I recently realized that I've started to understand English as it is, without needing to translate it in my head. This isn't just about learning; I believe it's related to my progress in meditation. As my awareness becomes clearer, my language abilities seem to be improving, albeit gradually.

Of course, there are still words and expressions I don't understand, and my listening comprehension isn't perfect. I often struggle to understand even when watching CNN. However, I've reached a point where, in many basic situations, I can understand English directly, without translation.

I suspect that people who talk about "understanding English as it is" are those whose brains are functioning to a certain extent. This is because a certain level of brain function, particularly in the areas related to language, is required. Some people may naturally possess this ability, while others may believe that everyone can achieve it, but in reality, it may be impossible for some. While various tips and tricks for learning English are shared, they may only be effective for those whose brains are already functioning at a certain level, and completely ineffective for others.

I used to believe that this was a purely innate ability, especially that women's brains are fundamentally different. However, recently, I've suddenly started to understand English directly, and I'm now thinking, "Could it be that humans can actually grow and develop more than I thought? Perhaps the idea of innate abilities is not as straightforward as I believed." It's possible that there are no limits to human potential. I used to think, "I'm just not capable of doing that," but now I'm suddenly able to do it, and I'm surprised. I believe that this change is largely due to my progress in meditation and the unlocking of mental blocks.

I've often heard people say, "Don't translate English into Japanese; try to understand it as it is," but I always thought, "That's impossible," even when I heard it. While others may not say this, I personally believed that this ability requires innate talent. Teachers in middle and high school often casually say, "Try to understand English as it is," but I would think, "What are you talking about? That's impossible." I noticed that, especially among women, it seemed like they understood what that meant intuitively, but I was aware of my own weaknesses in language processing and learning, and I struggled with language learning, likely requiring far more time than women. I struggled to get English into my head. I often saw women learning languages effortlessly, and I thought, "I've heard that there are differences in brain structure between men and women, and that women have much higher language learning abilities." I've even seen some research and statistics that seem to support this, reinforcing my belief.

This is often described as a technique or trick, but for the person explaining it, it may simply be a technique or trick. However, for those who are unable to do it, it may not be a technique or trick at all, but rather a matter of innate talent. It seems difficult to achieve this ability through acquired means, and the barrier is quite high. This may only be understood by those with lower language learning and processing abilities. For those with high language abilities, understanding English directly may be a natural thing, and they may think, "English is easy," but that may simply be their experience, and it might be more accurate to describe it as an innate talent.

Therefore, I was completely unable to do this, but recently, I suddenly started to understand English directly, and I realized, "Hey, I can actually understand English as it is."

In reality, this seems to be something that people understand quickly, even in middle or high school, so it's not necessarily about how much you study English. Even at the elementary level, those who are able to understand it will understand it. I studied English for over 10 years, achieved a decent score on the TOEIC, and was able to use English in my work without much difficulty, but I still couldn't think in English most of the time. I was mostly interpreting and expressing things in Japanese. Therefore, it's difficult to argue that being able to think in English is a result of achieving a certain level of English proficiency. The required level of English proficiency for thinking in English may not be as high as one might think.

In reality, I haven't felt any particular difficulties using English in my work lately, and I can speak, write, and listen without any problems, so it might be said that it has gradually improved. Therefore, it can be interpreted that I recently exceeded a certain threshold, and that might be considered natural. However, I suddenly became aware of the above things recently.

As a possibility, it could be "just that I happened to improve to that level at this timing." However, another possibility is that "meditation released blocks in my mind, and the movement of parts of my brain caused me to understand English as English." While the former might be true, there used to be a kind of "language barrier," no matter how much I studied. However, recently, that language barrier has almost disappeared. This is a fairly fundamental change, and the fact that the Japanese interpretation that used to be involved when using the language brain has changed to being able to interpret directly in English indicates that a significant change has occurred at a very basic level. Recently, I feel that various parts of my brain are moving more actively than before, so it may be that my basic information processing ability has increased.

The ability to understand English as English itself is not that high, and I sometimes have to carefully re-interpret things in Japanese if I don't understand them. However, in terms of the ability to interpret or express in English, it is no longer necessary to involve Japanese as much as before. On the other hand, I think that the ability to interpret English as English is also gradually improving. Until now, the latter has hardly moved at all.

It seems reasonable to think that this change occurred in proportion to the progress of meditation recently. Through meditation, blocks in the mind are released, abilities are unlocked, and the prefrontal and occipital regions are activated, which increases processing ability, and as a result, the basic parts of language ability are upgraded.

For example, I can now understand CNN in English relatively well, and although there are some words and expressions that I don't understand, I can basically understand it in English. I used to watch CNN for learning purposes more than 10 years ago, and even then, I could understand it to some extent. However, at that time, I had to concentrate and understand it while translating it into Japanese. Now, I can (to some extent) understand it in English without using Japanese. This was impossible before.

In English learning, it is often said, "Instead of looking up words immediately when you don't understand the meaning, try to infer the topic from the overall context." I understand what that means, and I could do that with simple sentences by interpreting them in Japanese. However, I couldn't do that while listening to CNN. Even though there are still parts that I can't hear or understand while listening to CNN, the difference is that I can now understand the overall topic in English.

In reality, I cannot say for sure how much correlation these things have with the looseness of my mind and the distribution of my aura, as there are no other examples. However, it seems reasonable to say that when blocks in the brain are released and the brain starts moving, language ability (English ability) improves.

Therefore, it is very important to be in a "quiet environment" during middle and high school, as parents who are emotionally abusive or bullying and harassment from classmates can cause headaches and emotional instability, which can prevent the development of these abilities. When meditation progresses, one reaches a state of stillness, energy flows into the brain, and the brain is activated, and it seems that the abilities that the brain originally possessed begin to function.