In this video, Nick Kemp shares the amusing story of how a simple email exchange turned into a meaningful connection, leading to a transformative journey. He dives into the concept of ibasho, a key element of ikigai, and discusses its significance in building a supportive and emotional space. Nick also shares thoughts on the popular Western Venn diagram often associated with ikigai—how it’s been misunderstood yet still serves as an inspiring gateway for deeper exploration.
The concept of ikigai is worth delving into
Nick: That was really funny how we kind of met through email because I thought, these two girls, they have quite a few questions. And I just thought I hate writing long emails. So I just thought, I'll do a screen capture video with my face and wave and say hi. And it worked.
And yeah, you joined the program, we had a great cohort, which we'll talk about. But yeah, we shared quite a lot of personal stuff, it got emotional. And it was this experience of ibasho which we're going to talk about, which is this fundamental concept of ikigai.
But before we talk about that, I do think the Venn diagram is inspiring and helpful. So in a way, I'm grateful that it's been misunderstood as ikigai, because it obviously brought me to meet you guys. And it serves a purpose, I guess, in a few ways.
So it's funny how things can inspire you to either look at things in more detail. And then once you know, okay, this is a Western take on a concept, you guys decided that this is worth exploring. And yeah, it did lead us to meet. So I'm really grateful, actually, for the Western Venn diagram in many ways. And we had this wonderful cohort that became an ibasho.