Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles
Description
The people of Japan believe that everyone has an Ikigai – a reason to jump out of bed in the morning. This book will show you how to find your Ikigai.
Key words: Success, Happiness
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My Notes
How to live longer and better by finding your purpose.
Logotherapy - Frankl explains that one of the first questions he would ask his patients was “Why do you not commit suicide?” Usually the patient found good reasons not to and was able to carry on. What, then does logotherapy do? The answer is pretty clear: It helps you find reasons to live. Logotherapy pushes patients to consciously discover their life’s purpose in order to confront their neuroses. Their quest to fulfil their destiny then motivates them to press forward, breaking the mental chains of the past and overcoming whatever obstacles they encounter along the way.
We all have the capacity to do noble or terrible things. The side of the equation we end up on depends on our decisions, not on the condition in which we find ourselves.
It’s up to the patient to make discoveries through experience.
Three questions an individual must ask himself;
What have I received from person x?
What have I given person x?
What problems have I caused person x?
Through these reflections, we stop identifying others as the cause of our problems and deepen our own sense of responsibility.
Find flow in everything you do.
According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, when asked about their bosses, the number one complaint of employees at multinational corporations is that they don’t ‘communicate the team’s mission clearly,’ and that, as a result, the employees don’t know what their objectives are. What often happens, especially in big companies is that the executives get lost in the details of obsessive planning, creating strategies to hide behind the fact they don’t have a clear objective. It’s like heading out to sea with a map but no destination.
What do Japanese artisans, engineers, Zen philosophy, and cuisine have in common? Simplicity and attention to detail.
Jiro, like Yukio Shakunaga, begins his work at ‘the source’. He goes to the mountains to find the best porcelain.
Many artists might seem reclusive, but what they are really doing is protecting the time that brings them happiness, sometimes to the expense of other aspects of their lives. Artists know how important it is to protect their space, control their environment, and be free of distractions if they want to flow with their Ikigai.
Masters of longevity
One of her secrets may have been her sense of humour. As she said on her 120th birthday, “I see badly, and I feel bad, but everything is fine”.
Your mind and your body. You keep both busy.
Of those still living, none have retired, and all still enjoy their passion, which they plan to pursue until their final breath, demonstrating that when you have a clear purpose, no one can stop you.
There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.
About ten years ago, when I began reading and thinking more broadly about the questions of what we are, where did we come from and where are we going, I was astonished at how little this was being done.
Lessons from Japans centurions
Don’t worry
Cultivate good habits
Nurture your friendships every day
Live an unhurried life
Be optimistic
Their diet
Tofu, carrots, jasmine tea, green tea, cabbage, sweet potatoes.
Gentle movements, longer life
People who live longest are not the ones who do the most exercise but rather the ones that move the most. You don’t need to go to the gym for an hour every day or run marathons. All you need to do is to add movement to your day.
Metabolism slows down 90 per cent after 30 mins of sitting.
Resilience
One thing that everyone with a clearly defined ikigai has in common is that they pursue their passion no matter what. They never give up, even when the cards seem stacked against them or they face one hurdle after another.
Resilient people know how to stay focused on their objectives, on what matters, without giving in to discouragement. Their flexibility is the source of their strength: they know how to adapt to change and to reversals of fortune. They concentrate on the things they can control and don’t worry about those they can’t.
The goal of Stoicism is not to eliminate feelings and pleasures from our lives, but to eliminate negative emotions. Stoicism aims to curb our ego and control our negative emotions.
It is not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.
The present is all that exists and is the only thing we can control. We should appreciate things just as they are in the moment.
Being aware of the impermanence of things does not have to make us sad; it should help us love the present moment and those who surround us.
Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept that shows us the beauty of the fleeting, changeable, and imperfect nature of the world around us. Instead of searching for beauty in perfection, we should look for it in things that are flawed, incomplete. This is why the Japanese placed such value on an irregular or cracked teacup. Only things that are imperfect, incomplete can truly be beautiful, because only those things resemble the natural world.
Get rid of things that make you fragile:
Avoid spending time with toxic people
Avoid spending time doing things you don’t enjoy, simply because we feel obligated to do them
“Remember; to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounded by the people who you love.”
