Ikigai: The Reason for Being

Ikigai is actually a Japanese word that explains or describes what makes us human or what makes us whole. The word Ikigai is broken into two parts, Iki which actually represents life and gai which describes the value or worth of oneself. The one is said to give us meaning and help us find our purpose in life, it can also give us happiness or reason to keep pushing to make us achieve our goals.

There are certain rules that govern Ikigai, it's more or less a philosophy that governs it. The rules are;

Be active always, instead of just lazing around doing nothing. It can be helping someone out in doing something productive; doing something that can input value to you. I know this may be difficult except you have a job or business to run, as so many youths or people literally be with their phone all day because they can access 80% per cent of what they need online but still, it’s better if we do something offline with our hands that keep us busy and give us the pleasure of making progress.

Take life slowly as possible; so many people are always in a hurry to do so many things. It can be, in a hurry to get rich, in a hurry to find happiness, in a hurry to get a job, or in a hurry to find true love. The truth is every journey begins with just a little step and not a jump, so if you are in a hurry to find whatever you are looking for, you might miss other goods things that you might experience or get on the way or even a chance to live life, so take things slowly.

Save for tomorrow; saving is also important in one’s life because never can tell what tomorrow might bring or what need we might have for it. Thinking about the present only can sometimes ruin the future so don’t just focus on what you crave for the moment but also consider what you might crave for the future.

Happiness can be gotten from those close and true to you, so it’s important to be with people that make you happy, those that bring you peace of mind and joy because happiness is one of the key features of having a good lasting life and try as much to avoid negative energy that might want to obstruct that.

Give out that lovely smile you’ve got and stop bottling it inside, smiling makes you look younger and it also helps relieve stress and makes you happy. Smiling also helps you connect to people and shows you have good energy and they will always welcome you.

Be with one with nature once in a while; reconnecting with nature helps replenish your body physically and mentally and doing this involves meditation, picnicking on grassland and eating outside, having a garden to attend to or any activity that can connect you to the earth or nature itself.

Don’t dwell in the past because regrets can fix the present and give you a future so instead live the moment, enjoy your present and take the past as a lesson for guidance for what’s to come. Even we know tomorrow will come but what we should also know is that it’s not certain so the best thing to do is enjoy today, the present because it’s all we have now.

Exercise your body and mind; yeah no one is born with a bad body and shape but it’s important we get in shape because not only does it makes us look good but also makes us healthy and exercising the mind involves meditation and it’s good to do it at least once a day because they can also make us happy.

Lastly, give thanks and be grateful. No matter what we do or where we find ourselves, it’s important to give thanks and be grateful for it because it gives us certain happiness and creates a way for better things to come.