Ikigai, The Japanese Secret To A Happy Life

Illustration (Sofia Terzoni-Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Most adults have busy days. Starting from working to overtime, doing household tasks, continuing education to a higher level, taking care of children, and various other tasks.

Because of the complexity of everyday life with various activities, you may forget one thing: your own happiness.

There is a concept of a happy life adopted by Japanese society, namely ikigai. You know, Japanese people are known for being hard workers and tend to go crazy when it comes to work.

Even though they are busy working, the practice of ikigai keeps them happy. Of course you can follow this concept for yourself.

Ikigai literally means iki (life) and gai (value). Ikigai is defined as motivation to live a life full of enthusiasm, passion, and the ability to get rid of boredom due to daily routines.

Albert Liebermann and Hector Garcia are the figures who popularized this concept in their book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life.

Ikigai itself consists of four elements, namely passion, mission, vocation, and profession. These four elements are needed in life to complement each other.

Passion can be defined as what you like, it can be a hobby, object, or living thing.

Passion makes us more excited because we do fun things, don't feel tired, and volunteer to do it because it makes us excited.

It is important to know what you like best about practicing ikigai. For example cooking, drawing, gardening, or taking care of pets.

Second, there are missions or what you need. After finding your passion, try doing something useful for other people. It is voluntary and does not expect anything in return, and there is no need for special skills.

This mission, for example, volunteers to help anyone out there.

In practice, you can teach children around the house to learn to draw or a foreign language that you are good at, provide assistance when there is a disaster, or help people in remote areas.

Then there is vocation. You will do things for others and be rewarded accordingly. Vocation may not be what you like, but it's still done to survive.

Activities that can be carried out are various, it can be being an expert, opening your own business, or working for other people.

Lastly is the profession, when you are needed, paid, and are indeed experts in the field. This could be related to educational background and work experience.

The relationship between these four elements makes life more meaningful. Your activities become more varied, from fun activities, bringing benefits to those around you, and being paid for the skills you have because you are sufficiently knowledgeable.

If everything is done in a balanced manner, this ikigai concept can make life happier.