As higher thinking beings, we are able to contemplate the meaning of life and what our purpose here might be. Some of us do this more than others, but it can drive anyone mad. I won't claim anything close to saying that I have the ability to help someone else find their purpose, and I know that an individual's purpose is constantly in flux, but recently I found an exercise that helped me find a sense of purpose during a time I was feeling lost.
Ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy) is a Japanese concept that combines a person's passion with their occupation in a way that can help the world in order to define a purpose for that individual. The word itself means "a reason for being," and I have also seen it mean both "lifetime" and "everyday life." Having a sense of purpose can offer a person motivation, which is why there is so much emphasis on doing something you love, otherwise, you will easily lose the motivation to do it. Of course, life doesn't always make that possible, but with the ikigai practice, you can find what your purpose looks like and start integrating small pieces of that in to your life. For me, doing this has reignited my passion for life, brought me joy, and motivated me to venture out and do the things I love.
In order to complete this, you start with the outer circles and work your way in - here is mine:
What You Love? Traveling
What the World Needs? (from your perspective) Relaxation/An Escape or Hope
What You Can Be Paid For? Skills I have around creativity; Degree (Accounting)
What You Are Good At? Communicating/Writing
Then combine those items in to their categories:
Passion: Communicating/writing about travel
Mission: Offering an escape and hope for fun to the world by traveling
Vocation: Using my creativity to offer this escape to the world
Profession: Creatively communicating to others
When I did this back in January, I first thought it offered me nothing. I felt very much like this made no sense and it wasn't possible. But I still kept the results above in my mind, as little sense as it made.. I thought, "How would I ever get paid to be creative??" Or "How do I know what the world needs? How does me being creative really help anyone?" But as my life slowly started to fall in to place between the months of April and August, it started to make more sense. And as I came up with my idea that I wanted to travel and spend months living in other cities, I realized it became harder for me to remember who I was communicating that with and when I last updated them.
That's when I came up with the idea to start a blog. I am not trying to write the best content or become some big blogger, I want a place to share what I do with other people and keep them updated on my whereabouts and adventures. This space is meant to do both. And it turns out it fulfilled my purpose from the ikigai I did 9 months earlier. I am not making money from it, nor do I plan to. However, this is one small way I am bringing my purpose in to my life to achieve balance and happiness. I challenge you to give this a try and let me know what your ikigai is below!
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