Ikigai - A reason for being
In Japan, millions of people have Ikigai (pronounced Ick-ee-guy) - a reason to jump out of bed each morning.
What’s your reason for getting up in the morning? And No, before you even think about it, morning alarm is not a valid reason.
The Japanese Island of Okinawa, where ikigai has its origins, has one of the largest population of centenarians (people reached the age of 100 years). And ikigai is speculated to be the reason for it.
According to wikipedia, the word translated to English roughly means “things you live for” or “the reason for which you wake up in the morning”.
The term ikigai compounds two Japanese words: iki meaning "life; alive" and kai meaning "(an) effect; (a) result; (a) fruit; (a) worth; (a) use; (a) benefit; (no, little) avail" (sequentially voiced as gai) to arrive at "a reason for living [being alive]; a meaning for [to] life; what [something that] makes life worth living; a raison d'etre".
Each individual’s Ikigai is personal to them. It’s a combination of three things - your values, things you like to do and things you are good at and. Discovering your ikigai is said to bring fulfillment, happiness and make you live longer. The last part is still speculative, but going by imperial evidence from the island of Okinawa, seems to be true.
If you were to look for your ikigai in the professional world, you would need to add a fourth dimension as well - what you can get paid for. So your ikigai is the intersection of the following four elements.
- What you love?
- What the world needs from you?
- What you are good at?
- What you can get paid for?*
Here is a visual representation of the same
Ikigai = Passion + Mission + Vocation + Profession
But here is where things get interesting. What if, for some reason, you are not able to find your Ikigai. And of the four elements - passion, mission, vocation and profession - you have to let go of one. What would you let go of?
If you sacrifice what you love, then you would be comfortable, but with a feeling of emptiness.
If you sacrifice what the world needs of you, you will be satisfied, but with a feeling of uselessness.
If you sacrifice what you are good at, you shall have excitement and complacency, but a sense of uncertainty.
if you sacrifice what you can get paid for, you will have delight and fullness, but no wealth.
What would you let go of?
It’s a tough choice, I know. But I as you would already know by now, there is no right or wrong here. Only tradeoffs. If you do this honestly enough, you will learn something about yourself.
And if you feel comfortable, please do share your choice with me. In return, I shall tell you mine.
Best,
Kaddy