What Millennials Can Learn From Centennials About Happiness in Busyness

How the Japanese concept of IKIGAI keeps you busy without being stressed

In our accelerated society, how can we be aware of a long-term fulfilled life? We are constantly busy and under pressure – how can we manage to focus our attention on finding our ikigai?

What is meant by ikigai?

What drives us and what makes us feel satisfied in our lives?

What makes us feel motivated and energetic as we grow old?

An answer can be found in Japan with the phenomenon ikigai, which can be roughly translated as "the happiness of always being busy."

This is close to the old psychotherapeutic concept of Viktor Frankl, who stated that people are most motivated and driven by the search for meaning of life.

In a broader and deeper sense, this is what makes people in Japan, especially on the island of Okinawa, easily live to be a hundred years old. And they do so with fewer chronic diseases and incidences of dementia than the global average.

There Is More To A Healthy Life Than Diet, Exercise And Human Interaction

The authors of the book Ikigai - The Japanese secret to a long and happy life get to the bottom of the phenomenon of the long life of these inhabitants.

In addition to apparent factors such as a healthy diet, maintaining social contacts, regular exercise, and leading a stress-free life, there is precisely the special ingredient ikigai.

According to centenarians on the island of Okinawa, a clearly defined ikigai brings contentment, happiness, and a long life.

No Need To Retire

Ikigai contains the idea that if you have found meaning in life then you don't need to retire because you are always busy.

And that keeps you mentally and physically fit.

Ikigai touches on four cornerstones in life:

What you love (your passion and mission)

What the world needs (your mission and vocation)

What you're good at (combination of passion and vocation)

What you get paid for (combination of vocation and vocation)

Everyone has their own personal ikigai....life purpose.

Life purpose.

Why am I here?

Why do I get up in the morning?

His why. Her spirit of life.

It’s Personal

Body and mind work together and to keep the body young the spirit and mind must stay awake and active.

A key element to this is personal ikigai.

When we spend our days feeling connected to what is meaningful to us, we live more fulfilled and satisfied lives.

Our modern life characterized by the fast pace of tasks, information, perceived time, and goals makes it more difficult to focus our attention from time to time on our life's meaning, or our Why, or ikigai to define our direction.

Our accelerated society constantly distracts us from our direction.

It Can Be Simple

Our ikigai doesn't have to be anything grand at all; some find their ikigai in being good parents, helping others, or performing a craft.

Ultimately, according to ikigai and the Japanese centenarian, it's about finding something that keeps you busy because you love doing it so much. And, to surround yourself with people who love you.

"It makes no sense to live and do nothing or see nothing," says French centenarian Marie-Louise Wirth, who still runs her pub, where she has been behind the counter for 87 years.

How Do You Find Your Ikigai?

• By not frantically searching for it.
• Our intuition and curiosity are strong inner compasses that help us to connect with our ikigai, as the authors Héktor García and Francesc Miralles write in their book.
• Follow the things you enjoy and change or avoid the things you don't like.
• Let your curiosity guide you and stay busy with the things that fill you with purpose, meaning, and contentment.

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Photo by Finde Zukunft on Unsplash