Discovering Your Ikigai

What is Ikigai?

One word – ikigai (ee-key-guy) to capture such complexity:

What makes our life worth living each and every day; the reasons we battle on through life; seeing that the simple, small things in life are often what make us feel happiest. It is everything that gives people joy.

It’s a zest for living, the warmth of loving friendships, the zing when you realise you’ve mastered something you’d struggled with. It’s a journey and a part of every day life. It’s living a life that feels worthwhile. A life that feels meaningful.

The key word is always ‘feels’. It might come from one or more sources, like a person or people, a hobby, experiences, memories or dreams.

So it is something you feel, rather than do, achieve, or talk about. And it is a journey of self-discovery, one where you pay attention to the clues and learn as you go, and learn more about what interests you as you go. And you can have more than one!

It is a combination of two words:

Iki – meaning ‘living’

Gai – meaning ‘the value of’.

And it is within your reach because it is uniquely you. For most people, for most of our lives the story has been – get a good education, get a good job, live a happy life. And for most people following the formula, that’s not enough. Life can feel relentless. There’s a good reason the hamster wheel is sometimes seen as a metaphor for life.

Ikigai shows us a different way, it’s a map with simple directions to follow:

• Your passion
• Your purpose
• Your satisfaction
• Your fulfilment
• Your calling
• Your true self
• What is good for society
• Your values

Why should you discover your Ikigai?

Having zest for living and joy in life can increase your tendency to care for yourself, such as eating well, doing moderate exercise, feeling wanted and needed, having enjoyable social connections. These practices can improve overall health including mental health, and reduce fatigue and stress-related illnesses such as heart disease.

Ikigai and Complex Trauma Recovery

Quite naturally we end up as adults with questions around “why am I here?” or “what am I meant to do with my life?” due to not having healthy, adult examples during our childhood years.

It can be easy to be operating on automatic pilot because our brain prefers us to live this way. It’s easier than seeking a deeper, reflective life where there is a purpose for us to enjoy our daily life. A life where we can have healthy relationships, increased good health and a career we love to wake up to participate in each day.

I definitely felt that there had to be more to life than what I was shown growing up.

Enter the Ikigai.

This is a genuine approach to life, to help us bring together all the pieces and to continue grow with those pieces. I use the Ikigai for my clients and for myself, over time. It requires patience under normal circumstances and with complex ptsd recovery, it requires a willingness to identify where our trauma blueprint stops us from stepping into the joy of a life lived well.

This product can be used with your Complex Trauma Coach, your Trauma Recovery Coach, Therapist and any other professional you work with to help you gain increasing insight into a path forward to a life lived with joy.

For Professionals: You can use this product with your clients to help them step into a life they have not previously imagined was possible. For further information Core Unit 4 contains more information on using the Ikigai with your clients.