Happiness Course

Purpose Of Life Ikigai (What Is Ikigai)

Hello friends, by finding your Purpose of Life and working on it you can achieve a level that is irreplaceable. Even technique won’t be able to replace you.

There is an island in Japan, called Okinawa, where people manage to live for more than 100 years of age. 

Even people who are 80 to 90 years of age are very healthy and happily manage to do their own work.

“They work their entire life with joy and never think of retiring. Every person on this island lives a happy and peaceful life because they use a very powerful formula.

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This formula is called ikigai – which means “The reason for living” – the purpose of your life.

Japanese people believe that you are in this world with a purpose and that purpose is your ikigai.

If you work apart from your purpose you won’t be happy and you will live in stress and your brain will always be anxious to find that purpose!

But the good news is by using this formula, any person living anywhere in the world can find his or her ikigai and even live a purposeful life. 

When we are in college or school most of us are in a dilemma about what career to select or what to do in life.

We seek advice from family members, friends & relatives. Some may tell us you should select the work that you love to do, others might say that you should select the work that you are good at.

Few may suggest that you should select the work that will pay you more money while others may say that you should do what the world needs.

The problem here is that we are advised to select one of these which is wrong and doesn’t really help to discover the true purpose.

But ikigai is the combination of these four parts.

And out of these four if any one part is not taken into consideration then you might miss your ikigai.

Let’s understand Purpose of Life better from the following diagram. 

Purpose of Life

The first circle is what you love. This circle will contain all those things you love to do.

The second circle is what you are good at. This circle will contain all those things that you are good at or an expert in. 

The third circle is you can be paid for. This circle will contain those things or work for which you can be paid for.

The fourth circle is what the world needs. This will contain all those tasks or works that the world needs from you.

When you combine the first two circles you will discover your passion, which means the things that you love to do as well as you are good at it. And it is your passion.

For example you love to learn about programming and making new apps and you are also good at it. Then that becomes your passion. 

The intersection of the second and the third circle helps to discover your profession which means the things you are good at as well as you can be paid for it. It becomes your profession.

For example you are good at teaching and you also get paid for it then that becomes your profession.

The intersection of third and fourth circle will help you to discover your vocation which means the work or service you get paid for as well as the world or society needs it then that becomes your vocation.

For example you have written a book and that is useful for the world and you also get paid. 

And finally the intersection of fourth and first circle helps to discover your mission, which means the work or service that you love to do and the world needs it too. Then that becomes your mission. 

For example you love to reach out and counsel the depressed youth and the world needs such a service.

Now the problem arises when people tell you that you need to discover your passion, but finding passion is not enough. Because that’s just a part of your ikigai. You need to find the work that satisfies the other three components of ikigai.

For example suppose you love to write blogs, you are good at it, and the topics you write on the blog is also loved by the world and demands more such write-ups and finally you are also making money by blogging through ads or other royalties, so blogging satisfies all components namely, Passion, Profession, Vocation and Mission, which means blogging is your ikigai.

Your aim should be to find out the tasks or work that satisfies these four parts. The central intersection of these four circles is your ikigai which means you will discover the work which you love to do, in which you are also good at, which pays you as well as the world needs it too.

Once you are able to discover your ikigai, you will be able to live a long and stress free life. 

To give you real life example Sachin Tendulkar loves to play cricket, by practicing daily he has become an expert in cricket he also gets paid for it and the world loves to see him play. So for Sachin cricket satisfies all the four components of ikigai which means cricket is Sachin’s ikigai.

If you check the life of most of the popular personalities of the world all of them have discovered their ikigai. That is why they became successful and had gone ahead of others.

You will not be able to find your ikigai quickly but listen to your inner voice and try to do various works. 

What Is Ikigai

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