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 a life philosophy involving daily rituals, living your values, building intimate relationships, fulfilling your life roles and pursuing a life goal with a healthy sense of urgency.
It can 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.
THE FIND YOUR IKIGAI COURSE
IKIGAI MISUNDERSTOOD
THE ABOVE VENN DIAGRAM DOES NOT ACCURATELY REPRESENT 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 one's 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
THE FIND YOUR IKIGAI COURSE
