This post is a summary of the book – Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. Inspiring and Comforting, this book gives us the key tools to channel our lives towards happiness and fulfilment. It tells us how the longest living people live their lives with fun, happiness and satisfaction, and how they bring meaning and joy to their every day.
Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.
Japanese proverb
In Japanese, Ikigai is written as a combination of two words meaning “Life” and “to be worthwhile”. So, in other words, Ikigai is basically “a reason for our being”, or having a purpose in life to make our lives worthwhile, towards which an individual can take spontaneous and willing actions which gives them a feeling of life satisfaction.
The below Venn diagram clearly explains the meaning of the word ‘Ikigai’-
Everyday habits to keep in check
Spending too much time seated at work or home can lead to depletion in overall muscular and respiratory fitness. It can also lead to an increase in appetite and restrains our desire to engage in physical activities. Also, there is a proven connection between a lack of physical activity and the progressive distortion of telomere in the immune system, which ages those cells and, in turn, the organism as a whole.
It’s easy to be less sedentary, and It just takes us being more attentive towards our day to day habits. We can access a more active lifestyle by making small changes in our routine-
- Walk to work, or go for a walk for at least twenty minutes each day.
- Use your feet instead of an elevator or escalator. This helps our posture, muscles and respiratory system.
- Participate in social or leisure activities to don’t spend too much time in front of the television.
- Replace junk food with fruits, and you’ll have less urge for snacks and more nutrients in your system.
- Get the right amount of sleep. Seven to eight hours is good; more than that makes us lethargic.
- Play a sport. This will not only strengthens our body but also stimulates of mind and boosts self-esteem.
- Be conscious of your daily routine to detect harmful habits and replace them with positive ones.
By making these small changes, we can renew our bodies and live a healthy long life.
Ikigai: The art of living
Overall, the book talks about various experiences and interactions of the author with the residents of village Ogimi, who are known to live more than a hundred years. The book refers to various habits and day-to-day actives of those people and leaves us with 10 key take-aways-
1. Stay Active; Never Retire
We humans need a purpose/motivation to achieve our goals. Similarly, we need a purpose for life, too—something of value to us, our near and dear ones, or the society as a whole. Therefore, we need to indulge ourselves in something of our interest that serves others. This can act as a purpose for life and motivate us to wake up and go to work each day. Even after professional retirement, it is necessary to do something that interests you, this will give our day meaning, and this little progress will give meaning to life.
2. Take it slow
Today, the metro-city lifestyle has taken over us, and everything is fast in our surroundings. We all are running in our lives behind something. But all we need is a simple break, time to relax, relieve the stress and time with ourselves. Hurry degrades the quality of life. It increases stress and affects our health too. The secret to a long and happy life is to leave urgency behind and enjoy the moment.
3. Don’t Fill your Stomach
When it comes to eating for long healthy life, we should eat only 80 per cent of our hunger demand. This little less adds up to your healthy living. This could be achieved in many ways, like skipping the dessert or reducing the portion size. The idea is to be still a little hungry after the meal. Also, occasional fasting is good for us as it cleans our digestive system and gives it a little rest.
4. You’ll Need Good Friends Around
Friends are one of the most important pieces contributing to your long healthy life. A good circle of friends around you helps you interact and entertain yourself and reduces your daily stress. Sharing stories, laughing, dancing, occasional parties, and celebrating daily can make your body happy and healthy. Humans were built to be social animals, and being an active part of the social culture helps us grow, learn and be happy. So, go out now and spend quality time with your friends. Be happy and make everyone happy.
5. Get in Shape
Your body is your vehicle in this journey called life. And all vehicles need maintenance to keep them running for a long time. So, work on your health and start with something simple: stretching, yoga, or walking. Make this an important part of your daily schedule and enjoy the benefits in the long run. Also, this daily dose of physical activity releases hormones that make us feel happy.
6. Smile
A cheerful face is not only relaxing, but it can also help you make new friends. A small smile gesture, real or forced, can prompt the brain to release positive emotions, reduce stress, help heart health, reduce blood pressure and boost your immune system. And physically, your smile will make you more attractive and confident and promotes trustworthiness, belonging and good intentions in a conversation.
7. Reconnect with Nature
Human beings were made to be a part of the natural world. Today, we live in our concrete jungles with all the tech gadgets and lavishes, away from nature. We should try to return to nature and disconnect with the digital world every once in a while. This connection with nature is important to recharge our batteries and help our bodies become healthier and happier.
8. Be Thankful
Be thankful for the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food that you consume, our ancestors who gave us this life, our family and friends who supported us in everything we did. Being thankful to people and nature every day can help you to be happy as it will make you realise the abundance within us and around us. This will help us feel satisfied with what we’ve got.
9. Live in the Moment
Stop regretting the past and stop worrying about the future. Live in the present, make the most use of the time that you have now. Today is all you have, so make it worth remembering. This quote from the Kung Fu Panda movie series wonderfully explains this-
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That’s why it is called a ‘present’.
Bill Keane
10. Follow your Ikigai
Discover your passion, something that will drive your days to something meaningful and of value. Something that can motivate you to get out of your bed every day to deliver some value. This will keep you going, learning and growing throughout your life. Keeping yourself busy with something will make you active and will be a reason for your body to be functional and happy for a longer time.
These were some of the key highlights from the book Ikigai that I found worth sharing with you all. Let me know what works for you and what doesn’t in the comments below. Finally, I wish you all a long, happy, healthy and abundant life ahead.
I’ll end this post with this thought –
Today is the first day… of the rest of your life.
John Denver
So each day, start fresh, do something meaningful and make your day worth remembering.