The key to the psychological health of a person is self-identity, that is, personal integrity, when the "I" maintains its continuity and identity, despite the various changes that accompany us in the course of personality development. The identity of the person may be equal to the answer to the question of who the person really is.
Ikigai: Japanese secrets of a long and happy life
Self-identification of a person is fundamentally capable of changing a person’s life, not only spiritually, but also physically, the result comes from the opposite - “a sound body in a healthy mind”.
Ikigai is the “meaning of life” from the Japanese language, a specific reason of extremely high importance, thanks to which a person wakes up in the morning, enjoys every new day and receives satisfaction from the fullness of life. This concept became known due to the research of Dan Butner, who was interested in the “blue zones”. As a result of research, he coined the term "ikigai." This discovery allowed him not only to discover the causes of longevity in different parts of the world, but also to practically derive the “formula of happiness”. The reasons or goals that we fix in our minds can work miracles.
How to find your ikigai?
Residents of Okinawa are familiar with ikigai firsthand, as Den Butner claims, it is this fact that contributes to a longer life for people on this Japanese island. Given that the general population of Japan does not suffer from premature death, this fact can be attributed to rather revealing examples. Almost every Japanese has Ikigai in Okinawa.
Therefore, people living in accordance with their "creed", live up to 90 years or more. For a Westerner, ikigai is “realization”, a mission, only the meaning of this concept is based on spiritual practices and searching for answers to eternal questions, and the Japanese consider it an integral part of life.
Ikigai Basics
Ikigai is based at the intersection of four important areas of life:
- favourite buisness;
- abilities, skills that a person possesses;
- desires and needs of others;
- earning business.
Thanks to ikigai, human life becomes meaningful and full. All this ultimately turns for him confidence and satisfaction from life. If at least some sphere is left untouched, the desire of people to find happiness turns into barren throwing from one extreme to another.
Ikigai as the meaning of life
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that is rather difficult to correctly convey in Russian. An approximate transcript is: "something that gives meaning to life gives the joy of daily awakening." In other words, this is your main interest or business that fills your life with content. People with this core are far from depressions and destructive habits. According to reviews of ikigai people from the West, those who really understood the meaning, were able to radically change their lives.
Having interest and a desire to begin to do their job, people acquire a sense of their own significance, the meaning of life and inner satisfaction. It is the meaningful reason to get up with a smile every morning that contributes to the continuation of a person’s life and his happiness.
Ikigai - destination?
An approximate Western counterpart to the Japanese Ikigai is the word “destination”, the meaning of which is that each person has a certain “mission” in life. In order to achieve this goal, man, in fact, lives. However, the word "destination" does not fully cover ikigai, which includes not only setting goals, but also the skills, capabilities and needs of society.
Recently, conversations about self-realization, the success of which leads to a better quality of life, have become relevant. Many are in search of a reason to get up in the morning, but not everyone realizes that it is already inside them, you just need to open it. Ikigay is inherent in those who do not want to live by inertia, who want to adjust the picture of reality to their worldview, want to live happily ever after.
How to reach your potential?
“Open your own business” - this task seems almost impossible. Yes, it really will require significant energy and time costs, but it's worth it. The sooner a person acquires his ikigai, the more chances he will have to follow his life vector. Only when a person understands how to make an ikigai of his life, he will no longer need lying motivational trainings and endless attempts to love things and deeds from which his eyes do not light up. Finding ikigai can take years of your life, the key here is patience and perseverance.
12 tips to help you find ikigai
What are these tips?
- Achievements. You need to write down on paper a few things that you are proud of in your life. This will be a good start in finding ikigai.
- Knowledge and skills. This includes everything that you own in theory and practice. Any knowledge and skills must be developed and constantly improved. If you have a desire to do something, but there are no skills and knowledge, you should think about reading special books and attending professional courses.
- Feel. The work of all life should bring uplift and joy.
- Self-esteem. Seeing yourself in a profession in the future will help you focus on your self-fulfillment.
- Personality. It is very important to proceed from your personal preferences, because, as they say, to each - his own.
- Dreams Thanks to the visualization of your future activities, you can evaluate the upcoming picture, your capabilities, advantages and weaknesses, while you must be guided not only by common sense, but also by imagination, by those very dreams that warm your soul throughout life. The main thing is that the work of your life arouses interest and a desire to do something for pleasure.
- Pride and dignity of the individual. Your work should bring you a feeling of fullness in your life and inspire respect from others.
- Exercise. For personal growth, you just need to sometimes stop and ask the question: “Who am I really?” This kind of therapeutic method that helps to find your own “I” does not turn into a stamped model of modern man.
- Leave the comfort zone. Are you used to doing ordinary routine chores that just drive you daily like a squirrel in a wheel? Perhaps you should slow down the rhythm of your life, look around and sweep away all the husks. You need to devote time to yourself to loneliness and reflection.
- Sleeping mode. It is very important to get up in the morning with a fresh head and lightness in the body. For this you need to get enough sleep. Not only will vitality increase, but human activity as a whole will increase significantly. You will also have to rid your social circle of negative personalities.
- Do not be afraid to experiment. Feel free to drop everything if something does not suit you. Only through mistakes and failures is a staircase built into the sky.
- Go on. It is necessary to stock up on time, energy and patience, the main thing is to go forward at all costs!
These tips will help you find yourself.