Ikigai meaning: 5 Steps to unlocking your life's joy
Ikigai meaning: 5 Steps to unlocking your life's joy
Some people seem to possess an inner joy that helps them navigate life's challenges with a positive attitude. Their secret may lie in the Japanese concept of "ikigai," which offers a path to finding purpose and meaning in daily living. Ikigai provides a framework for self-discovery, allowing you to identify your passions, embrace a more fulfilling mindset, and cultivate lasting happiness. By exploring this philosophy, you can learn to appreciate life's simple pleasures and maintain motivation, even in difficult times. Join us as we delve into the essence of ikigai from the Japanese and Western perspectives and discover how it can guide you toward a more joyful existence.
What is ikigai and what does it mean?
Ikigai (生き甲斐, "ee-kee-guy") is a Japanese concept. It describes the things that make your life worthwhile and that give you a deep sense of purpose, satisfaction, and joy.
Ikigai is made up of two Japanese words, iki (生き), which means life, and kai (甲斐), meaning effect, result, value, benefit, or worth. Iki and kai come together to give us ikigai: a reason to live/to exist.
(If you're curious, the "k" turns into a "g" due to a linguistic phenomenon known as 'rendaku'. In Japanese, voiceless consonants (such as "k" in kai) become voiced (e.g., "g" in gai) when they appear in front of words that make up the second part of a compound.)
Although the concept of ikigai is well-known among Japanese people, Psychiatrist Mieko Kamiya first popularized it in her 1966 book Ikigai ni Tsuite - (生きがいについて - On the meaning of life).
The word has recently made its way into Western culture. It's sometimes defined as the 'secret to a happy life' or 'something that brings pleasure or fulfillment.' (This isn't entirely accurate, but we can clear that up later.)
What's the history of ikigai?
The origin of the word ikigai dates back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). Professor Akihiro Hasegawa has studied the concept of ikigai for many years.
He believes the 'kai' comes from the Japanese word for shell or shellfish (貝). During the Heian period, shells were valuable. They were often hand-decorated by artists and used as part of a shell-matching game called "kai-awase" (貝合わせ). Only the rich could afford these beautiful and valuable shells. This is how the word kai became synonymous with worth, value, and benefit.
The misconception of ikigai and your professional career in the west
Ikigai has risen in popularity over the past few years. Blogs and news outlets, such as the BBC have published countless stories such as Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a happy life. Unfortunately, many people in the West confuse ikigai with a certain Venn diagram about 'finding your purpose'.
The Western interpretation of Ikigai, popularized by Marc Winn
This ikigai diagram comprises four overlapping circles. Each circle contains a question. And each set of circles comes together to describe one's passion, mission, professional career, and vocation. Once you've contemplated each question, you can reveal your ikigai / life purpose.
The four questions ask whether or not you're doing...
- Something that you love
- Something that the world needs
- Something you're good at
- Something you can be paid for
Entrepreneur Marc Winn popularized the diagram. He combined the ikigai concept with a purpose-finding process invented by Spanish astrologer Andrés Zuzunaga in 2011. It became popular and turned into a meme. Many English-speaking cultures reference it as the authoritative definition of ikigai. (Credit goes to Nicholas Kemp for chronicling the history of ikigai's misconceptions.)
The purpose diagram can help people find balance in their lives, but its advice helps with finding an ideal career, rather than life advice. It has nothing to do with the Japanese concept of ikigai. The online ikigai diagram suggests that meeting all four conditions is necessary to achieve true happiness or ikigai.
That's not true, because it implies you can't experience ikigai if you do something you love but aren't getting paid for it. Your life passion might not be related to your professional career.
And while we're at it, let's clear up a certain geographical misconception.
Okinawan centenarians don't hold the secret to ikigai. Yes, life expectancy is surprisingly high in Okinawa (the southernmost prefecture of Japan) which is why it's on the list of Blue Zones.1 Authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles interviewed a group of Okinawan citizens over the age of 100 to discover their life philosophies for their book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. But it had the effect of placing Okinawa as the center of ikigai, which isn't correct.
Professor Hasegawa found that location doesn't influence people's ikigai. Rather, it has to do with a healthy life, intellectual activeness, and perceived social behavior/roles.