What is the one thing we all want?
A Long and Happy Life.
We try our level best to live that life. To stay happy we earn money, make friends, have a family, go on vacation, eat what we like, enjoy, have parties etc.
For a long life we study, work, earn money, stay fit, try to eat well, buy health insurance, take vaccines, and stay healthy.
But is that enough?
Isn’t everyone around us doing the same thing?
So what makes us different and why despite all we do, we still feel unhappy and dissatisfied with life.
Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated
Confucious
Enrich your life by finding purpose
The key secret to a happy and long life is ‘Finding Your Purpose’. No matter where in life you are it is inhuman to do something half-heartedly. It is important to find your purpose and with focus immerse yourself in whatever you do. It is important to take control of our actions.
That is only possible if you are in touch with your inner self, own and accept your feelings. We must progressively push ourselves out of our familiar but confining comfort zones. Self-actualization requires us to face our fears, challenge ourselves by using a “compass approach” to show us the way.
Ikigai
A book of concept that discloses the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Ikigai is written by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia.
iki means Life or alive
Kai means to effect or result
So Ikigai is a motivating force that provides you with a motive in life.
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that refers to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.
We have to learn to turn off the autopilot that’s steering us in an endless loop. We all know people who snack while talking on the phone or watching the news. You ask them if the omelet they just ate had onion in it, and they can’t tell you
Finding Your Flow
The one most important approach mentioned in the book is to find your flow. Simply put, it reminds us to pursue activities in which we can immerse ourselves in what we do and avoid things that provide superficial or momentary pleasure.
Being one with ourselves and accepting our emotions helps us in taking charge of all our actions. So we must slowly push ourselves out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves by keeping a ‘compass approach’ which shows us the right direction.
Daily Ikigai
Ikigai is a concept that we can adopt and provides us with long term benefits. Some small changes that can help you are:
a. Healthy diet, avoiding overindulgence, regular exercise, and avoiding a sedentary workweek are all key aspects of our quality of life. Simple exercises and breathing awareness can simply become part of our everyday schedules.
b. The authors offer helpful recommendations to manage the consequences and demands of the internet world and a 24/7 lifestyle, which are especially demanding.
c. Financial planning, taking calculated risks, identifying our own weaknesses, nurturing friendships and celebrating the small things in life are extremely important.
How to find Your Ikigai?
So how do you find your Ikigai?
a. Ask yourself some questions:
Sit in Silence and ask yourself some common questions like:
What makes you happy?
What do you love?
What are you good at?
b. Brainstorm:
Now that you have the answers to the above questions, visualise your ideal day from morning to evening.
What are you doing?
What are you wearing?
Whom are you talking to?
These questions will help you in finding your Ikigai.
c. Find Your Ikigai
Now that you know what you like and how your day should be know your Ikigai and start planning to implement it.
Make small goals
Plan Your day
Have a Support System
Try our your plan
Do not Give Up
Wabi sabi, or resilience, is a mindset that can be developed to help deal with life’s inconsistencies. The book’s practical advice and examples point readers in the right direction for honing these skills. The next degree of antifragility, which is a step beyond resilience and entails emerging stronger from defeat or improving despite adversity, is also highlighted. This is possibly the toughest component of our self-growth.
Conclusion
This sense of purpose is something that each of us possesses. We can all discover, reinvent or readjust our Ikigai at different points in time. It can be applied to many aspects of our lives, both personal and professional. Is there anything more potent than that? A simple list of rules that we can read and follow on any given day in our daily life brings us closer to ourselves.
Some More books to live a happy life
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