The Japanese Concept of Ikigai: Living your Values
What do we mean by Ikigai?
Ikigai has been defined as “an experiential, everyday life phenomena that relates to a reason for your being” (Kotera et al., 2021), or more simply the reason we get up each morning. This “reason or purpose to live”, similar to the French ‘raison d’être’, has been shown to be “an important criterion for human happiness and longevity” (Ziesche and Yampolskiy, 2020).
The ancient Japanese philosophy of Ikigai was pushed into the global spotlight in 2016 by the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, from Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. Since the book’s release, Western authors and psychologists have often explored the concept of Ikigai within the context of one’s professional career, though traditionally it is said to relate to wider effects on emotional, physical and mental wellbeing across a person’s life.
How do I find my Ikigai?
Relating to your work and/or a hobby/craft, ask yourself:
What do I love?
What am I good at?
What does the world around me need?
What can I be paid or rewarded for?
If you can do what you love together with what you are good at you will have a passion.
If you can do what you love together with what the world needs then you will have a mission.
If you can do what the world needs and be rewarded for it then you will find your vocation.
If you can do what you can be rewarded for alongside what you are good at then you will find your profession.
Use the above Venn diagram to visualise the overlap between these 4 qualities. At the intersection is our Ikigai, underpinned by our values.
Live your values
Our values act like a compass guiding our actions. They move us towards our deepest desires for how we truly want to act in our lives. They are not feelings, rather choices about the actions we want to take. Transcending cultural differences, there are many universal values, such as honesty, fairness, kindness and justice. However, deep down in our unique psyches, we all prioritise a mix of different values individually.
When we are aware of what these are, these values can really help us to overcome difficult times and emotions. In this way anxiety, depression, and anger do not prevail in driving us off our path.
Sometimes our values can become lost beneath social morals, expectations or demands. We may wish to live more naturally and sustainably, but social pressures require us to follow more modern measurements of success. Perhaps deep down you are really an artist, but a job in accounting pays the bills better. That’s to say it isn’t easy to do what we love, what we’re good at AND get paid what we need, without compromising somewhere. But, what we do gain is the motivation to jump out of bed with meaning and purpose every day.
Find your values and achieve Ikigai
Life consists of relationships, leisure time, work (paid or unpaid) and study, and personal growth and health. In each of these different areas, consider how much you are behaving like the person you want to be. With this, try to identify 3-5 of your most important values, and then attempt to bring them more consciously into the way you behave every day.
Use this list to help find your values, picking and grading if they are Not Important/Quite Important/Very Important to you
Next, use the bull's eye exercise to find out how closely you are currently living these areas of your life in relation to your now identified values
Very often we discover our values when we are caring, contributing or in connection with others. Purpose is revealed in those little moments of satisfaction that we feel when someone smiles at something we did, or sighs with relief because of something we have said. If we can recognise the values underpinning our actions (that cause these responses in others), then we can capture some of the ingredients of Ikigai.
