Understanding Ikigai

Every time I find a friend lost with which direction to take their career or they feel hopeless in not knowing what to pursue I direct them to Ikigai. Ikigai can help you self-reflect on what your passion and purpose in life is.

To start off let’s look into the word itself. Ikigai is a Japanese word that translates to “A reason to live’

Iki – to live

Gai – reason

The Visual: Broad Map

Image source – Forbes – adapted from Francesc Miralles

To break this down answer the first outer questions – (try not to limit yourself in your answers, write down what you truly feel and connect with)

What you love

What the world needs

What you are good at

What you can get paid for

Now combine and connect your answers with the following

What you are good at – Your Passion- What you love

What you love – Your Mission – What the world needs

What the world needs – Your Vocation – What you can get paid for

What you can get paid for – Your profession – What you are good at

Ikigai also looks into simple ways to improve your wellbeing. The book  IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret To a Long and Happy Life written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles delves into lessons learned from a village in Okinawa, Japan. They summarised 10 rules to help improve and at least 1 of these rules will be easy to implement in anyone’s life.

The 10 rules of Ikigai

Stay active; don’t retire

Take it slow

Don’t fill your sdtomah

Surround yourself with good friends

Get in shape for your next birthday

Smile

Reconnect with nature

Give thanks

Live in the moment

Follow your Ikigai

Ikigai related quotes

Young people often say “My life has no ikigai”. This is obvious. People who isolate themselves can’t have ikigai – meaning or purpose. Ikigai is only found in interpersonal relationships.

Ishikawa Tatsuzō

Ikigai can be defined as ‘a sense of being alive now, an individual’s consciousness as a motive to live.’

Aikihiro Hasegawa

Ikigai is the action we take in pursuit of happiness.

Yukari Mitsuhashi

Find your own ikigai by asking yourself how you want to serve your community. If you are undecided, remember your dreams from when you were younger, maybe in your youth.

Tsutomu Hotta

Our ikigai is different for all of us, but one thing we have in common is that we are all searching for meaning. When we spend our days feeling connected to what is meaningful to us, we live more fully; when we lose the connection, we feel despair.