I recently attended a Conference for Anglican Headteachers and, during one of the sessions on what makes us flourish as human beings, the notion of Ikigai came up.
The conference trainer asked us, a bunch of middle-aged professionals, who have all been in the teaching professions for at least twenty years- thirty in my case- as to what motivated us to get up in the morning or gave us a reason for being. The Japanese term Ikigai was used for this concept, as it is an idea that has gained a great deal of respect within western philosophy and recently. The word is actual a compound of two Japanese words, IKI meaning’ life or alive’ and KAI, meaning an effect or benefit, with KAI pronounced as GAI, hence the current spelling.
Having Ikigai is, allegedly, the main reason the island of Okinawa, off the coast of Japan, has the one of the highest levels of longevity in humans. It is of note that the concept of retirement is alien to most Okinawans: they continue to work well past any western concept of a retirement age and their active lives include regular moderate exercise, and a close-knit friendship group, which is also considered to be a contributory factor for their longevity and happiness.
This set me thinking about western lifestyles, how many seem to be at odds with this idea of Ikigai, what we might gain if we were to actively espouse the concept, and, to misquote the Japanese American Marie Kondo, if we were able to articulate what is our lives actually ‘sparks joy’? I therefore thought of a few things that we could do to adopt Ikigai as our modus operandus:
Have friends IRL. Like the Okinawans, who enjoy close relationships with their community, other places where human longevity is far beyond the western average are villages in Sardinia and in Greece, where great emphasis is placed on engaging in social activity and having a close-knit community. Amongst the many life lessons that the time of lockdown taught us was how important it is to connect with people in real life, and not over the interminable Zoom or Teams. Nobody can dispute how necessary such modes of communication were, and will continue to be, but they cannot beat a good one to one catch up, or a meeting of a group of friends over a meal or a drink.
Enjoy what you eat but don’t overindulge. The fabled Mediterranean diet is another factor as to why the Sardinians and the Greek villagers outlast many of their peers. Similarly, the people of Okinawa enjoy a diet that has many health benefits, including moringa and green tea, and the use of tofu. They also practise a form of eating that advocates one should only eat until your stomach is 80% full. I am not sure how one assesses 80% full, but I suspect that this means that you don’t frequent an All You Can Eat Buffet, or that you raid the cheese board at the end of a threecourse meal.
Pursue something that you love doing. This is crucial to the concept of Ikigai and could take the form of doing a job that you love so much that you never retire from it or taking up a hobby that will see you through your senior years. I recently met a man in his mid-70s who is learning French, despite hating it in school, and who finds the intellectual challenge exhilarating and life-affirming, spurring him on to study at an advanced level.
Bonne Chance mes amis!