What is the most beautiful word you know?

Love;

Freedom;

Peace.

When I was little, my mother would always say "Okashi." It means sweets in Japanese. And whenever she said it with her sweet voice, my sisters and I would go to the shop immediately! Now that she is not here anymore, whenever something makes me happy or really grateful for what I have (good food, cute clothes, etc.), this word pops into my head automatically. Although my family isn't Japanese, we still speak Japanese at home sometimes. That's why hearing "Okashi" makes me feel connected to my mom :)

You will find many words which are synonymous with happiness like peace, joy, freedom. But all of these words leave you struggling to find an object they might be. Even love can be hard to grasp sometimes. But what about Okashi? It is something that exists in the here and now for you to retrieve, like your mother's voice coming out of the speaker when you play a recorded phone call.

Okashi can be enjoyed instantly; it does not require an intermediate process to get it into your body, which gives it a sense of being natural. We often find ourselves longing for things that are simple and easy to acquire rather than searching for something pointless but complicated. Such kind of simplicity allows us to feel safe, secure, and happy. If we take this idea further, perhaps safety, security, and happiness are the same things!

/r/AskReddit Thread