Excerpt: What is Ikigai? Often translated as “a reason for being,” it’s a concept that—when fully understood—can add years and joy to your life…
“Wabi-sabi is a Japanese concept that shows us the beauty of the fleeting, changeable, and imperfect nature of the world around us. Instead of searching for beauty in perfection, we should look for it in things that are flawed, incomplete. This is why the Japanese palce such value, for example, on an irregular or cracked teacup. Only things that are imperfect, incomplete, and ephemeral can truly be beautiful, because only those things resemble the natural world.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 172)
“One of the most commonly used mantras in buddhism focuses on controlling negative emotions: ‘Om mani padme hūm,’ in which om is the generosity that purifies the ego, ma is the ethics taht purifies jealousy, ni is the patience that purifies passion and desire, pad is the precision that purifies bias, me is the surrender that purifies greed, and hūm is the wisdom that purifies hatred.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 170)
“In order to keep their minds virtuous, the Stoics practiced something like negative visualization: They imagined the worst thing that could happen in order to be prepared if certain privileges and pleasures were taken from them.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 168)
“Studies from the Blue Zones suggest that the people who live longest are not the ones who do the most exercise but rather the ones who move the most.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 110)
“My secret to a long life is always saying to myself, ‘Slow down,’ and ‘Relax.’ You live much longer if you’re not in a hurry.”
Unknown, via Ikigai (Page 116)
“Looking back, our days in Ogimi were intense but relaxed—sort of like the lifestyle of the locals, who always seemed to be busy with important tasks but who, upon closer inspection, did everything with a sense of calm. They were always pursuing their ikigai, but they were never in a rush.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 110)
“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
Washington Burnap, via Ikigai (Page 111)
“You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”
T. H. White, via Ikigai (Page 97)
“There is, in fact, no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense of ‘leaving the workforce for good’ as in English. According to Dan Buettner, a National Geographic reporter who knows the country well, having a purpose in life is so important in Japanese culture that our idea of retirement simply doesn’t exist there.”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 10)
“Okinawans live by the principle of ichariba chode, a local expression that means ‘treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.'”
Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, Ikigai (Page 4)
“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.”
Japanese proverb, via Ikigai
Book Overview: According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—where what you love, what you’re good at, what you can get paid for, and what the world needs all overlap—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai.
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