"The Art of Living with Purpose: My Take on Ikigai"
The Japanese philosophy of finding happiness in life’s purpose.
Do you think what is the meaning of my life? Am I here to just live longer or do I have another purpose? These phrases inspired my curiosity to read this book. I visualised All successful person worldly and eternally ( AL-Mutaqqeen, Salheen, and Shuhda), so they knew their purposes.
Roughly Ikigai is a Japanese concept, “Happiness of always being busy”.
It was amazing to know that the word “retirement” doesn’t exist in their dictionary. They believe in having purpose throughout life, which keeps them moving and doing.
So how does it inspire people to stay active until the very end? What
is the secret of a long happy life?
Writers of this book visited towns of Japan, Named Okinawa and Ogimi, interviewed their inhabitants, and observed the key factors of longevity:
· Healthful diet
· Simple life
· Green tea
· Teamwork
· Treat everyone like brothers
· Celebrating birthdays and cherishing each new day.
“The art of staying young while growing old”
Iki: life gai: to be worthwhile:
Ikigai:
1, Passion:
What you love
What you are good at
2, Profession:
What you are good at
What you can be paid for
3, Vocation:
What you can be paid for
What the world needs
4, Mission:
What you love
What the world needs
Let's see What the world‘s longest–living people eat and drink.
Tofu, Miso, Tuna, Carrots, Goya( bitter melon), Kombu ( sea kelp), Nori ( seaweed), Onion, Soy sprouts, Hechima (cucumber-like gourd), Soybeans sweet potato, Pepper, Sanpin cha ( Jasmin tea) reduce the risk of heart attack, strengthen the immune system, relieve stress, and lower cholesterol, and Shikuwasa ( citrus fruit, antioxidant, contains Vitamin C and B1 beta carotene, and minerals)
The writers observed that the Okinawa and Ogimi people are not sitting on chairs and reading the newspaper, instead they are moving in their gardens, doing gardening, arranging activities for the community, and playing games.
80 % secret:
Don’t fill your stomach, rather fill your belly to 80%. They present food in Four small dishes and one slightly big dish. They consume 1800 _ 1900 calories per day. This rule can be found in our Islamic teaching. Our eating habits influence our work health and relationships.
MoI is an informal group of people, with common interests where they contribute a particular amount of money, and use it in hard times, community dinners, and games of their common interests.
I couldn't resist sharing some of the deep words from the group of centurions.
The writer included some worldwide longevity supercentenarians, who lived 110 years or more. Behind these sayings, they have their own inspiring stories. Few of the sayings are full of hope.
Misao Okawa (117)
Eat and sleep, and you will live a long time. You have to learn to relax.
Walter Breuning 114
If you keep your mind and body busy, you will be around for a long time.
Alexander Imich 111
“I just haven’t died yet”
Tradition and proverbs for happiness and longevity.
The writers interviewed the inhabitants and found the secrets of living longer. They live in community life, where they cherish their celebration each day, together, and help each other in hard times. They believe in Don’t worry, cultivate good Habits, nurture your friendship daily.They Live an unhurried life, and are very optimistic.
Little things that add up to a long and healthy life
Aging velocity: Scientists are researching that if every year we add one year of life expectancy through technology we would achieve biological immortality. Although being Muslim is contrasted with our beliefs... But we can strive for better and more productive lives. The other nations are researching and working on it.
On the other hand, some scientists claim it’s impossible because our body cells stop regenerating after 120 years of age.
In this book, the writers explain if we take care of a few things we can have a better, healthier, purposeful, and meaningful life.
When we learn something, our brain creates new connections and it revitalize. So it is being believed A sound mind in a sound body. We should expose our brains to change, come out of our comfort zone, interact with people, and play games. It would help to prevent the depression. Learning something new and dealing with new situations are anti-aging strategies for the mind.
Writers highlighted how Stress is weakening our cell's structure, it triggers our cortisol (dopamine and blood glucose _ charged up) and adrenaline (raise the respiratory rate, prepare us to take action) hormones. Stress is affecting everything from the digestive system to our skin.
We need to relax and be mindful.
How we can relax and be mindful?
For me sitting relaxed after namaz doing mindful tasbihs, listening to The holy Quran, and memorizing hifz lessons is a break from my routine, where I find my spiritual connections with my lord Allah. And this helps me to turn off my autopilot. In the book, writers mentioned that breathing exercise and yoga helps to reduce stress and live longer. We have to adapt exercises in our day-to-day life.
Where we are talking about how stress is killing our productivity, there is an interesting thing, that little stress is good, It helps us to accept challenges, meet deadlines, complete our tasks, get conscious about our health, hit the gym, and quit bad habits.
A lot of sitting will age you.
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It reduces:
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How we can improve:
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Muscles Increase appetite Hypertension Imbalance eating Heart disease Osteoporosis Obesity
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Walking Socializing Replace the junk with fruits The right amount of sleep Spend time with family (keep mobile aside) Be conscious of your daily routine (محاسبہ )
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I often munch on snacks while watching TV, even when I'm not hungry.
However, I've noticed that a light walk after dinner eliminates this urge to
eat.
How to live longer and better by finding your purpose:
In this chapter, the writer touched on the concept of logotherapy by Viktor Frankl. They say that Logotherapy is a personal driving force that pushes the person to search for meanings and reasons to live and It helps to discover the purpose of life. Logotherapy is adopting an optimistic approach, spiritual and faith compatibility, dealing with conflicts, and finding the meaning of life.
Frankle quote is “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedom ____ to choose one attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” If the man’s spiritual connection is so strong that Allah has put me in this situation, there must be some khair, Hikmat, and learning through It. Now it is my responsibility how I will handle or respond.
Morita Therapy:
What we think, influences our feelings, and that influences our actions. Morita says, accept your emotions, don’t control them. Your feelings will change as a result of your actions. Create new emotions based on action.
Her therapy has 4 stages.
1) Isolation and rest
2) Do what you should be doing
3) Discover your purpose in life
4) The return to social life.
It reminded me of a verse from the holy Quran Surah Al-Hujurat ayat number 12
......يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِنْ الظَّنِّ، إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ
“O you who believe! Avoid most suspicion, for sure suspicion in some cases is a sin,...
Being a believer I should not think bad instead deal with husn-e-zan (good opinion). A positive mindset makes your heart open for others, and helps to adopt tolerance.
How we turn work and free time into spaces and growth
Normally in our free time, we binge-watch Netflix, and reels, resulting in depression and obesity. After reading I have learned even by productively watching these social media apps I can turn my free time to my growth. How is it possible? Let see the key factors mentioned in the book that help us to flourish are:
Flow: You are so immersed in the experience that, without being distracted, you become part of what you are doing. So you ignore what is happening in your surroundings.
Have you seen a book reader, laughing and crying, while reading. Reader is so immersed in reading, forgets the surrounding.
Clear Objectives: What is my objective in reading and reflecting on this book? What is my mission?
How will I keep the momentum up? The objective must be Clear.
Concentrate on a single task: Multi-tasking lowers our IQ levels, productivity, and creativity. It leads to less sleep, and the addiction to screens causes depression. So focusing on, One time one task helps to achieve flow and power of retention. We stay calm, controlled, and creative.
Microflow: We can achieve microflow by doing mundane tasks, doing laundry, doing dishes, hovering, and mopping. ... even Bill Gates enjoys doing dishes ... It is his microflow.
Human as a ritualistic body: Writers emphasize that the ritual gives us clear rules and objectives. When we pray and ask for help from Allah. It shows the clarity of thoughts about what we are going to do, how we will do and how we want it to end. While focusing on rituals (prayers) we can practice mindfulness. It helps to stay in flow.
Flow is mysterious
It’s like a mussel,
The more you train it
The more you will flow
The closer you will be to your Ikiga
Now take a pause and ask yourself these questions to have clarity of thought:
What kind of activities in my life make me enter flow.
What are the activities that drive me to flow?
For instance, In my free time, I like reading, learning, baking, or something creative such as crocheting, stitching, or knitting. I forget what's happening in my surroundings, and I want it to be complete, this gives me the feeling of contentment no matter how tired I am.
Why do these activities drive you to flow?
It's my passion, the goal is to do productive things that lead to my growth.
My favorite chapter is “How to face challenges without letting stress and worry age you”
Resilience prevails in those who find their Ikigai. They never give up, and pursue their passion at any cost. They face hardship back and forth and keep going.
Resilience is to stay determined on what is important rather than what is urgent. Staying calm, earning good deeds, and having peace of mind are more important than rushing after everything. We have to pick and choose and try our best to make right choices.
How can we be resilient all the time, because there is the chance to be carried away by negative emotions.
We have to become anti-fragile. Difficult moments are part of everyone's life according to their status, state of mind, and ability. How we deal with these setbacks and get up to what is meaningful for us. For that, instruct minds, bodies, and emotions:
Nana korobi ya oki
Fall seven times, rise eight.
Our task is to concentrate on what we can control and stop worrying about what we don’t control. It helps to resist giving in to negative emotions and leads to living in the present moment and hoping It won't come again. Things are impermanence.We should not lose ourselves in worries about the past and for the future.
Beyond resilience: antifragility has growth, in resilience, we stay the same, but in antifragility, we are exposed to risk, come out of our comfort zone, and take small risks.
Here are a few tips on how to become antifragile?
- Get rid of things that make you fragile.
- Stop snacking between meals.
- Eat sweet ones in a week.
- Gradually pay all debt.
- Avoid toxic people.
Avoid spending time on the things we don't enjoy only we are obliged to do them, spend no more than twenty minutes.
Each setback is the future of growth, refining our lifestyle, and staying focused on our Ikigai.
In Okinawa and Ogimi people had primary and secondary occupations. Most of them keep vegetable gardens as a secondary income they sell their produce in the market.
Although Our Ikigai is different for all of us, one thing is common we all are looking for meaningful life.
There are Powerful forces, money power, attention, and success that want to control us but don’t let them.
In the end, we learn there is no particular formula and strategy to connect with Ikigai, it is just to be happy, not worry more. Be someone who keeps busy doing what he loves, and is surrounded by the people who support and encourage him.
Critique:
Now close your eyes and think what changes you will add to make your life purposeful?
Where do you see yourself in next year?
Is your ikigai is forcing you to smile?
Key takeaways from the book are:
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