The joy of living a life worth living
(Published in Volume 34 Issue 1, February 2024, The Springdale Messenger)
Have you ever thought about your purpose, your passions, or your personal mission in life? If so you have been exploring on your ikigai!
After working in both education and business sectors for several years, I took a package. Yahoo! No more alarms, schedules, deadlines. Plenty of time to catch up on my reading, coffee with friends, ramp up that exercise program, do a bit of travel. However, after a few months I was restless. I felt I needed to do more with my days, something of value, something that would make me get out of bed each morning. It was then I came across the Japanese wisdom of “ikigai” (ee-key-guy) where “iki” means life and “gai” means value - put together “the reason to live”.
With my curiosity peaked I enrolled in an intensive Ikigai course. A small group of us, from around the world, met each week and under the guidance of our sensei, our teacher Nick Kemp, and we explored the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai: what it is, where to find it, how to get it and how to live it.
I discovered Ikigai is embedded in the everyday lives of Japanese and dates back to the Heian period (794 to 1185 AD), a peaceful time in Japan’s history. However, it was not until 1966 when research into Ikigai was first documented by Mieko Kamiya. She was a doctor and psychologist working in a leper colony, became curious as to why some patients with the most severe symptoms, were still able to live daily with a sense of purpose and a desire to keep on living. They had ikigai. This got her thinking about the question: “What makes one feel that life is worth living?”
Kamiya’s research found the word ikigai was used in two ways: (a) as the sources
of meaning in your life such as experiences, people, relationships, dreams, hobbies, work etc. that make your life worth living; and (b) as the feelings and emotions these sources evoke that make you feel life is worth living. My daughter for example, is one source (of many) of my ikigai and evokes feelings of love, pride, joy, connection and hope.
Ken Mogi, a Japanese neuroscientist, and author of several books believes Ikigai can be achieved in several ways through being, feeling or doing things that are meaningful and of value “it could be something very small like having a cup of coffee in the morning … or a very big life-defining goal, like going to Mars”.
Finding your ikigai requires self-reflection and answering questions such as: To what degree am I satisfied with my daily life? What gives me joy? What do I look forward to? What roles do I take on within your family, social group, community? Do I feel I am contributing or having some impact to someone or society? To what extent am I open to learning or starting something new? Am I interested in many things?
Are you interested in exploring the answers to these questions? If so, I offer a three-hour introduction to Ikigai workshop at the Springdale Neighbourhood Centre in Drysdale and at the Eastern Hub, 285a McKillop Street 9Corner of Humble Street), East Geelong. Fee $45.00. If you are interested in delving further into your ikigai, continue to The Ikigai Connection series of four (4) workshops Fee $160. The workshops are facilitated by Kathy Henschke, a Certified Ikigai Coach. Class sizes are limited to 15 participants.
Email kathyhesnchke@gmail.com for further information.
