IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret To A Long And Happy Life

 

Just like everyone, Ikigai was just a mysterious word for the authors – Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. After discovering the word, they decided to find its meaning and how it works in our lives. The book, Ikigai – The Japanese Secret to Long and Happy Life is all about the purpose of one's life, and how it can lead to happiness. Like they say, it is a self-help book. The authors of this book visited the Japanese Island of Okinawa, that has the most centenarians in the world, who believe in the meaning of Ikigai. In Japanese, the word ‘ikigai’ is written by combining Japanese characters that mean “life” along with “to be worthwhile.”

The term Ikigai is defined in various ways. Ikigai is said to be the purpose of our lives, the reason for which we want to jump out of our beds every morning. It is the secret behind living a long, happy and healthy life and this book touches the different aspects of life that can help us find our Ikigai, and live a long and happy life. After the research conducted by the authors, they found out that people living in Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai, that makes them want to live their life further. They believe that our Ikigai is hidden deep inside each of us and finding it requires a lot of patience. According to the residents of Okinawa, who are the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the ultimate key to a longer and more fulfilled life. Ikigai does not necessarily need to be related to your family or your profession. It may be your hobby or anything connected to just yourself.

This book takes us through different chapters involving antiaging secrets, Blue zones, logotherapy, art of longevity, the Ikigai diet, resilience and wabi-sabi. In this first chapter, you will read about the five blue zones around the world, among which Okinawa, Japan comes first, and following in the list are Sardinia – Italy, Lomba Linda – California, The Nicoya Peninsula – Costa Rica, Ikaria – Greece. The Okinawans do not retire all the lives; even if they retire from their regular job, they find something else to do, that they love. They believe that ‘happiness is always being busy’. In Japanese, there is no word for ‘retire’. The concept of retirement doesn’t exist in their culture.  Then, we learn about ‘80 percent secret’ – one of the most common sayings in Japan, Hara hachi bu that means ‘fill your belly to 80 percent’. The book also takes us through logotherapy by Viktor Frankl that helps us find reasons to live and the quest to discover our life’s purpose and fulfil our destiny is what keeps us motivated.

Another lesson we learn in this book is going with the flow, to live in the present, as if there is no past or future. It teaches about being ‘completely immersed in the experience and not thinking about or being distracted by anything else’. Okinawans swear by simplicity. Simple forms of exercises are the reason behind longevity – taking a walk in the park, or anything that maintains frequent movements of the body. Then comes the seventh and eighth chapter, where the authors concludes the book by discussing about the Ikigai diet followed by the Okinawans and the concept of wabi-sabi. The diet and physical routine that one follows to life a healthier life has been discussed in an elaborate way that motivates the readers. Then, it talks about the resilience that means the ability to deal with setbacks. Each one of us have to face difficult situations in our lives, but the way we deal with it makes a huge difference. To explain this, there is a Japanese proverb – Nana korobi ya oki, that means ‘fall seven times, rise eight.’ Here, we learn about the two Japanese concepts of wabi-sabi that shows us the beauty of imperfect, incomplete and flawed things, and ichi-go ichi-e, which is translated as ‘this moment exists only now and won’t come again’.

To conclude with, Ikigai is a beautiful read about life, simplicity, passion and self-love that will motivate the readers to live a healthier life. As inspiring and comforting as it is, this book will give the readers some life-changing advice that will help then find their own personal ikigai. It will make the readers realise the importance of having a purpose in life, to live an unhurried life, to nurture friendships, to cultivate good habits and to be optimistic. The language of the book is quite simple and the pace is calming and unhurried, just how one should read a book. The only problem is that in some parts, the book deviates from its topic ikigai and focusses more on how to grow old healthily.  This book might not change your life, but will definitely change the way you look at life.