what's your reason to get up in the morning?
We’re big fans of Ikigai. It’s a unique and very democratic Japanese philosophy. Much like Hey Sunday. Ikigai literally translates as “Life’s worth” or “Reason for being”.
If you haven’t done already, we strongly suggest that you read Ken Mogi’s seminal “Little Book of Ikigai – The Essential Japanese Way To Finding Your Way In Life”
We see it is as your reason to get up in the morning and the reason to make you feel that your roles in life – work, family, relationships, tribe and community – are valuable.
It is a key to your inner potential.
There are 5 pillars of Ikigai:
These five pillars provide the supporting framework for finding your ikigai and allowing it to grow and flourish. They are not the only pillars, but they are the ones that are acknowledged as being vital. Nor need they be used in any particular order.
But….
Before starting on your mission to find your ikigai, we recommend that you take a look at your self-acceptance.
Accepting yourself is one of ikigai’s most marvellous secrets and a key to finding your true inner potential and ultimately happiness.
If you feel like you’re not being your true self and are living the burden of today’s social definition of what you “should be”, you might be living with an alter ego or illusory self. Letting go of this will help your true self to be dominant and is the way to self-acceptance.
Once you have self-acceptance, you can try and find your own ikigai which will help you with happiness in everything you do, whether that be work, relationships, gardening, doing the pots etc
Ikigai should be adopted as a way of life… this needs practice and will be an evolution.
There is no right or wrong way of doing this, so experiment and have some fun with it!
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