Ikigai

Héctor García & Francesc Miralles · 2016

1. 01About the Authors

   Héctor García is a Spanish writer and engineer who has lived in Japan for many years. Francesc Miralles is a Spanish author and journalist from Barcelona. Together they wrote Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, first published in Spanish in 2016. For the book, they visited and interviewed elderly residents of Ogimi, a village in Okinawa, Japan, known for the long lives of its people.

2. 02What Is Ikigai?

   Ikigai is a Japanese word often translated as a reason for being, the reason you get up in the morning. The authors say everyone has an ikigai, though we may need to search for it. In Okinawa, people rarely retire in the Western sense; they keep doing what they love, like gardening, fishing or helping the community, well into old age.

3. 03Lessons from Okinawa

   The authors describe habits of the long-lived people they met. Hara hachi bu: stop eating when you are about eighty percent full. Stay active every day through gentle movement, such as walking and gardening. Keep strong social ties; many belong to a moai, an informal group of friends who support each other for life. Keep a positive, unhurried attitude and smile often.

4. 04Flow and Resilience

   The book draws on psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's idea of flow: being so absorbed in an activity that you lose track of time. Finding activities that bring you into flow is a key to ikigai. The authors also discuss resilience, inspired by Stoic and Japanese ideas, and the Japanese art of kintsugi, repairing broken pottery with gold, showing that our scars can become part of our beauty.

5. 05The Ten Rules of Ikigai

   The book ends with ten rules. Stay active and don't retire. Take it slow. Don't fill your stomach. Surround yourself with good friends. Get in shape. Smile. Reconnect with nature. Give thanks. Live in the moment. And follow your ikigai. Ask yourself today: what makes me lose track of time? That may be your path.