How do you feel about the emotional quality of your life, that enormous part of you that’s often called the ‘inner self’? Are you stressed, do you find it difficult to sleep, do thoughts of work fill your mind? If so, it may be time to discover your ‘ikigai’.

Our Emotional quality or ikigai, a Japanese word that has no direct translation into English. Ikigai means “the reason for being”, “the sense of being connected to something deeper and more meaningful than day-to-day survival, a quality that brings richness and fulfilment to our lives.”

In Japanese, ikigai is written  生き甲斐 combining 生き, which means ‘life’, with 甲斐, which means ‘to be worthwhile’. Ikigai gives us an invaluable sense of purpose. When we follow our ikigai, we discover a passion inside us, a unique talent that brings meaning to every day and drives to share the best of ourselves with others.

“Our Greatest Potential for Success is to Build on who you already are. You cannot be anything you want to be but you can be a lot more of who you already are” – Tom Rath

Every day when we wake up and start a new day, we fill it with great power. We create this day. We create a reason for being in a world that is a lot much bigger than just our personal survival. We create ikigai, the quality of our life, the reason for being.

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai, and everyone has a potential to develop their ‘raison d’etre’. We are putting the track down in front of the train, and change the direction in tune with us. In tune with our emotions, our senses, our integrity. And we cannot even imagine how energized, alive, focused and full of natural strengths we can feel.

“Okinawas live by the principle ichariba chode or ‘treat everyone like a brother’, and practice yuimaaru or teamwork”

Now for a moment let us imagine ourselves in a small island in the south of Japan called Okinawa. The inhabitants of this island are widely known for their extraordinary longevity – there are 24.55 people over the age of 100 for every 100,000 inhabitants – far more than the global average. Is it a healthful diet, a simple life in the outdoors, the subtropical climate or something really precious that shapes their life? 

Hector Garcia and Francesk Miralles studied the secrets of the Japanese centenarians in person, in their rural villages, with people who speak ancient dialects.

The first thing that surprised them when they arrived in the village was that incredible friendliness of the residents, an uncommon joy that guides them through their whole life. Okinawas live by the principle ichariba chode or ‘treat everyone like a brother’, and practice yuimaaru or teamwork, being a part of community. They nurture friendship, eat light, get enough rest, do regular moderate exercise and cherish each new day.

“We often do not have time for ourselves.”

Now let us think about ourselves. Now. Today. Every day. Every moment. In today’s extremely busy life we often wake up with the thought – “I need to go to work, earn money, double the revenue of my business, I need to win this competition and get funding today. I need to Earn, Win, Gain, Sell, Buy, Meet, Travel  and so on.”

We usually simply do not have time to think about our energy, fulfillment, integrity, stillness, inner harmony and balance.  “I just can’t fail today, and I need to focus on my business now. I don’t have time for morning exercises, healthy food, walking in the fresh air and a weekend trip with family or friends. It’s too much for now.”– these words are maybe a bit exaggerated, but they ring  true for many of us. We often do not have time for ourselves. From the very first minute when we wake up, we are absorbed with numerous thoughts, plans, and problems. 

This is what I used to experience by myself about two years ago. I thought only about work.  I worked almost 24 hours a day. During breakfast I did not really enjoy the food, but was absorbed by the thoughts about the forthcoming day – I thought about my long way to work in the traffic, about a long and busy day at work with numerous tasks and issues to solve, and then – about the end of the day, when I would come back home and start preparing for work for the next day. It was like a circle, never ending, eternal and gravitational. Work. Business. Money. More money. More Business. And I completely forget about Life. Life in its full. Life in its all senses.

“Material wealth without inner peace is like dying of thirst while swimming in a lake.” – Paramhansa Yogananda

Inner Peace. It sounds so big and powerful. And at the same time, so difficult to achieve. However, actually it is very simple – Inner peace is our Choice. Every day we have between 50,000 and 90,000 thoughts, which are going on all the time, mostly unconsciously. Most of them are the same and most of them go unnoticed – just a background hum that interferes with our inner and outer world.

“We are not our thoughts, we have thoughts”

Sometimes we have different thoughts on different topics in one minute. Sometimes it looks like a nightmare and you think “How have I even got this in my head?!”  The only thing we really need in such moments is to switch off all this hum in the head and just Pause. Stop for a minute. And when we stop, we can direct our attention to something that really matters, something really valuable and precious. If we realize, that “we are not our thoughts, but we have thoughts”, life will get much simpler for sure. And it is always our choice whether to be involved in numerous thoughts, or direct them.

There was a period in my life when my brain analyzed everything all the time. Even while sleeping, in my dreams I was thinking and worrying about something. It was constant.  I thought I could do nothing to break out of this cycle. And I really could do nothing, until I realized one important thing – I am Ok. There is nothing wrong with me.

When I get multiple worries and thoughts, I ask myself – “Are these worth worrying about right now? Or can I leave them to one side.?” – I can definitely do this and it is not  a problem at all. If you ask yourself the same, there will be 10% or less thoughts to be worried about. Because we are Fine, Ok, Great and Amazing. Why should we worry about our work, a business meeting, and even a competition, if we are Ok. I have just realized, that if we accept ourselves, we accept our thoughts, and they just pass.

“We can intentionally change our brain and nervous system for the better” – Dr. Barbara Mariposa

It is fantastic to discover that our brain changes shape according to how we use it.

It is neuroplasticity. Our brain has been reshaping and shifting all our life as a result of experiences we have had and what we have made of them. Here we remember about our huge potential that we have and have not used yet. We remember about our dream that we would like to fulfill, but think it is impossible. It is Possible. Everything is Possible. It just depends on how you approach your dream. How you believe in it. What is your motivation. What is your plan to achieve it. Your attitude. And your actions.

For example, imagine that you have spent the last five years of your life on a job that brings you lots of money, but no personal growth at all. You may feel like you have lost your energy, motivation and passion for life. But you always have a Choice. You can just do it – change your life in one day and start doing what you really love. Or keep your great potential buried forever. Just remember – our brain is always prone to neuroplasticity, to changes, to positive changes, to development and improvement.

“When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change” – Wayne Dyer

What is highly significant for positive changes in our life is appreciation. The ability to be appreciative shifts the way we see the world and alters our brain’s shape and wiring. We get more connected to ourselves and the whole world. Whatever we focus on gets bigger and gets more energy. “Energy flows where attention goes”, and when we learn how to focus our energy on the things that nourish and fulfill us, amazing things happen. We discover our ikigai.The article is inspired by fantastic books: ‘Mindfulness’ by Dr. Barbara Mariposa and ‘Ikigai’ by Hector Garcia and Frangesc Miralles.