Cooking, baking, travelling, gardening, couture designing, filmmaking, singing, dancing, writing, photography, entrepreneurship, spiritualism, philanthropy; it’s a never-ending buffet of delightful pursuits. It’s imperative to find your own trigger and join the tribe of those already immersed in Ikigai. Just embark on a soul-questing or self-explorative voyage that guarantees you a cocoon of happiness.
Inkling of Ikigai
Being a portmanteau, Ikigai as a Japanese term blends two words: “iki” meaning “to live” and “gai” meaning “reason”: thus translating to “a reason to live.” This spurs people to understandand ascertain the holy grail of their life to pursue it wholeheartedly. One must know what precisely and truly matters to oneself and then chase it to the last drop of his or her sweat.
Noted Tokyo-based neuroscientist and author Ken Mogi has titles like Awakening Your Ikigai and The Little Book of Ikigaito his credit based on this Japanese philosophy.
Austrian neurologist and psychologist Viktor Frankl underpins the trap of existential crisis that many people have now fallen into.
According to psychiatrist Dr. Shefali Batra, “the nucleus of Ikigai caught Frankl’s fancy big time as it impels one to be guided by one’s own instincts to survey the intersection of what one loves, what one is good at, what the world needs and what is monetarily gainful. Once this agenda is mapped, it further adds stimulus to one’s enthusiasm, prods one to follow discipline, lifts their performance level by raising the bar and bumps up their feeling of satisfaction.”
The university of life
The beauty of our daily struggles is to meet our aims and aspirations. Achieving targets in both personal and professional arenas to get the intended results is what keeps us motivated. Life is our best teacher and we can’t ignore its lessons. “We can throw someone into the pool and that person may soon rear his head to resurface from the water only to prove that he now knows how to swim and survive. But Ikigai is mastering the perfect breast stroke or the butterfly stroke so that you may enjoy swimming as well as win accolades for being amazing at it,” asserts Dr. Batra.
“Unfortunately, our academic curriculum doesn’t help us find our Ikigai or focus on it as much as is expected. Rather it gets lost under the burden of undue career pressure and peer rivalry,” she complains. “Kids, parents and teachers solely concentrate on grades and marks. Institutions are more interested in doing the headcount to determine the number of pass-outs from their stable that brought glory and honour to their name. A handful few are actually attaining their true potential because most humans end up overlooking their inner eye to fathom their Ikigai,” she argues.
Fantastic four of Ikigai
Adhering to Ikigai can lend a gratifying feeling. “It exudes a vibe of thrill and completeness. Quite similar to your mirror image, Ikigai renders the true reflection of your inner self,” perceives life coach Milind Jadhav.
It is critical to find the right reason to live for and create an ideal space to amplify the same, he admits. “It is like a budding spring that will bloom flowers and germinate fruity seeds one day. We are often not inherently born with the Ikigai element or destined to achieve something in life. Sometimes, it is left to us to decide our course of action and add an impetus to our mission. Such a life is way more fulfilling and rewarding than the one that just drifts along like a directionless wanderer,” opines Jadhav.
Mankind over material
Humans are allegedly chasing materialistic pleasures instead of diving into community projects that are intended to bring larger good to the society. “We see multiple instances of such people who indulge in extravagance, monetary benefits and are apathetic towards being committed to implement a sea change in the society they belong to. You must have the zeal to effect and witness a shift in paradigm,” concedes Jadhav.
Factioid
Extensive reports and thorough analyses establish a link between Ikigai and a longer life expectancy with sound health. Regions like Okinawa in Japan are popular as the hub of maximum centenarians. That’s how particular geographical locations on earth are marked as blue zones where people have noticeably longer lifespans with age frequently crossing 80 owing to several lifestyle factors, namely physical mobility, minimal anxiety, solid social connectivity, a vegan diet and a reduced rate of disease.
The golden rules of Ikigai
1. One must assess one’s intrinsic value and inherent skills.
2. Try and find out your problem-solving capabilities to rise to the occasion. This could make you an indispensable game changer.
3. Think beyond your niche cluster and expand your horizons to step out into the world outside. This could instill the importance of community living and making some ethical, responsible choices for common good.
4. Unearthing Ikigai could act as a detox or a de-stressing agent, thus leading to enhanced well-being. It has an effect of a dopamine.
5. Benefit from small pleasures, seek satisfaction in daily chores andappreciate the simple things of life.
6. It’s like getting back to the basics. One should never forget to remain in touch with one’s soil and the greenery in their surroundings.
7. Be grateful for what we have in life, say grace before and after meals and thank the people around us for every bit of role that they play in our lives.
8. Follow the carpe diem theory.
