Ikigai

 

I recently read the book Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Fransec Miralles. It was an interesting take on what it means to live a happy and fulfilled with insights coming from the Japanese people specifically, the Okinawans. Below are some of the insights I got while reading the book.

What is ikigai? From Wikipedia, it means is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being". The word refers to having a direction or purpose in life, that which makes one's life worthwhile, and towards which an individual takes spontaneous and willing actions giving them satisfaction and a sense of meaning to life.

Never Retire

The people in Japan never retire and work till they die. Japan is notorious for having the most overworked people in the world something they call Karoshi.  The people of Okinawa have the highest population in the world of centenarians i.e people who live above 100 years old. They were found to be very happy and active in their old age. They still got very early in the morning and did their work joyfully.

The question now is, what is one or several things that you can do till you die? We should ponder this question and try to find a suitable work that you look forward to doing even in old age. I have heard stories of people retiring wanting to relax indefinitely. A few months into retirement, they get bored and some even get depression. This is because they lack ikigai aka a reason for being. If you lack direction or purpose in life it can get very depressing.

Stay Active

Another key to longevity of the Okinawans is that they stay active everyday. They don't engage in strenuous exercise but they make sure they are in motion doing something. 

Hara Hachi Bu

Yes, you read that correctly and I didn't come up with my own words. This is a Japanese term that means eat till you are 80% full. This reduces the stress your stomach has when it comes to digesting food and you don't become a slouch after eating till you're full. Moreover, the Okinawans eat food on small plates unlike us who have very big plates and we're psychologically wired to fill that plate with a lot of food. I have began to do this in my life, and I came to find it was very hard to overfill your plate with food. Over time, you start eating less and you can get by fine with small amount of food. Basically you eat just enough to remove the hunger feeling.

Enter Flow

Flow State as coined by popular author Mihaly csikszentmihalyi is a "state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it"

One of the best ways to achieve flow state is to do something that is slightly above your comfort zone that will engage you fully. If you do something that is too hard, you will give up and if you do something that is easy you will get bored. If you can strike a balance, you will achieve flow state easier. Carrying this notion into work will make work even more interesting as you will be challenging yourself continuously growing each time.