What’s your reason for getting up in the morning?

Just trying to answer

such a big question might make you want to crawl back into bed. If it
does, the Japanese concept of ikigai could help.

Originating from a country with one of the world's oldest populations, the
idea is becoming popular outside of Japan as a way to live longer and
better.

While there is no direct English translation, ikigai is thought to combine

the Japanese words ikiru, meaning “to live”, and kai, meaning “the
realization of what one hopes for”. Together these definitions create the
concept of “a reason to live” or the idea of having a purpose in life.

Image: Toronto Star

Ikigai also has historic links: gai originates from the word kai, which
means shell. These were considered very valuable during the Heian
period (794 to 1185), according to Akihiro Hasegawa, a clinical
psychologist and associate professor at Toyo Eiwa University, adding a
sense of "value in living".

To find this reason or purpose, experts recommend starting with four

questions:
  What do you love?

 What are you good at?

 What does the world need from you?

 What can you get paid for?

Finding the answers and a balance between these four areas could be a
route to ikigai for Westerners looking for a quick interpretation of this
philosophy. But in Japan, ikigai is a slower process and often has nothing
to do with work or income.

In a 2010 survey of 2,000 Japanese men and women, just 31% of

participants cited work as their ikigai.

Gordon Matthews, professor of anthropology at the Chinese University of

Hong Kong and author of What Makes Life Worth Living?: How Japanese
and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds, told the Telegraph that how
people understand ikigai can, in fact, often be mapped to two other
Japanese ideas – ittaikan and jiko jitsugen. Itaikkan refers to “a sense of
oneness with, or commitment to, a group or role”, while jiko jitsugen
relates more to self-realization.

Matthews says that ikigai will likely lead to a better life “because you
will have something to live for”, but warns against viewing ikigai as a
lifestyle choice: “Ikigai is not something grand or extraordinary. It’s
something pretty matter-of-fact.”

Have you read?

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Okinawa, a remote island to the south west of Japan, has an unusually

large population of centenarians and is often referred to in examinations
of ikigai - though not by Gordon.

According to Dan Buettner, an expert on Blue Zones, the areas of the

world where people live longest, the concept of ikigai pervades the life of
these islanders. Combined with a particular diet and support network of
friends or “moai”, ikigai is helping people live longer on Okinawa as it
gives them purpose, he says, who provides a karate master, fisherman
and great-great-great-grandmother, all of whom are more than 100 years
old, as examples.

Just knowing what your ikigai is is not enough – all of these people put
their purpose into action, Buettner explains in a BBC interview.
Researchers stress that ikigai can change with age. For anyone whose
work is their reason for living, this will come as a relief as they approach
retirement and begin the search for a new ikigai.