When a friend sent us VENN diagrams of the Japanese concept of Ikigai last week, we found we couldn’t get its big fat question out of our mind. What is our reason for being?

We were so intrigued, we went on a hunt for more of a sense of it…

….Ikigai is

…usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life, or the things that make one’s life worthwhile…

…what makes you jump out of bed in the morning?

It also refers to…

…mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable

…Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self.

Such a search is important to the…belief that discovering one’s Ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life. For some, it might be work, hobbies and raising children.

It’s not linked to one’s financial status.

 

We especially love psychiatrist Kobayashi Tsukasa description of Ikigai:

Ikigai: the process of allowing the self’s possibilities to blossom.

 

With that in mind, we hold the question: What is our Ikigai?…

Toronto Star Graphic via Dreamtime

 

 

At Medium Ulara Nakagawa writes of the three questions that helped her better realize her Ikigai. Worth reading. Here are her questions:

1. If you could wake up tomorrow with one superpower, what would it be?

2. What will you regret most on your deathbed?

3. What puts you in flow?

 

The statements about Ikigai, above, are from Wikipedia‘s potent little article, which we edited and re-ordered.

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