One of the best things from the lockdown was me becoming a sucker for audio books. I would simply put on my airpods, open my NLB App (you should try this membership if you are based in SG) and slip into another world while doing the most mundane, no brainer, daily tasks. The perfect ‘me’ time gift to myself 🙂 ! I happened to bump into this title and couldn’t stop listening until I reached the very end!

Ikigai : The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia – beautifully summarized by the authors – is a lifetime of research on ‘Centenarians’ (people who live beyond 100 years of age) and their secret to a happy life. It outlines and reinforces the same habits and ways of life – that we know deep down inside are just about the things we may want to change about our life. But a reminder once in a while is not bad!

The book briefly touches the concepts of logotherapy(pursuit of meaning in one’s life), yoga, tai chi, the state of flow, nurturing one’s relationships, eating good and finding one’s passion. Ikigai – the Japanese word when roughly translated means “Purpose of life”. The book brings emphasis to – the key to a happy life is to find your purpose of life!

But obviously, the next question is – How? This is easier said than done. If you have found your passion in life, stick to it. If you haven’t found it, you biggest mission should be to look for it! Keep experimenting! State of flow is essentially when you focus on a task so intently without any distractions that you literally forget everything else and live in the moment. That’s when you achieve true happiness. If you reach a state of flow , while doing what you are good at and pursuing your interest and the time passes by in the blink of a second! – there you go – that’s one of your passions.

Finally, the complete concept of finding you Ikigai is based on these 10 simple rules :

Have you read Ikigai : The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia yet? What’s your biggest takeaway from this one?