IKIGAI - The Japanese Secret to a Long Happy Life
November 20, 2020
I recently completed reading a very inspiring book - IKIGAI - The Japanese Secret to a Long Happy Life.
The book is written by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles.
This blog is not just review but also my learnings from the book.
**Purpose** of writing this blog is to motivate people to read the book, if unable to read then at least read this blog that summarizes learnings from the book.
During lockdown after feeling bored for days, I got suggestion from one of my friend to read this book Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to Long and Happy Life. And it is one of the best suggestion I have got.
This book is all about the purpose of one’s life, and how it can lead to happiness. The authors Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles when learned about Ikigai, decided to find the real meaning and how it works. They decided to visit Okinawa, the island with most centenarians in the world, who believe that their Ikigai is the reason to jump out of bed each morning!. Just like the others, Ikigai was a mystery for me too. Reading about the island and the community, centenarians, left me puzzled and curious to know and understand more about it. Now reading this book was not just a quarantine pass time activity, it was a mystery to be unfolded.
In simple terms, Ikigai means the purpose of your life. Everybody has a purpose in their life. Without a purpose to fulfil, or a goal to chase, life would appear meaningless. Ikigai is a combination of what you love, what are you good at, what world needs, and what you can be paid for. A compound of your passion, profession, mission and vocation.
In short if you want to know how to live long, read this book
This book asks some important questions like
- What is the meaning of my life?
- Is the point just to live longer, or should I seek a higher purpose?
- Why do some people know what they want and have a passion for life, while others languish in confusion?
These questions help us to understand meaning of ikigai.
Once you understand the meaning of the word Ikigai, the book tries to explain
- the deep art of staying young while growing old.
- It gives the references of 5 Blue Zones in the world where residents of these places live longer than average and secrets of their long life.
- This book explains how stress, a lot sitting adds up to your age and makes reduces your life duration.
- Interestingly it also mentions very prominently that little stress is good for you since it keeps you going.
- it helps you deep dive into discovering the meaning of your life.
- Finding flow in everything that you do
- The book also talks about some very interesting techniques to practice which can help you achieve the flow.
- Highlights importance of resilience
- Finally gives 10 rules of ikigai
This book concludes by saying Life is pure imperfection, but if you have a clear sense of your ikigai, each moment will hold so many possibilities that it will seem almost like an eternity.
This is First part of series, I will write few more parts of blog to summarize my learning from each chapters.
You can find those in series [here](https://hashnode.com/series/ikigai-the-japanese-secret-to-a-long-happy-life-ckhk63qzh019q3hs162sk8l8h) ,
please do subscribe to newsletter for updates.
