Ikigai

Hello people! How are you? I hope you had an amazing January. I did as I visited Hyderabad and little bit of Bangalore too. Today, I will be sharing a short summary, lessons and my favourite lines of the book, Ikigai- The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

A quick summary

Ikigai is a 194-page novel which mainly focuses on Japanese philosophies and lifestyle choices to live a long and happy life. Ikigai, by word, is a Japanese concept which translates as a reason to live or to jump out of bed each morning. The authors, Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles say that this novel will give the life-changing tools to uncover one's ikigai.

The book is the conclusion from interviews of some of the inhabitants of Japan's Okinawa island where people live longer than anywhere else in the world to unlock the secret in their ability to enjoy life to the fullest and sustain mental, spiritual and physical well-being.

The Japanese believe that one of the most important and underpinning principles of happiness is to find one's ikigai. The following is a Venn diagram by Marc Winn. Your ikigai lies at the centre of those interconnecting circles.

Besides having an ikigai, it is equally important to practice self-care. Who would find a passion only to realize that their health is failing and they will not be able to enjoy what they love in the years to come? Considering this, there are four areas of self-care highlighted in the book:

1. The Ikigai Diet-

Locals of Okinawa eat a wide variety of foods, especially vegetables and fruits which are rich in antioxidants. They rarely eat sugar, and if they do, it's cane sugar. They consume little meat or processed foods and drink alcohol in moderation.

The 80 per cent secret - One of the most common sayings in Japan is "Hara hachi bu", which is repeated before or after eating and means something like "Fill your belly to 80%". Okinawans stop eating when they feel their stomachs reach 80% of their capacity. They believe that if the body regularly consumes enough, or too many calories, then it gets lethargic and starts to wear down, expending significant energy on digestion alone.

2. Gentle Movements, Longer Life-

Okinawans don't do strenuous exercise, but they do move every day, taking walks and working in their vegetable gardens. Studies suggest that the people who live longest are not the ones who do the most exercise but rather the ones who move the most.

Metabolism slows down 90% after 30 minutes of sitting. The enzymes that move the bad fat from the arteries to the muscles, where it can get burned off, slow down. And after two hours, good cholesterol drops by 20%. Just getting up for five minutes is going to get things going again.

Okinawans focus on combining physical exercise with unawareness of their breath. These two components- movement and breath- help us to bring our consciousness in line with our body, instead of allowing our mind to be carried away by the sea of daily worries.

3. Active mind, youthful body-

Just as a lack of physical exercise has negative effects on our bodies and mood, a lack of mental exercise is bad for us too. It is important to give our brain a workout by dealing with new situations, learning something new every day, playing games and interacting with other people i.e. exposing ourselves to change, even if it is stepping outside our comfort zone.

4. Moai- Connected for life:

The moai is an informal group of people with common interests who look out for one another. It is customary in Okinawa to form close bonds within local communities. This feeling of belonging and support gives the individual a sense of security and helps increase life expectancy.

My favourite quotes:

• He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.

• We all have the capacity to do noble or terrible things. The side of the equation we end up on depends on our decisions, not on the condition in which we find ourselves.

• We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit -by Aristotle

• Fall seven times, rise eight. -Japanese proverb

I hope you learnt something through reading this blog. If Yes, then make sure to like the blog, comment, share and subscribe to the email newsletter if you haven't yet. I post a blog every Monday at 7 pm IST, until then

Happy Reading!