Anime Lectio: Her Blue Sky

                                                         1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace.

3. Deep Breathing

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. 

4. Open yourself to God’s Presence

Remember God places all our thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of other people you know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence.  

5. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me. 

Thinking a lot about something that we could've done instead of what we actually did usually leads to feelings of regret. Changing this thinking requires changing your mindset and focusing on what you're doing instead of what could've happened, which isn't real. What you're actually doing is real and is why focusing on what you're actually doing is important. An interesting example of this can be seen in the anime movie Her Blue Sky.

6. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

A girl is practicing her guitar playing by herself somewhere until she notices that her older sister has shown up to pick her up to take her home.  The girl likes to practice her guitar playing because she made a promise when she was younger with a boy that used to be around and liked her older sister that she would join his band.  However, the boy decides to leave one day in order to find another band to play with, but the older sister doesn't want to leave with him when he asks her to go with him.  This causes part of the boy's self, or something like that, to be trapped in the place where his former band would practice while another version of the boy got older and lived a different life somewhere else until he came back to where the sisters live with his new band and friends.  With the help of other friends, besides these new ones, they all find a way to move on with their lives without any regrets.

7.  Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime shed any light on what's been on your minds?  The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

While regret doesn't literally manifest itself as a version of ourselves of what could've been, regret can certainly feel that way. What's important to remember about this is that as seen in this anime movie, the literal manifestation of a person's regret couldn't do anything without help from others. If we can't change our mindset about regret by ourselves, then we need others in order to help us do that.

8. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime.  The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray that we can live our lives without any regrets by changing our mindset, either on our own or with the help of others.