Table of Contents
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find one’s own path that leads to one’s happiness. Many times, in fact, we tend to lose sight of the value of things and forget which are the real priorities in life. But what is the meaning of it all for you? Do you have a purpose, a goal or a goal to achieve? What really makes you happy and what makes you wake up every morning? Let’s see below what ikigai is and how it works.
Ikigai: what is it?
Ikigai is above all a Japanese word that we could translate into our language with the expression “what, or rather, the reason that makes us get up every morning“. It is a Japanese method, in fact, of a type of meditation and a real lifestyle, to be adopted every day to make your life better.
In fact, this method is able to help us deeply, because it gives us the opportunity to rediscover every day what makes us really happy and what we get up for every morning.
In other words, it allows us to understand and rediscover the meaning of everything. Precisely for this reason, many scholars of the method call it “daily inspiration“, Because, thanks to his inspiration, he gives us hope and trust every day, inspiring us enthusiasm for life.
But to put it more simply, it is the purpose of our life, the meaning of everything, so ikigai is nothing but what makes us really happy. The set of things and activities that print a smile on our lips and heart, which make us get up happier in the morning. Although in some cases, it is seen as more “what we are called to do for”, like our vocation, our talent.
That said, this existential philosophy it encourages you to live life fully, actively, preferring what makes us feel really good, what is really worth living for. A bit like when you say “do something you love and you won’t even work a day“: Here is the concept of ikigai fully embraces this meaning, aiming at a full and active life, which does not allow you to retire, but transforming your time into creativity and sharing. In fact, the last cornerstone of philosophy is sharing what makes us feel good with the world, so that it can be useful and a source of inspiration for others.
Ikigai: how does it work?
The ikigai method insists on bringing a marked qualitative improvement to one’s life. So if you don’t already live according to your passions and what makes you really happy, now is the time to do it. Specifically, this divides daily activities into four areas of interest:
- what you love
- what is good for you to do
- what you can get paid for
- what the world needs.
The five pillars of ikigai
Finally, ikigai boasts five pillars, each of which is necessary to understand this philosophy and to make it one’s own in everyday life. Here it is:
- start small
- forget about you
- harmony and sustainability
- the joy of little things
- stay in the here and now.
The explanation of the five pillars is that each of us should start, as we have already said, from what makes us feel good. To then get to forget about ourselves as individuals to make us useful to the world e rediscover ourselves in nature, in harmony with this, with our soul and with the world. Once we understand this lesson, it will be easier for us to rejoice in the little things, to give them the true value they possess, leaving aside the exterior and superficiality. Only in this way, finally, will we be able to fully live the present, in the here and now, focusing on what really matters, therefore on the essential.
