Ask yourselves three questions?
What gets you up in the morning? Is it something you are passionate about?
What keeps you going?
What makes you loose sense of your time?
If you answer the above questions , then certainly you will find your IKIGAI.
I was returning from Liverpool from a conference. I had few realisation. I read somewhere, if you have some idea pops into your head, you should write it down. Thats why I like train journeys, often it will open up the closed windows behind the back of you mind.
Few of these ideas I developed from the book called IKIGAI. A term used in Japanese language. The simple way to put this is, an IKIGAI is, what motivates you in life that get you out of the bed in the morning. To explain this term, the book asked us, have you ever been in that position, where you lost sense of time and place? I asked myself the same question and found two answers. Yes, of course we all have had those moments. But have ever reflected on these moments? Have we ever thought keep ourselves engaged in this FLOW STATE.
The book described a town/area in Japan where people lives a longer , happy life. They have lived in a stress free mind through many ups and downs in life.
They believe there is noting called retirement . Even the Most elderly man in the town is never sitting idly, just because how passionate they are about their work. How did they find the joy?
They found their Ikigai, flow state and incorporated that into their lives. They also live in harmony together with everyone in the town where everyone helps each other out despite always running host of supply. They gather in a local communal area and join their morning exercise. They do not believe in high intensity exercise rather they like to walk.
They never work towards perfection rather they enjoy the moment they live in by doing what they doing without thinking about success and failure.
They eat 80% and stops eating when they remain slightly hungry to prevent themselves from falling into lethargic, unproductive state. ( I remembered a Hadith, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: ‘A human being fills no worse vessel than his stomach. It is sufficient for a human being to eat a few mouthfuls to keep his spine straight. But if he must (fill it), then one third of food, one third for drink and one third for air.’”Sunan Ibn Majah 3349).
Commenti