Last summer I heard about a Japanese concept called Ikigai. In a sense, I felt it was one of the best metaphors/concepts for getting clarity on what you most love to do and how that can connect with how to best serve the world. It helped me get a perspective on something that I have thought about for much of my life ~ how do I want to serve the world? For years, I wasn't sure or even thinking about it, often just doing work to make some money even if I wasn't truly into the work.
I was aware that I had a number of various talents, skills. However, it feels as though to truly discover your Ikigai in life, you have to be deeply in touch with your feelings which can require quite a bit of healing work. Our feelings are our compass in life.
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means your 'reason for being. ' 'Iki' in Japanese means 'life,'and 'gai' describes value or worth. Your ikigai is your life purpose or your bliss.
Ideally, there would be ample opportunity in childhood and adolescence to discover one's passions.
King Solomon wrote about this in Proverbs, "Train a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." Although this was written thousands of years ago, I believe the concept has an important truth about how we should be raising children ~ giving them ample opportunities and time to discover what they most love to do.
It's worth re-visiting this concept as often as possible until you get to that place where you truly have discovered and are living your Ikigai.
And, once you have found yours, you'll be able to help others on their journey to find theirs.
5 Steps to find your ikigai. ...
Start with questions. ...
Map it out. ...
See if it feels right. ...
Test it. ...
Build your support system. ...
Let your ikigai be your guide.
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