I came across the concept of Ikigai (reason for being) online a while ago, but I never made the time to read the book cover to cover. That being said, I finished the book this week.
I started the book hoping it would provide me with a framework for discovering Ikigai. Instead, I was slightly disappointed to find that the book is more about tips for a long and happy life. Being 25, finding the purpose of my life is more important than caring about healthy practices for being a centenarian. Still, I found the book very useful.
Here’s a brief summary of my takeaways:
Chapter 1 summarizes the habits, practices and mindsets of centenarians to uncover the reason for their longer life, which can be attributed to
- Ikigai — of course,
- Not retiring early,
- Hara Hachi Bu — fill your belly to 80%
- Moai — informal group of people with common interest.
Chapter 2 focuses on anti-aging practices. It advocates for reducing stress, keeping an active mind (by dealing with new situations, learning something new every day, playing games, interacting with others), sleep, and movement (not being sedentary, walking daily).
Chapter 3 provides an overview on Psychoanalysis, Logotherapy and Morita therapy. The authors argue that both logotherapy and morita-therapy reflect the concept of Ikigai.
Chapter 4 presents an overview of the flow state – a term coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced as CHEEK-sent-me-high-yee) – an optimal state of consciousness where you feel and perform at your best, characterized by intense concentration, total absorption in a task. In order to achieve flow state, the author suggests selecting tasks that are slightly beyond your comfort zone, avoiding multi-tasking, and being distraction-free for achieving a state of flow. The Japanese people thrive for sophistication and attention to detail. Even the most mundane task puts them in microflow. The author also puts emphasis on meditation – not to achieve Nirvana – but to gracefully deal with more than sixty thousand thoughts that we have every day. In the final part of the chapter, the author provides an actionable takeaway. Observe the activities that put us in flow mode – we should explore works of a similar nature to expand the list of tasks that put us in a flow state. The subset of this work will indeed be our Ikigai.
Chapter 5 presents highlights from the interviews of five super-centenarians, and Chapter 6 highlights habits of older people in Okinawa observed by the authors. The key points are consistent: Eat healthy, live stress free, sleep well, interact with people, keep working on things which are your Ikigai. What I found surprising was the fact that some people mentioned ‘growing plants for their eating’ or ‘interacting with their social group’ as their Ikigai.
Chapter 7 delves into the eating habits of the people of Okinawa. It mentions fifteen highly enriched antioxidants, green tea, and Shikuwasa. The chapter also repeats the concept of ‘Hara hachi’.
Chapter 8 is about movement. I was surprised to learn how 90% of metabolism slows down while we are sedentary. This chapter then presents a characterization of different categories of ‘Yoga’, ‘Tai Chi’, and ‘Qigong’.
Chapter 9 provides a toolkit for mental wellbeing. Everyone with a clear, well-defined Ikigai has in common that they pursue their passion, no matter what. They are resilient and anti-fragile. The chapter highlights some concepts from Buddhism and Stoicism. According to Stoicism, the goal of a virtuous person is to reach tranquility (apatheia) — the absence of negative feelings (anxiety, shame, vanity, anger) and the presence of positive feelings such as happiness, love, serenity, and gratitude. It mentions the Stoic tool ‘negative visualization’, meditation, and living in the ‘here and now’ – similar to the Japanese ‘Ichi-go ichi-e’ (translation: This moment comes only now and never again). The author also mentions ‘Wabi Sabi’ — a worldview which finds beauty in imperfection — as an opportunity to grow. Finally, the chapter ends with the importance of Antifragility. Having a second source of income, having social connections with a large number of people instead of a single one, or removing habits that make us weak are examples of things that can make us antifragile.
Upon finishing the book, I felt a sense of calm. My recent rejections made me slightly cynical. However, hunting insights from research papers, coming up with interesting ideas, and coding them to create new value in the world — that’s my Ikigai. I will keep doing it no matter what. As an exercise for myself, I will later try to figure out the philosophies of Ikigai with Islamic and Indian sub-continental values.