctuary.

WHO I'M BECOMING

These stages aren't levels to beat or a label for where I am right now. They're lenses for looking at my larger growth story.

As this site grows, each stage will collect real moments — experiences, projects, photographs, journal fragments, milestones and lessons — that reflect that kind of growth.

One experience can live across the whole system: Learning an instrument 創造 Creativity · 忍耐 Persistence · 🌸 Budding

Click a stage to open it. This keeps your original seed-to-tree philosophy, but turns it into something that belongs visually to the new site.

Growth begins with a strong foundation, rooted in purpose.

~~~~~~~~ |      | |      | /      \\\ ~~~~~~~~

From a seed, everything starts to take shape and begin.

   @   / \\\  /   \\\ ~~~~~~~~

The first visible proof that something is taking hold.

  \\\  /   -  -  / || \\\    ||

We begin to stretch toward the light, gaining structure and momentum.

 &&& &&&&&  |||  |||  |||

Ideas take shape before they are fully visible to the world.

 .-. (   )  ( )   |

Exploration branches outward. More possibilities become available.

 \\\ | / --\\|/--    |    |

Effort becomes visible. What was internal starts to bloom outward.

  .-.  (   ) (     )  '-.-'   | |

Deep roots make it possible to bend without losing the core.

\\\\\\\ || //  \\\ || /    ||  __||__

Skill and identity begin to feel integrated rather than separate.

  @ @  /| |\\\   | |  _|_|_

Growth creates something that can nourish work beyond yourself.

 o  O  o \\\  |  /  \\\ | /    |

A state where growth is no longer a single project but an environment.

  _()_  (_  _)    || ~~~~~~

Experience becomes wisdom, and wisdom becomes something shareable.

   /\\\   /  \\\  /____\\\    ||    ||

The mature tree becomes a place where new growth can begin again.

  @@@@@  @@@@@@@ @@@|||@@@    ||| ___|||___
a life leaves traces

leave room to become 🌳 growth becomes a story
BRANCHES / MY GROWING PATHS
EXPERIENCES CHANGING ME — the stories of how I am growing.
the branches become stories

Where growth becomes lived.

These are the longer stories behind the growth system — where WHERE I grow, HOW I grow and WHO I'm becoming overlap in real life.

探求 · 創造 · 革新 · 繋がり+基礎 → 適応 → 忍耐 → 開花 → 進化+🌱 Root → 🍃🌿 Sanctuary
ENTER JOURNEY ↗

Spiritual Journey

Connection · Acceptance · Nature

From health and medical qigong through sensitivity, searching, canoeing and nature connection — learning that feeling deeply and being okay can exist together.

基礎 → 適応 → 忍耐 → 開花 → 進化 ↺
🌿 SPROUTING

Musical Journey

Practice · Expression · Persistence

Learning through instruments, rhythm and sound — discovering how I want to make music.

practice becomes expression
🛶🌿 SPROUTING

Outdoor Journey

Exploration · Capability · Connection

Paddling, wilderness skills, outdoor learning and becoming more capable through direct experience.

curiosity becomes capability
>_ 🌿 SPROUTING

Coder Journey

Learning · Building · Experimenting

WebJam, terminal experiments, binary, websites and learning by making things that actually work.

learn → break → build → understand
🌱 PLANTED

Creative Journey

Ideas · Making · Expression

Writing, art, photography, design and ideas moving from imagined into visible.

ideas become artifacts
🎮 🌱 PLANTED

Geek / Gamer Journey

Curiosity · Play · Mastery

Games, D&D, manga, retro technology and interests that teach me through play.

play becomes knowledge
🌿 🌱 PLANTED

Naturalist Journey

Observation · Knowledge · Belonging

Learning to notice birds, plants, landscapes and patterns in the world outside my door.

notice → learn → belong
🌱 PLANTED

Philosophical Journey

Questions · Meaning · Perspective

Questions that stay with me, ideas that change my perspective and beliefs I keep revisiting.

questions keep branching
🌱

One life, many growing paths. These pages aren't separate identities. They're branches of the same tree, and the same experience can appear in more than one journey.


growth loops back the story becomes what I make
THINGS I AM CREATING — projects, experiments, writing and ideas taking form.
05 / What I'm Growing

Things Taking Root

  • Language log documenting the languages I explore, what I learn, the ways I study and the small moments where another language begins to feel more familiar...
  • Outdoor portal — Outdoor Journey — recording the experiences that are pulling me further outdoors — paddling, wilderness skills, nature connection, exploration and learning to become more capable outside..
  • A Connected Sodatsu - MY hobby page — letting hobbies, projects and experiences connect through WHERE I grow, HOW I grow and WHO I'm becoming.
  • Game Of Sites — Guess the site of ctrl-club users.

Seeds I'm Carrying

  • Spiritual Journey — exploring how sensitivity, acceptance, nature, movement and experience are reshaping what spirituality means to me..
  • Library Of Alexandria — A personal Library of Alexandria where I collect the ideas, lessons, classes, writings, and knowledge I discover as I continue learning.
  • Letters to myself - personal blog — My Blog — a place for thoughts, observations, experiments, things I'm learning and pieces of my life that don't need to become a larger project. .
  • Computer Blog — documenting coding, computers, experiments and what I learn along the way.
  • Learn Binary — making a technical idea visual, interactive and easier to learn.
← Journey to home