Ikigai

Ikigai- The most important thing in life that actually plays hard to get.

Side Note- Someday or the other you will find it and it will never evade you.

A little background before we dive into Ikigai. Growing up in today’s day and age is starkly different from how our parents or grandparents grew up. In their time, siblings or cousins were their first and forever best friends, going out for dinner with the family was an adventure in itself, family weddings were an absolute fairytale, and getting 75% first-class distinction was a matter of honor for the entire family. Even for your distant uncle who you haven’t seen in ages!

Now, everything is robotic and most of the time the world is a poisonous tonic. Surviving itself makes us crave validation. Climate change and politics and natural disasters and crime and rape and people dying from deadly diseases and divorces and fake friends……

You get the gist, right?

But, amidst all this, imagine a place where people live up to be 100 years old, are happy, and living the best life possible.

Ogimi Village in Okinawa, Japan.

That’s the paradise that inspired the book Ikigai: The Japanse Secret to a Long and Happy Life, written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles.

I was hooked right from the start. Like every millennial, I wanted to know this secret and inculcate it in my life. This beautiful book was my saving grace this week.

The book talks extensively about Logotherapy, Ikigai, Morita therapy, Antifragility and also includes interviews with people who have lived a long, fulfilling life. The book has perfectly captured their thirst for living life happily with a simple sentence,” The youngest among us is eighty-three!”

The authors have put across the importance of Ikigai (a reason for being, encompassing joy, a sense of purpose and meaning, and a feeling of well-being). Along with that, they have explained how stress could also be good for us, the art of not retiring(like ever), anti-aging attitude, and finding flow in everything we do.

The best takeaways from the book are-

• Green tea and jasmine tea( Sanpin- cha) are lifesavers!
• The 80% rule- Eat only till you are 80% full.
• The concept of Antifragility. ( You can also read Antifragility by Nassim Nicholas Taleb if your interest is piqued).
• Microflow- which basically is how to cultivate the perfect flow even while doing mundane tasks.
• Multitasking is a big NO.
• Eat a fruit bowl that looks like a rainbow every day.
• Community, friendship, and a good diet are very important.
• Move every day as much as you can.
• Never stop working till your last day.
• Honor your Ikigai.

I came across terms such as Taoism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Tai Chi and so many more. I loved how the book gave me insight into all of them.

This ode to longevity deserves all the praise that it can get!

Once in life, I would definitely want to visit this island of (almost) eternal youth and have an enchanting experience just like the authors of Ikigai did.

Feeling low or at rock bottom or looking for a fresh perspective on life?

Pick up Ikigai today and be mesmerized by the simplicity of life that modern life has completed overshadowed.