Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Finding A Reason to Get Up in the Morning - Ikigai

I encourage anyone reading this to skip down to the section labelled "The Process" and try the exercise out for yourself (the beginning is introduction and my own story if that's of interest to you). If you don't have time now, schedule it in for later. You might be surprised at how a simple reflection can go a long way. Even if you already have a strong "reason to get up in the morning", this might change your perspective slightly and in interesting ways.

As some may already know, I've been doing things a little differently these past few months. 

I decided to do a bit of exploring instead of proceeding straight into the fall semester of my senior year at Cornell. In place of taking classes on campus, I'm earning my credits by completing online courses at another institution. This has allowed me to travel to various locations and more fully immerse myself in my education and personal development through a variety of experiences and teachers that I've sought out and met along the way. It has been an incredible ride; the learning and growth that has occurred exceeds any expectations I could have hoped for. 

True growth, of course, doesn't come without its fair share of trials and tribulations. It seems like some sort of crisis emerges at each transition from one leg of the journey (or geographic location) to another. For the purpose of the current post, I'll only go into one in particular.

A couple of weeks ago I left Lexington, Kentucky, where I had stayed with Kelsey (my amazing girlfriend, for those who don't know) for three or so weeks, and landed in Orlando, Florida, where my mom now lives. Orlando was a sort of pit stop on the way to my current location (Miami, Florida). 

Whether it was the somewhat discouraging experience on the plane ride there (which I won't go into now), the change in sleep pattern, or whatever else, my energy and motivation seemed to have been drained out of me for the first two or three days of being in Orlando. I still started my mornings as a I usually do, with a combination of some silent mediation, gratitude journaling, movement, etc. I remained peaceful, content, and grateful even through this lull, but something felt off. 

Perhaps, I reflected, I was too content. I wasn't being propelled forwards by my goals and aspirations like before. I felt some level of peace with whatever happened and wherever I was, and did not feel the need to reach out for the next big thing. But this was a kind of unsustainable peace. Without the drive, vitality, and energy behind it, my energy would continue to erode and my peace would collapse without the energy to rediscover it. 

The quote that hung on a poster in my high school's chorus room comes to mind:

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
- Will Rogers

There must be a balance between gratitude (being grateful for and enjoying the present moment) and drive (the energy for continual growth and learning). I think both are essential for enjoying life and serving with heart and passion. 

And so I stumbled upon this diagram from a post on facebook by Pawel Rewucki (thanks to Mariah Lea for sharing, image credit to Marc Winn):

"Ikigai is a Japanese concept meaning "a reason to get up in the morning", that is, a reason to enjoy life.

Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self. Such a search is regarded as being very important, since it is believed that discovery of one's ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life.

The word "ikigai" is usually used to indicate the source of value in one's life or the things that make one's life worthwhile. Secondly, the word is used to to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. It's not necessarily linked to the economic status or today state of things. Even if a person feels that today's dark, but has a goal, he may feel ikigai. Behaviours that make one feel ikigai are not actions which individuals are forced to take - these are natural and spontaneous actions.

The term "ikigai" is composed of two Chinese characters : iki and kai. Iki refers to life and kai is a suffix meaning roughly "the realisation of what one expects and hopes for."

People can feel ikigai only when on the basis of personal maturity, the satisfaction of various desires, love and happiness, encounters with others, and a sense of the value of life, they proceed towards self-realization.

Adapted from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai
More at theviewinside.me/what-is-your-ikigai "

This seemed to be what I was looking for. So I followed the link in the post and did my due diligence (thank you google). Though I'm still unsure if the translations I've managed to find adequately reflect the idea of ikigai, I decided to use this as a guide, and put "ikigai reflection" on my list of things to do during my routine the following morning.

The Process


Part one. First, start by grabbing a piece of paper or opening your favorite word processor. You may even wish to draw for this exercise; choose whatever allows you to most easily record and keep track of your answers. 

The exercise itself is very simple (though not necessarily easy). The first step is to answer, as completely as possible, these four questions:

1. What do you love to do?

2. What are you good at?

3. What does the world need?

4. What can you be paid for? 

Part two. Once you have an answer that's as exhaustive as possible for each category (I used lists for my answers), it's time to look at some overlap (refer back to the diagram for a visual).

1. What are the things that you both love to do and are good at? For the purpose of this exercise, we'll call these your passions.

2. What are you good at that you can also be paid for? These are considered professions.

3. What does the world need that you can also be paid for providing? These are vocations.

4. What do you love to do that the world needs? These are your missions.

(Note: I use plural here, but some may find that only one fits into a given category.)

Part three. And finally, at what point do your passions, professions, vocations, and missions overlap? Can you synthesize what's contained in these four categories into one? If you have managed to do that, you may have discovered that compelling reason to get up in the morning regardless of circumstance. You may have found your Ikigai.

Or not. Note that each one of those four initial questions may take years of experience, searching, and self discovery in order to find any answer to. Some people might not know what they're good at yet. Perhaps the hang up is at the second set of questions (the overlap); they may know what they're good at but there seems to be no overlap with the "that which you can be paid for" category. Take this not as a failure to complete the exercise, but as a template for personal discovery as you aim to fill in the gaps.

My Process


Below is a piece of my own process through this reflection.

1. Passion (what I love and am good at)
  • Movement practice
  • Video games
  • Personal development
  • Teaching (a receptive audience)
  • Group facilitating (given the right kind of group)
2. Profession (what I'm good at that I can be paid for)
  • Teaching
  • Counseling
  • Research (as in, finding things out, not the laboratory kind)
  • Writing 
  • Group facilitating
3. Vocation (what the world needs that I can be paid for)
  • Teaching
  • Coaching
  • Counseling
    • (In other words, education and guidance)
4. Mission (what I love to do that the world needs)
  • Anything having to do with personal development
    • includes the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, ethical, etc.
My ikigai:

To enable personal growth and happiness (in myself and others) through mind/body1 practices.

The Takeaway


My ikigai, at least in the context of this interpretation, is to enable personal growth and happiness through mind/body practices. I love the simplicity of that phrase, and more so I love the way it serves as a reminder for what really moves me as I open my eyes every morning. This simple exercise was what I needed to regain the drive for continuing on my journey. 

I didn't discover that I love movement, or that personal development is important to me. What I rediscovered, though, is what movement really means to me, and how that fits in with how I can best authentically serve others. My search for teachers and mentors was given a new filter, and my personal practice new meaning. 

I hope that this simple idea and diagram can be as helpful to you, in whatever circumstance you find yourself in, as it has been for me.

[And as always, feel free to post any comments or questions below, I'd love to have a discussion about whatever may have piqued your interest!]



1 I'm still looking for a better word than mind/body that adequately describes how mental, movement, and personal development practices can, in many ways, be one in the same.

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