FIND YOUR IKIGAI
Find meaning, purpose and joy in your life.
Ikigai is a greatly misunderstood concept that millions of people believe involves doing something that you love, that the you are good at, that the world needs and that you can be paid for. This is not Ikigai.
Ikigai is multifaceted concept that you can use to enjoy your day to day activities, find clarity and purpose in your life and achieve your goals. It can also help you live longer and give you motivation and resilience in times of hardship. And it can be your path to self-actualisation, to becoming your true self.
In the world we now live in, we face constant pressure, fear and uncertainty, depriving us of our opportunity to be our true self. Ikigai is the solution to this problem.
And the beauty of this Japanese concept is that it is a universal human experience we can all benefit from.
NOT IKIGAI!
* Ikigai is not a framework of doing something that you love, that you are good at, that the world needs, and that you can be paid for.
IKIGAI TRIBE
Ikigai Tribe is all about helping you self-actualize so you can pursue your personal mission to positively impact the lives of others. What sets Ikigai Tribe apart from your standard internet marketing blog is expressed in these 3 fundamental concepts:
IKIGAI MISUNDERSTOOD
THE ABOVE VENN DIAGRAM DOES NOT ACCURATELY REPRESENT IKIGAI
WHAT IS IKIGAI?
The concept of ikigai has been greatly misunderstood outside of Japan with many people, millions of people actually, believing it is defined by the 'Purpose Venn Diagram. This is not what ikigai means to the Japanese. All those life coaches on Youtube and all those bloggers explaining ikigai using this framework have got it wrong.
Ikigai is not the pursuit of business success or financial freedom, but rather the pursuit of day to day purpose and happiness by discovering your true self.
'Ikigai translated into English as ‘life purpose’ sounds quite formidable, but ikigai need not be the one overriding purpose of a person’s life. In fact, the word life aligns more with daily life. In other words, ikigai can be about the joy a person finds living day-to-day, without which their life as a whole would not be a happy one.'
– Akihiro Hasegawa (Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist), from the book IKIGAI - Giving Every Day Meaning And Joy, by Yukari Mitsuhashi
THERE IS NO IKIGAI FRAMEWORK
There is no framework that Japanese follow to find their ikigai. Ikigai is a multifaceted concept that Japanese come to understand as they live life and grow older. It is not something they learn about from a framework or from reading a motivational self-help book.
If there were an Ikigai Venn diagram framework, it would like the Venn diagram below where the focus in the centre is self-actualisation. The Venn diagram below was made in collaboration with Ikigai researcher Professor Akihiro Hasegawa and is based largely on the work of Mieko Kamiya.
THE HASEGAWA-KEMP IKIGAI FRAMEWORK
A core aspect to ikigai is having the belief that one's life is moving forward in a positive direction, enabling individuals to develop resilience and proactiveness in times of hardship. Also, to experience ikigai one must be present in his or her activities, roles and relationships.
We can experience ikigai ;
- by living in harmony with our values through our roles and relationships
- by finding life satisfaction in our work, hobbies, and interests
- by having a sense of purpose in what we do
- by having feeling of gratitude for what we have
- and from personal creativity and in transformational experiences
With our ikigai we can find meaning in life, know our self-worth, experience growth and enjoy freedom as we work towards self-actualization.
To learn more about what ikigai means to the Japanese, download our ikigai worksheets.
