“A small puddle on the road filled with water!
You would love to jump on it with laughter!
But right now you are too old you see!
Though your inner child will jump with glee!”
One of the most popular books about longevity is “Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life,” written by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles.
Ikigai loosely translates to “the happiness of always being busy,” and is centered around a person’s true purpose in life. Finding your ikigai is said to make life more meaningful.
The book and all the hype and fame of Ikigai is actually based on this small place in Okinawa, Japan, a blue zone with the highest concentration of centenarians in the world! Which basically means that this is a place where you have the highest concentration of people more than a hundred years old! Imagine that!
In fact if you are around 80 years old then you may be probably one of the youngest in that area!
Here ikigai is a common theme, according to García and Miralles who interviewed some of the world’s oldest people.
In fact the village has been the center of study of many and there has been several attempts made to understand why or how they live so long! Even otherwise Japanese have been known to have big life expectancy!
A Japanese proverb states: “Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.”
In this village you will find things which are unlike other ‘old’ people places! Being old is not an excuse for them! In fact even the oldest of the lot work like it is not big deal! They do not simply take rest and drown themselves in nostalgic reminiscence (of course they do that also but not always!)!
Instead they work! The catchpoint here is another Ikigai concept! You do the work which is your Ikigai!
Now this has become a common theme in many courses all over the world!
How do you find your Ikigai?
Well it is the junction point of four things! The first step is to find what you love! Make a big list! Then select the thing you are good at! Then make a list of things which will make the world a better place which you love and are good at! And finally list the thing which can make you rich! Now the last can be stuff which can make actual money but it should also be interpreted as which makes you rich in experience also and not just the cash!
Once you get the centre point of these four circles then you would have found your Ikigai and that will make you live life king-size! Remember what Anand says; “Babu moshai, Zindagi Badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi!” which means LIfe must be big and not simply long! The people in Okinawa have a long life because their life is big! A larger than life figure also is birthday celebrity Kisan Baburao “Anna” Hazare!
It has also been said that sleep is very important for ‘big’ life! So sleep!
Shubh Ratri!!
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