A term you hear often if you visit Japan, ikizurasa: “It’s tough to live”. I think two years ago I was in Hiroshima, right after a conference, in a bookstore. It was just a small bookstore, but there was an entire section on ikizurasa.

‘The Constituent Elements of Ikigai’ to reflect the complex relationships between the things that lead us to feel ikigai (‘objects’, which may be found in the past, present, or future), the experience that results from engaging with these objects (‘feelings’, or ikigai-kan), and what mediates this process – the ‘agent’ (our selves).

Feeling that your life is moving forward is where Mieko Kamiya’s needs of ‘life satisfaction’ and ‘a bright future’ overlap.

There is a lot of joy to be found in the small things of everyday life if we have the mind to notice them and the heart to feel them.

I personally avoid using ‘ikigai’ and ‘happiness’ interchangeably. The sensation is not something momentary or extreme, like joy or bliss; while it can be associated with a sense that life has meaning, there is no guarantee that this feeling will last forever. I argue that ikigai is deeper and more extensive, providing an ethos and means of orienting towards fulfilment and life satisfaction, rather than ensuring that those feelings will be permanent.

While our work, hobbies, goals and personal dreams can be life-affirming sources of ikigai, it may be the people in your life who matter most to you – family, friends, colleagues, mentors – that are your strongest source of ikigai. As a result, it is these relationships that may cause you to experience ikigai-kan most intensely.

Tanoshimi is a commonly used word that translates to ‘to look forward to with anticipation’. It is usually said in relation to future leisure activities, and is also understood as enjoyment, amusement, or hobby.

In her work with the Aisei-en lepers of Nagashima Island, Mieko Kamiya found that the experience of ikigai-kan, the feeling of ikigai, depended on the satisfaction of seven ikigai needs.

Ikigai starts with your values. You will feel ikigai if you live in harmony with your values – not those that you have inherited from or been pressured to accept by family, friends, institutions, or society, but those that you have identified for yourself.