What Is the Japanese Concept Ikigai?

The concept of ikigai is said to have evolved from the basic health and wellness principles of traditional Japanese medicine. This medical tradition holds that physical wellbeing is affected by one’s mental–emotional health and sense of purpose in life.
Japanese psychologist Michiko Kumano (2017) has said that ikigai is a state of wellbeing that arises from devotion to activities one enjoys, which also brings a sense of fulfillment.

Michiko further distinguishes ikigai from transitory pleasure (hedonia, in the ancient Greek sense) and aligns it with eudaimonia – the ancient Greek sense of a life well lived, leading to the highest and most lasting form of happiness.
Ikigai also resonates with Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy’s emphasis on pursuing activities that produce enjoyment and a sense of mastery, specifically as a way to alleviate depressive disorder.

Ken Mogi, a neuroscientist and author of Awakening Your Ikigai (2018, p. 3), says that ikigai is an ancient and familiar concept for the Japanese, which can be translated simply as “a reason to get up in the morning” or, more poetically, “waking up to joy.”

Ikigai also appears related to the concept of flow, as described in the work of Hungarian–American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. For Csikszentmihalyi, flow occurs when you are in your “zone,” as they say of high-performing athletes.

Flow is a string of “best moments” or moments when we are at our best. These best moments “usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit, in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Flow can be said to occur when you are consistently doing something you love and that you are good at, with the possible added benefit of bringing value to others’ lives. In such a case, flow might be seen as in tune with your ikigai, or activities that give your life meaning and purpose.

It is important to note that ikigai does not typically refer only to one’s personal purpose and fulfillment in life, without regard to others or society at large.

Although it has had some historical shifts in meaning, ikigai has usually been cited as both a personal pursuit and one of benefit to others. In the end, ikigai brings meaning, purpose, and fulfillment to your life, while also contributing to the good of others.  Further, it is said that everyone has an ikigai – their particular intersection of passion, talent, and potential to benefit others. It is only a matter of finding it. The journey to ikigai might require time, deep self-reflection, and effort, but it is one we can all make.

The concept of ikigai as a purpose in life with both personal and social dimensions is captured by the well-known ikigai diagram. This diagram includes overlapping spheres covering:

What you love
What you are good at
What the world needs
What you can get paid for

You Love It
This sphere includes what we do or experience that brings us the most joy in life and makes us feel most alive and fulfilled. What we love in this sense might be sailing, writing poetry, rock climbing, singing in a rock band, reading historical novels, spending leisure time with friends, etc.

What is important is that we allow ourselves to think deeply about what we love, without any concern for whether we are good at it, whether the world needs it, or if we can get paid for doing it.

You Are Good at It
This sphere includes anything you are particularly good at, such as skills you’ve learned, hobbies you’ve pursued, talents you’ve shown since an early age, etc. What you are good at might be, for example, playing the piano, being empathic, public speaking, sports, brain surgery, or painting portraits.

This sphere encompasses talents or capabilities, whether or not you are passionate about them, whether the world needs them, or if you can get paid for them.

The World Needs It
The “world” here might be humanity as a whole, a small community you are in touch with, or anything in between. What the world needs might be based on your impressions or needs expressed by others. The world’s needs might include skilled nursing, clean water, home heating, election day volunteers, or improved police training.

This domain of ikigai connects most explicitly with other people and doing good for them, beyond one’s own needs.

 You Are Paid for It
This dimension of the diagram also refers to the world or society at large, in that it involves what someone else is willing to pay you for or “what the market will bear.” You might be passionate about writing poetry or very good at rock climbing, but this does not necessarily mean you can get paid for it.

Whether you can get paid for your passions or talents depends on factors such as the state of the economy, whether your passions/talents are in demand, etc.

It is further noted that according to this diagram:

At the intersection of what you love and what you are good at is your passion.

At the intersection of what you love and what the world needs is your mission.

At the intersection of what the world needs and what you can get paid for is your vocation.

At the intersection of what you are good at and what you can get paid for is your profession.

A “sweet spot” within this ikigai diagram would therefore involve something you are passionate about, that you are also good at, that the world needs now, and for which someone will pay you. For example, if I am passionate about crisis counseling, am also skilled at it, there is a need for it in my world at the time, and I have several job offers in this field, I might say I’ve found my ikigai sweet spot.

There is a healthy debate about whether the diagram discussed above best represents the traditional Japanese concept of ikigai or a Westernized version of it.

Not all the above dimensions are necessarily components of ikigai as traditionally understood by its Japanese adherents (Ikigai Tribe, 2019).

Some adherents will say that one’s ikigai does not have to involve something the world needs, or that you can get paid for, or that is a talent. These adherents hold that ikigai is not a “lofty and formidable goal to achieve” (Ikigai Tribe, 2019). Instead, they believe that the traditional Japanese concept of ikigai is closer to:

“…embracing the joy of little things, being in the here and now, reflecting on past happy memories, and having a frame of mind that one can build a happy and active life.”

(Ikigai Tribe, 2019)

Such a concept of ikigai reportedly has little to do with “professional success or entrepreneurship” (Ikigai Tribe, 2019).

This conception of ikigai sounds close to a Zen Buddhist mentality, emphasizing being active, being in the moment, taking joy in the small occurrences in life, and finding a state of flow in one’s life (Hatwalne, 2020).

Whether the ikigai diagram above is traditional or not, filling it in is arguably a useful task. And whether or not the center of such a diagram would represent your personal “sweet spot” as a lifestyle, it should still be useful to determine what “sweet spot” you might find that combines the basic dimensions of “I am passionate about this; it makes me happy” and “This would allow me to do good for others, as well.”

3 Examples of Living According to Ikigai

[Sushi Chef] The famous Japanese sushi chef Jiro Ono provides an apt illustration of ikigai, conceived as devotion to a pursuit that brings a sense of fulfillment or accomplishment.

Chef Ono has devoted his life to innovating and perfecting sushi-making techniques. He runs a small, exclusive 10-seat sushi restaurant in Tokyo, Japan.

Chef Ono has achieved the highest Michelin restaurant guide rating of three stars and is widely considered the most accomplished sushi chef globally. In Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Gelb, Iwashina, Pellegrini, & Ono, 2012), the award-winning documentary about his life and work, Chef Ono states:

“You have to fall in love with your work… dedicate your life to mastering your skill… I’ll keep trying to reach the top, but no one knows where the top is.”

(Age of Ideas, 2020)

This is a good illustration of ikigai as a devotion to what one loves, an effort toward mastery and accomplishment, and a never-ending journey that also brings a sense of fulfillment.

Interestingly, Chef Ono does not only manage the preparation of sushi in his restaurant. Due to its small size and open layout, he can observe up close his customers’ tasting and reactions to a meal and is known to modify the sushi based on such reactions.

Central to Chef Ono’s ikigai, one might say, would be pursuing excellence in sushi preparation and sharing this excellence with those who love sushi and fine dining.

Other individuals who can be said to exemplify finding ikigai include the world-famous primatologist, Jane Goodall.

Goodall has had a passion for animals, and especially primates, from an early age. In her early 20s, she pursued her passion for primates by writing to the anthropologist Louis Leakey. Leakey thought the study of present-day great apes would provide clues about the behavior of his primary interest: early human ancestors.

With Leakey’s help, Goodall started her lifelong study of apes in the wild. She became highly skilled at working closely with apes, documenting their intelligence and social interactions. She also became an animal rights advocate who has helped save apes and other animals from harmful experiments and the destruction of their habitats.

In this way, Goodall has pursued her passion, become skilled in this field, filled the world’s need for knowledge/protection of primates, and earned a living doing all this by publishing books on ape behavior and earning speaking fees.

One might say that central to her ikigai is connecting with, learning about, and advocating for the great apes, and through this connection, linking up in positive ways with all living things.

Another example of someone having found their ikigai, or fulfilling purpose in life, can be seen in surfer and wildlife advocate Dave Rastovich. Rastovich is a highly acclaimed “free” surfer with generous sponsorships but no contest involvement. He founded Surfers for Cetaceans, an organization devoted to protecting cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises, and whales) and all marine life.

Through his love of surfing and the ocean, Rastovich grew to admire the many dolphins who came to ride waves with him in Byron Bay, Australia. Rastovich has clearly experienced a particular type of flow with his surfing. Through it, he came to appreciate the lives of cetaceans in particular.

His ikigai might be said to lie in the pursuit of flow states in surfing and ensuring that other living creatures like cetaceans get to experience their own flow states, rather than being hunted, held in aquariums, or trapped in fishing nets.

Personality and Stress
With regard to individual differences, the coping ability and the perception of stress is different from person to person. On the
basis of personality and its relation with stress taking with Jung’s and Sheldon’s view, Mohanty (1991) stated that ectomorphic
people are less stress prone than the endomorphic and mesomorphic people. The mesomorphic people are mostly related with
Jung’s introvert type and are more stress prone and take stress easily. Jung’s classification of personality type such as extrovert is
mostly similar with Sheldon’s endomorphy and ambivert is with ectomorphy.

Scheier and Carver (1988) from their study proposed that pessimistic people are more stress resistant than the optimistic people. In
another study Scheier and Carver (1992) stated that pessimistic people used various tactics to cope with their stress. But optimistic
are less able in this context. Segerstorm and her colleagues (1998), found from their study on law students that optimistic students
are in better mood and scored better in comparable with pessimistic students. In this context it can be concluded that various type
of personality people used various type of coping strategies to cope with their stresses, as their perception of stress vary. But one
thing cannot be denied that introvert people are more prone to stress, because they are more anxious and their expectations are
infinitive.

In comparison with male and female, females are less capable to cope with their stress and perceive stress easily than males
(Ptacek, Smith & Dodge, 1994, p- 502). The study conducted by Potter and Stone (1995) provided the results on the conclusion
that there is difference between male and female in their perception of stress and coping with stress. From the study of (Gross,
1992) in the medical set up it is found that although male and female doctors felt pressured by the amount of time demanded by
their profession, females had the additional pressure of family obligations. Rout (1999) affirmed that Female General
Practitioners (GPs) showed positive signs of mental wellbeing compared to male general practitioners and male doctors showed
significantly higher anxiety and depression compared to female general practitioners. In his study he found that mental wellbeing
of Free-floating anxiety is low in case of males in comparison with females, Somatic anxiety is high with males compared to
females and Depression is also high with male subjects compared to female subjects.

Stages of Stress
Stress may be ranged from mild to severe forms. In this context, Seaward (1999, p.7) stated that stress passes through four major
stages. In first stage, the stimuli from the sense organs are sent into the brain. In second stage an interpretation took place inside
the brain. And then the brain perceives it either threat or no threat. If the brain regarded it as no threat, then the stress is at normal
level. Otherwise it leads to the third stage, where the body stays activated, aroused until the threat is over. In the fourth and last
stage the body returns to the homeostatic state, which results in the physical and mental calmness. Hans Selye, (1976) proposed
that the first stage of stress is the alarm stage, where the body prepares itself for immediate action, aroused by the sympathetic
nervous system and released the hormone which alert the organism to meet the danger. If the stress is prolonged, the second stage
is the resistance stage, where the arousal become slowdowns compare to the first stage. If the stresses continue for a long period
then it entered into the third or the exhaustion stage, which produced both psychological and physical illness.
The following figure (Figure-1) describes that, if there is the effective coping strategy in alarm stage it will lead to the normal
stage. If the effective coping strategies will be followed in the resistance stage and exhaustion stage respectively it will also lead to
the normal stage.

 Alarm Stage: The Alarm stage marks the first contact with the stressor. The individual’s nervous system immediately
sends an emergency signal to brain. Stress leads to increased adrenaline to the blood stream. This in turn causes breathing
to speed up. Blood flow to the brain and muscles increases; digestion slows; vision improves, blood pressure goes up,
palm sweat and our mouth gets dry. Adrenaline activates the “fight or flight response,” which is the body’s initial
response to stress. This phase is characteristic of the fight-or-flight reaction described by Cannon (1932) and Taylor et.al
(2000). The “fight or flight” reaction prepares us to meet the stressors head on (fight) or run from it (flight).

 Resistance Stage: Resistance stage occurs when one is unable to successfully deal with a stressor during the alarm stage
body adapts to the presence of the stressor. Since the body is still fighting the stressor, the individual may become
irritable, tired, and less capable to handle the demanding situations. Resistance is a form of adjustment that lasts until
the stressor stops. If the stressful situation continues, the body continues the changes that started in the first stage. Once
the stressful situation is over, the body returns to a pre-alarm state.

 Exhaustion Stage: Exhaustion stage comes when the body can no longer keep up with the demands of the stressor.
Exhaustion only occurs if a stressor continues for long periods of time- weeks, months, or even years. When stress
continues beyond the second stage and you do not adhere to remedial measures, the final stress stage of exhaustion settles
in. The individuals at this stage are totally tired and drained out of all energy.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Psychosomatic Expression of Stress.

When Stress symptoms affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your
behavior, they are called psychosomatic expressions of stress. You may think illness is
to blame for that irritating headache, your frequent insomnia or your decreased
productivity at work. But stress may actually be the cause.
Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you manage them,
because if it is left unchecked it can contribute to many health problems, such as high
blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

1. Some common effects of stress are as follows-
On your body:
 Issues with sleep
 Chest pain
 Muscle tension
 Fatigue
 Upset stomach
 Increased heart rate
 Breathlessness
On your mind:
 Anger and irritability
 Lack of motivation
 Restlessness
 Distressing dreams
 Feeling overwhelmed
 Sadness
 Feeling alone in a crowd
On your behavior:
 Overeating or undereating
 Substance use
 Work life disruption
 Social withdrawal

 Outbursts of anger
 Overspending
 Violent behavior

2. Reasons for stress-
There can be a multitude of reasons for why you experience stress, because it’s a subjective
concept. However, some common internal and external reasons for stress manifestation are as
follows:
 your physical environment
 your job
 relationship with your family and others
 your home
 your finances
 your exams
 social and peer pressure
 ageing
 unhealthy lifestyle
 parenting
 traumatic events

3. stress management tools-
There are many ways people manage stress and reduce the overall stress of
day-to-day activities. With the fast pace of work and home, and being constantly
inundated with technology and still wanting to have time to connect with those
around us, our lives can feel overwhelming and stressful at times. Following are
a few tools that can be used for managing stress effectively:
 guided meditation
 regular physical exercise
 managing social media and screen time
 socializing and connecting with people
 writing, and maintaining a diary
 enhance your sleep quality
 understand your stressors
 maintain a work-home balance
 practice deep breathing

Stressors
Stress can start from the daily hassles of family to the work place or from the work place for family. Those who are even living
single, they are also facing stress. There are various sources which produced stress, where some are acute and some others are still
chronic The study conducted by Holmes and Rahe (1967) stated that the greatest number of people faced stress due to the death of
a spouse, divorce and marital separation as comparable to the change of residence, vacation and violation of law, etc. Cohen and
his colleagues (1998) conducted their research on chronic and mild stress. They found that severe reprimand at work or a fight
with the spouse produced less chronic stress as compared to unhappy marital life or unemployment.
Selye (1950, 1956, 1958) identified the general adaptation syndrome which includes three different stages of stress such as the
alarm stage, the resistance stage, and exhaustion stage. When a person is under stress, he/she may experience and passes through
these specific stages. However, one may or may not pass through all stages of stress, depending on the events that triggered the
occurrence.

Sources of Stress
Some stress is of high frequency in nature where as some are of low frequency. Some high frequency stresses like the hassles of
daily life are less severe than the low frequency stress like sudden work load in the workplace, support in social life (Delongis,
Folkman & Lazarus 1988 Kenner et at, 1981 and Lazarus et al, 1985). In this context it can be stated that stress is always with the
human being and it comes from every setup of human life, maybe from marital life, daily hassles of family life, dissatisfaction in
marital life, low academic performance, job dissatisfaction, disturbed love affairs etc. One thing cannot be disregarded that the
sources of stress vary from person to person

Coping Strategies
Besides the cognitive behavioral stress reduction (CBSR) approaches which are based on western model in which cognitive
intervention is important aspect of stress management. Dysfunctional appraisals maintain and exacerbate stress. Identifying and
altering these maladaptive appraisals or other cognitive processing deficits is the major element of cognitive intervention.
Mindfulness based Stress reduction (MBSR) approaches rooted in eastern model are also applied for stress management in recent
times. In this regard Smith, Shelley, Dalen, Wiggins, Tooley, & Bernard (2008) in a pilot study compared CBSR and MBSR on
50 participants. The MBSR consisted of weekly sessions aim to enhance mindfulness awareness and attention through the use of
breathing, body scans, meditation, gentle Hatha yoga, and group discussion. The CBSR group was exposed to cognitive-
behavioral stress management skills. The intervention comprised of cognitive restructuring skills and behavioral relaxation
techniques. When averaged across eight outcomes (i.e. Perceived stress, depression, psychological well-being, neuroticism, binge
eating, energy, pain, and mindfulness) related to stress, the effect size for improvements was more than twice as large for the
MBSR, as compared with the CBSR group. Social stress is linked to recurrence of depressive symptoms. Britton, Shahar,
Szepsenwol, & Jacobs (2012) conducted a study on 52 individuals with partially remitted depression. The results found that
MBCT was associated with decreased emotional reactivity to social stress. Stress and quality of life are related (Carlson, Speca, ,
Patel, & Goodey, 2003) . In this context Nyklíček, & Kuijpers (2008) conducted a study on 40 women and 20 men having
distress. The results indicated a positive effect of mindfulness based intervention on perceived stress.

 Social support: Study by Oxman and Colleagues 1995 conducted on 232 older open heart patients participated in social
and community group program reduced their chance of dying within six months of surgery. In this reghard numbers of
researches (e.g. Berkman and Syme, 1979; Cohen and Wills, 1985, 1988; Dunkel/Schetter and Skokan, 1990; Hobfoll
et.al 1990; House, Landis and Umberson, 1988; Segerstrom, 2007; Strine, Chapman, Balluz and Mokdad, 2008) found
that individual with supportive relationship experienced enhanced mental and physical wellbeing.
​
 Relaxation Exercise: Relaxation is not only used to release the physical tension but also improve the mental well being.
Relaxation exercise may be categorized into: Progressive muscle relaxation Meditation and Autogenic training. In
Progressive Muscle Relaxation specific muscle groups are relaxed following alternating tension and relaxation of muscle
groups. On other hand meditation involves several techniques which attempts for focused thoughts by undistracting other
thoughts. Although it is eastern approach of stress reduction still meditation practice is a global phenomena for managing
stress and anxiety Shapiro, 1985; Dimatteo and Martin, 2012). Autogenic training is a behavioural technique used for
self relaxation and management of anxiety. Autogenic training constitutes visual imagination and use of verbal cues for
making the body warm and relaxed. This technique involves directions to control physiological responses such as
breathing, blood pressure, heart beat and skin temperature (e.g. Ernst and Kanji 2000; Crowther, 1983).

 Time Management: Time management training provides individuals with skills to adjust activities with respect to time.
Time management involves increasing amount of functional time. Time management for behavioural modification in
stress management has been used by Lakein, 1973 including the techniques such as preparing the list to do and
prioritizing. Richards, 1987 used time management technique and found effective outputs in managing stress and

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