We will introduce a masterpiece by two authors, Mr. Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, who are the creators of a famous book titled "Ikigai," which is a philosophy of life that is influential, along with a reminder of the small subtitles below which mean the secret of the Japanese people in achieving a life full of happiness and longevity. On the island of Okinawa in Japan, there is a valuable and famous old saying that goes: "You are still a child if you have just turned 70." And when you reach the age of 80, you are just a youth. If your ancestors who have passed away invite you to go to heaven with them when you are 90 years old, please tell them to wait until you are 100 years old. At that time, if they come again, you can reconsider whether to go or not. It's truly amazing.
These old sayings have indeed created many questions for all of us. To find out what they are, please listen with me as follows. The island of Okinawa is an island located in the southern part of mainland Japan and is an island that is rich with people who have the longest lifespan on this earth. On average, the lifespan of men reaches 84 years and the lifespan of women reaches 90 years. There are also many people there who are over 100 years old. Even the oldest people on the island are known to have good health and the ability to be strong emotionally, physically, and mentally in their daily lives, performing all activities independently. According to the definition of the locals on the island of Okinawa, the word "Ikigai" is a Japanese word that comes from the combination of the word "Iki," which means life or to live, and the word "gai," which means to achieve something according to one's wishes or expectations. It encompasses the reason that makes you wake up from your sleep in the morning not lazily every day and start to continue doing activities to achieve your goals in life without delay. According to the explanation of the locals on the island of Okinawa, they said that everyone has their own Ikigai in life, meaning that everyone has a reason behind their living. And finding that reason is the key to living a life full of happiness and longevity.
On the island of Okinawa, there are many elderly people who have a long lifespan. They are not only old, but they also have energy, emotions, intellect, thoughts, and strong health. Next, I will highlight some important points that can help all of you in finding your own Ikigai. The first important concept in this book is to find your Ikigai for life. Finding Ikigai is not an easy task. It requires us to have effort in searching and to have patience. The first step in starting is to answer these four questions first. One, what do you like or love? Two, what are you good at? Three, what does this world need? Four, what can you do and get paid for? The second step is to find the answers that arise from the intersection of the four questions that I have mentioned earlier. One, the intersection of the question "what do you love or like?" with the question "what are you good at?" can tell you what your passion is. Passion means a desire or an obsession with any work or activity. Two, the intersection of the question "what are you good at?" with the question "what can you do to get paid?" can tell you about your job or profession. Three, the intersection of the question "what does this world need?" with the question "what can you do and get paid for?" can tell you about your profession. Four, the intersection of the question "what do you like or love?" with the question "what does the world need?" can tell you about your mission. Ikigai is the balance that connects these four points. The second important concept is to find a purpose in life. Finding a deep purpose for life is the key to achieving longevity. For the Japanese people, they never think that they will retire. There is no such word as "retire" in their life's vocabulary.
They continue to do activities that they love as long as their health allows for those activities. This is the reason why the people of Okinawa Island often receive the highest level of expertise through their focus and dedication to every task they do daily. As an example, we can see the level of expertise in a traditional chopstick factory on Okinawa Island that has used the art of connecting the strands of chopsticks, one strand at a time, with skilled craftsmanship and excellent quality. For the people of Okinawa Island, even if they reach retirement age and are forced by the government to retire, they still continue their daily activities by gardening or doing other community work. These are the results that cause them to have longevity and happiness in life. They do not want the children to look at them as old people who are useless and just waiting for the day they die and are a burden to society. They still want to be a valuable resource for the nation until their last breath. The third concept in this book focuses heavily on and values maintaining activity in various tasks and knowing how to relieve tension in the emotions. Having good physical and mental health is an important factor in achieving longevity. Spending time sitting and working for hours a day without regular exercise will severely affect physical health and cause the loss of nerve impulses and affect our mental well-being, causing the connections of our entire nervous system to gradually decline. Scientific research has shown that old people easily lose the liveliness of their brains because they are constrained by their patterns of thinking and daily routines.
The old people who live on the island of Okinawa do not have a habit of letting themselves be idle. They always find different activities to do, not letting their hands be idle or sitting cooped up at home. It is very important to exercise your brain regularly. You can play brain-training games to keep your mind sharp, such as playing chess or reading books. You can also go out of the house to meet friends and talk about this and that, which is also a good thing. Stress is the enemy of longevity. You should learn to reduce emotional stress as much as possible because stress in the emotions, irritability, and quick anger have a very negative impact on our health. Emotional stress can easily make us age before our time. You can reduce emotional stress through playing sports, doing yoga, or through meditation. It is only by keeping yourself busy and having a commitment that you can think of wanting to live to be 100 years old. The fourth concept in this book also reminds us of a treatment method called Morita therapy. What is Morita therapy? This Japanese treatment method can help people reduce emotional stress effectively. If we look at the treatment in the West, it is often a treatment through controlling emotions because they believe that every thought or idea of yours affects your actions. But for Morita therapy, it is the opposite method and contrasts with the method above. It is a method that relieves the control over your emotions and lets your emotions control your actions. Your emotions will change when your actions change. Next, I will share the methods in treating with Morita therapy, which is divided into four main stages. The first stage is to rest on a bed for a full week, completely cutting off from all external disturbances, except for a psychologist who is the only one treating you.
The second stage is the stage of practicing repetitive activities by creating different activities to add to your daily activities or habits, such as writing a journal, walking, or doing breathing exercises. The third stage is the stage of increasing physical activities and various activities that are creative, which can help create new feelings full of peace and happiness. For example, through drawing or through carving wood. The fourth stage is the stage of reintegration, which helps the patient to be ready to enter a new world that is full of peace and helps to create a purpose in life. In summary, the Japanese Morita therapy has three important principles. One, learn to accept your emotions. Two, you must do something that you should do. Three, find the purpose of your life. The fifth concept in this book is related to diet. The diet of the people of Okinawa is full of a variety of different things, with up to 206 different types of diverse things, including traditional medicine and spices. As for the daily diet, the people of Okinawa eat eight different types of vegetables and fruits. And in that, whole grains are the most important part of their diet. Not unlike the Japanese people in other regions, the people who live on the island of Okinawa also eat white rice every day. It is observed that the old people who live on the island rarely eat sugar, and if they want to eat sugar, they will eat cane sugar and only eat it once a week.
The people of Okinawa also have a principle that they call Hara Hachi Bu, which means that we must stop eating immediately when we know that we are 80% full, and absolutely avoid eating until we are too full. Doing so will help the digestive system to work well and smoothly and will not make the digestive system work too hard. This method helps to protect the digestive system by part and stops the toxins that are created, which can cause the body to become inactive and decline. The sixth concept is to live as a community. The elderly people who live on the island of Okinawa have advised that a great way to find happiness in living as a community is that you must have relationships with everyone around you. This includes communicating with people you have never known before. Showing a welcome with a smile and opening your heart to accept everything that happens will help you have positive relationships in your life.
What is even more special is that on this island, there is a group of people called "Moai," and this group was created with the purpose of providing a social network, and the elderly people in this group have spent a lot of time with each other through frequent gatherings and helping to support each other when they are in a difficult situation. The elderly people who have long lives have emphasized and valued maintaining relationships within the family, balanced. They said that we should create many friendships to replace worrying about life. A strong bond between family, friends, and neighbors is very important. Gatherings and various ceremonies filled with joy are considered a very important part of the lives of the people in the village. In this book, the author has also mentioned ten methods that are necessary to practice in order to maintain the balance of Ikigai. One, you must be active, do not retire at all. What is interesting is that there is no such word as "retire" in the Japanese vocabulary of the people of Okinawa. Because they understand that if we retire, it means that we will stop all various activities and become a burden to society and a useless person. Two, do not be tense, let everything happen according to its nature. Okinawa is a place that is known as a place where everything happens according to its natural course, not forced, but meticulous and effective.
They have a clear purpose in life, but they do not force themselves to achieve it. But they are not negligent and pay close attention to practicing regularly with joy. Music, singing, and dancing are a very important part of adding meaning to the daily life of their people. Due to the evolution of technology and the economy, it has made us strive to compete and race with that evolution until we are so busy that we have almost no time to rest. But it does not mean that we have to be slow, lazy, or slow down in completing work or any activity. But instead, we can learn to spend some time enjoying life, such as in the morning before we go to work, we can have enough time to enjoy various activities. With gratitude that you have a new day to continue pursuing your dreams. It is better than waking up immediately, grabbing your phone, checking email, opening Facebook, which are all things that destroy your joyful time in your fresh morning. Three, don't overeat. The death rate from diseases related to blood vessels and heart disease is very low for the people in the village of Okinawa. And this is a very good result that comes from the discipline in eating slowly as well as the diet of their people. Four, associate with good friends. In the village of Okinawa, the people, especially the elderly, like to gather and talk about this and that. Talking about memories, good experiences, sharing with each other joyfully. Sometimes they also help with finances to those who are in urgent need. Five, on your next birthday, you must have better physical health than before.
The elderly who are over 80 or 90 years old are still active in their daily lives. They do not like to sit cooped up at home doing nothing. They walk around a lot in one day. Sometimes they go to a neighbor's house to sing karaoke with each other, play chess, read books, or drink tea, chat, do gardening, or plant things. Six, smile a lot. The people who live on this island are the most cheerful people. We always notice a smile on their face. They believe that a smile not only can show that you have happiness in your heart, but it also has many other benefits for your physical and mental health. This gives you confidence in doing various tasks. People who smile a lot are people who are not stingy. Seven, reconnect with nature. The villagers in every house have a garden, a vegetable patch, with tea plants, orange trees, mango trees, and so on. Managing these things is what makes them wake up in the morning and take care of them every day. When they get the harvest, they take it to sell in the community market, sometimes not just for money. They exchange with each other or give gifts to each other to maintain relationships in their community. According to one study, it was found that those who live near lush green nature or go to see the natural forest or even look at pictures of nature can help us feel refreshed and reduce the risk of cancer. We, who live in the city every day, have cut ourselves off from nature, which is the cause of our depression or having a lot of stress in our minds.
But you can still connect with nature by creating a small garden in your house, raising pets, or eating in a garden, a vegetable patch, learning to swim in front of the house, and so on. Eight, express gratitude. The villagers on the island of Okinawa are grateful for everything that happens in their lives, good or bad, big or small, they always say thank you for everything that has happened. Thank you to nature for providing shelter, food, environment, and a cheerful life for them. This gratitude is a wonderful miracle in creating well-being in their lives, both mentally and physically. Nine, live in the present. The Japanese people and the villagers living on the island of Okinawa are all people who value the present, live with reality, accept reality with an optimistic mindset. They are meticulous in their work, have high concentration, because they understand that an amazing present creates an amazing future. They like work that requires patience, not too easy, not too difficult, and continue to do that work to make it better and better. Ten, follow your Ikigai. Find your Ikigai while you are still young, don't wait until you are old to find it, because it can help pull you out of bed with the energy to do this and that for the cause and to achieve the purpose in your life. Conclusion. Achieving a strong sense in life through knowing your Ikigai clearly means that every day you live is full of meaning, you understand the true meaning of life, you know the purpose of continuing to live, you don't become a burden to society, you continue to be active, you continue to be a valuable resource for society until the last breath of life.
These reasons are the reasons that can help you wake up in the morning and start doing various activities towards your life goals with enthusiasm. It is also the reason why many Japanese people do not retire. They still maintain their daily activities actively by continuing to do the work they love, continuing to move from one place to another with enthusiasm, and enjoying the work they love because they have found the true purpose in life. That is the happiness in keeping yourself busy with no time to rest and doing what you love without stopping until the last breath.