How to Ikigai

Lessons for Finding Happiness and Living Your Life's Purpose

Tim Tamashiro

• Publisher: Mango
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781633539013
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Mental Health & Wellbeing

Transform Your Life With Ikigai

"The practice of Ikigai leads to a longer and more joy-filled life'" ? Elise Marie Collins, author of Super Ager

#1 Bestseller in Customs & Traditions

Discover the secret to lasting happiness and longevity in this transformative self-help book based on the ancient Japanese, time-tested wisdom of Ikigai.

Find joy in life's journey with Ikigai. This ancientwisdom from Okinawa, Japan, can illuminateyour path to self-improvement. Okinawa, Japan is a tiny island south of the Japanese mainland where people live their life's purpose every day. How to Ikigai explores the lifestyle choices that have led to an island full of fulfilled, long-living people.

Embrace longevity through the Ikigai philosophy. Learn to age gracefully, armed with the secrets of one of the longest-living communities on earth. By integrating Ikigai into your life, you foster an attitude of gratitude, infuse your days with happiness, and inspire purposeful living.

How to Ikigai explains a simple four-directions map for living a meaningful life. Do what you love, do what you're good at, do what the world needs, and do what you can be rewarded for.

In this groundbreaking self-help book, you'll discover:

• An engaging exploration of the Ikigai philosophy, offering profound insights into finding your life purpose
• Practical steps for implementing Ikigai in your everyday life, paving the way for happiness and self-improvement
• Powerful narratives showcasing Ikigai in action, like the inspiring story of David Michiels

If you liked books such as Awakening Your Ikigai, My Little Ikigai Journal, or Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, you'll love How to Ikigai. Also, be sure to listen to Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson's podcast exploring Ikigai with Tim Tamashiro.

Chapter One

Welcome to Ikigai

Welcome to the concept of Ikigai, your life’s worth. Ikigai is “the reason you get out of bed in the morning.” It’s what you do, every day, that’s meaningful to you and to others. You might not understand what your Ikigai is right now, but this book is here to help you figure it out.

The first thing you need to know is that Ikigai is a word and concept that comes from Okinawa, Japan. To pronounce the word correctly the first thing you must do is smile. Lift your cheeks in a bright grin and start with the sound EE, as in we or free. The Japanese pronounce the letter i as EE. Since there are three i’s in Ikigai, then to pronounce the word properly, you say EE-kee-guy (with a smile).

The second thing you need to know is that your Ikigai is within reach. This book is intended to help you shine a spotlight on your Ikigai. Once you zoom in on what you’re good at, and what you love to do, your Ikigai will begin to offer you rewards. You’ll get out of bed every day with a clear understanding of why you got out of bed in the first place.

In addition to its being your purpose—the reason you get out of bed in the morning—Ikigai is a map. When you practice your purpose, you are also following a map that can lead you to discovering your gifts. Once you discover your gifts, every day that you practice your Ikigai, you will also become more in tune with these gifts. You’ll find yourself sharing them often and others will reward you for doing it. Ikigai is a map that travels in a circle of gifts.

When I was hired to be a radio host at CBC Radio 2, little did I know that I would find a dozen chances each day to feel the full circle of gifts that come from Ikigai. On the surface, the job description was to research the songs that would be played on each night’s broadcast and to share details with the listeners. I was pleased to learn that being a radio host was much more than that. I got twelve chances to tell meaningful one-minute stories on each show.

The job of a radio host is to be a companion to the listener. 90 percent of the people that listen to the radio are tuning in by themselves. They are driving a vehicle or listening through headphones on their smartphones as they ride on a train or bus. Some listeners could be at home doing the dishes or working on a project in the wood shop. My job was to make the spaces between the songs as meaningful as, or more meaningful than, the songs.

CBC provides wonderful support for radio hosts. I worked with trusted producers and two radio coaches. Early in my training, the coaches taught me that there are only four kinds of stories to tell on the radio. They cited radio coaching expert Valerie Geller, sharing that “head, heart, pocketbook, and transformation” radio stories would be the focus of the narratives I would tell. The stories I would write and share each day would make the listeners think and feel. I would tell stories that could provide information about financial security. I would also tell stories of full transformations that began with “once upon a time” and ended with “they lived happily ever after.”

The coaches inspired me to find tales that would matter to the listeners. The stories needed to be meaningful. I worked very hard each day to find ones that related to the songs, the artists, and the songwriters. When I found a story, I would have to figure out a way to understand why it felt meaningful to me. Did it share facts or an emotion? My challenge was to write each story and to deliver it on the radio so that it delighted the audience.

I worked very hard at researching, writing, and delivering the stories every day. Then one day, a thick envelope arrived in the mail. It was a from a man named Gerry who lived in a tiny town called Estevan, Saskatchewan. Inside the envelope, I found a handmade cardboard card and a small stack of photographs and photocopies. Gerry was an avid gardener and a former jazz musician. He was writing to tell me how much he enjoyed the radio show each night. Gerry also sent along photos of blossoms in his garden. He had Oscar Peterson roses and he had set up speakers outside, so he could listen to jazz all day long as he tended his flowers. Gerry had sent me the most wonderful gift. He showed that the music and the stories mattered to him every day.

Many more listeners would share their own stories of the delight they found in the radio show I hosted. I sent delight out each show through the radio waves, and the listeners sent delight back to me in return.

Figuring out your life’s purpose may feel like a daunting task. Where do you start? Is there science that supports ‘life purpose’? What steps do you take, and how do you know you’re on the right path? Th...