IKIGAI — The Japanese Secret to Long and Happy Life
By finding your IKIGAI, you can achieve an irreplaceable level.
There’s an island named as Okinawa in Japan. There, peoples/residents live 100 years or more than that and 80–90 years old also do their work happily, every day and they never retire. So, in the entire world, a happy, long life and peaceful life can be attained with the usage of a formula, known as IKIGAI means ‘Reason for Living’.
As Japanese believes that everyone is born with some purposes which is your IKIGAI and If you do something different from your purpose (i.e. IKIGAI) then you won’t enjoy it doing. When you complete your school/college and in a state of taking decision on what way to opt, as maximum time of your future will depend on it, so you decide carefully. Some will say you to listen to your heart, some will let you go for the field in which you’ve an expertise, some will show money luring jobs or else some will say to go for social welfare. But, all these four advices are wrong. ‘IKIGAI’ is the combination of these four parts and if a single part is missed, then problems may come.
Everyone will say you to follow your passion. But passion is just a single part of IKIGAI. You must find such a work which can satisfy all parts of IKIGAI. For instance, Basketball is the IKIGAI of Micheal Jordon, Cricket is the IKIGAI of Sachin or Book Writing is the IKIGAI of Chetan Bhagat.
Steve Jobs like the Japanese Artists and Engineers as they find their IKIGAI first. In 1980s, Steve Jobs visited Sony Factory in Japan to learn something new and implement alterations in his company, like wearing uniform daily rule also got from there.
The world’s popular studio for animations, founder Hayao Miyazaki involves in his work in such a way that he even forgets Sundays and national holidays. Being 79 years old, he never give up and not get tired. He works on his studio and enjoy working as he had found his IKIGAI.
Jiro Ono, being 95 years old, prepares World’s Best Su-Shi dish. Preparing Su-Shi dish is his IKIGAI.
So by finding your IKIGAI, you can reach at an irreplaceable level or stage, where the electronics or technology also won’t be able to replace you, whose best example is, Mark Court, a Coachline Painter of Rolls Royce, draws lines on Rolls Royce cars with his own hands, which is the rare skill and no person or thing could replace him.
You’ll not suddenly get your IKIGAI, you need your INTUITION and CURIOSITY to find your IKIGAI. For that you’ll have to try different things, ask questions and know yourself. And whenever you’ll get your IKIGAI, you’ll feel like ‘That’s What I Was Looking For’.
