IKIGAI - Finding Your Life's Purpose & Making Money Out Of It.

    IKIGAI - The Ancient Japanese Secret Of Living Your Life's Purpose, by Digital Ninja.

Ikigai,the name itself was intriguing to me when I first discovered it. 

And being a Geminian, my curiosity,  kicked in and then I started reading more about this fascinating and ancient artform that has existed,eons before and originated from the tiny microscopic islands of Okinawa,Japan.

As I dug in further, I came cross 2 books written on the subject.

The first one I read was by Tim Tamashiro (modern day explorer, jazz singer, story teller and former CBC Radio Host) and the second was a blue hard cover book by joint authors Hector Garcia & Francesc Miralles.

If you have a choice between the two,I would strongly ask you to pick up Tim's book as that's a life changing one and you will feel as if the book speaks to you and will compel you into positive purposeful action like a Happy Ninja.

This is a TED TALK of Tim giving a talk about IKIGAI  for your reference, understanding and clarity.

    Think of IKIGAI as the treasure map to a balanced life which is both enjoyable and productive

    

    Basically there are  4 aspects of IKIGAI :

    1) Do What You Love

    2) Do What You Are Good At

    3) Do What Your Space, Neighborhood, Community, City, Country, World Needs more Of

    4) And What Pays You For / You Get Paid To Do

Human Beings come with mood swings and all types of emotions, specially anger and other negativity, resulting in sickness of the mind and body, to themselves and those around them.

    Dr. Santos demonstrates through a series of experiments and scientific studies that we can improve our well-being by doing these eight things as listed below :

1) Random Acts Of Kindness Unconditionally

2) Exercise (Light To Extreme)

3) Social Connections / Gathering / Community Service

4) Meditation & Yoga

5) Time Affluence To Make You Do The Things That Matter

6) A Good Sleep / Rest

7) Gratitude

8) Goal setting (even smallest of it)

The IKIGAI starter pack ( side hustle - full or part time)

If you are serious about incorporating some or all of these traits in your daily life, start from where you are, start small but start something,and do it now. 

Procrastination are for the damned and lackadaisical folks out there, who only catch more sunsets than sunrises.

Your Ikigai, whatever it may be starts with "To"

This is a list of Tim's starter pack from his book

1) To Serve

2) To Create

3) To Delight

4) To Nourish

5) To Provide

6) To Teach

7) To Heal

8) To Build

9) To Bond

10) To Connect

11) To Communicate

12) To Make

13) To Begin

14) To Help

15) To Believe

16) To Include

17) To Continue

18) To Speak

19) To To Offer

20) To Remember

21) To Reach

22) To Wait

23) To Rock (This one is mine as am a bassist, just getting into MESHUGGAHs complex timing)

24) To Be

25) To Spark Joy (Marie Kondo's iconic word,but more about her later)

Your Ikigai can begin with just one off the many mentioned in the list and make it your sworn and own.

My IKIGAI, would be To 

a) Create,

b)  Connect,

c) Bond,

d) Express,

e) Share,

f) Spark Joy,

g) Rock

h) Djent Like Meshuggah

i) Heal

j) Serve

k) Offer

l) Protect

m) Anticipate

n) Work

depending on the kinda day I am having or pre think I am going to have,the night before.

Mr Tim's IKIGAI is To Delight.

Another story comes to mind, but please do watch this video first, it will be worth your while.

Meet Dr Ali Abdaal, self-made millionaire now residing in the UK. 

Very genuine content and speaks in a language that we all can relate to. I have just ordered my copy of "Show Your Work by Austin Kleon" which is a great book to read after your Tim's Ikigai book. I will talk about the book once I have read it and give you the gist of it.

I think Dr. Ali's Ikigai would be 'To Inspire", and I will definitely ask him directly too, once he reads my blog,if he has the time.

 Just to say, none of these guys are endorsing me nor am I getting paid to showcase any of these videos. I derived a lot of value from them and so want to share the same ,with you ninja clans too.

    So if you are thinking of starting a blog, like this one or a YouTube and think that you must have the         most expensive gadgets etc. and the perfect lights, and green screen, leave the excuses behind and start     creating asap. You can learn and self course correct as you go along. The more you do, the more you     will get better at it. Its called practice and consistency and feedback.

    I have been thinking of writing a blog since a long time, but after doing an online course of 2 days        from India's first Business duo coaches, Mr. Sanjay Wadhwa & Mr. Sandeep Mukhi                                (www.phenomcoaching.com). 

    The 2 day weekend workshop called "Attraction Marketing Blueprint"     opened up many locked         doors and this blog is the direct result of this session.

    As I mentioned Ms Marie Kondo earlier,the Japanese tidying expert who now has a million followers     and moved to the USA where she conducts workshops on the art of tidying homes, spaces etc.

    Initially, like myself,I wondered, is that even a real thing?, but as I began following her on Youtube and watched her award winning show on Netflix ," Tidying Up With Marie Kondo" I realised , so much more goes behind than just tidyng up. It is a process and only when you watch each episode and see the people behind it, their mindsets when it comes to stocking clothes, books, things they have no use of and the pain they experience in letting go of it,was simply awesome. Ms Kondo begins her tidying process by picking up a spot in her clients house, does a bit of prayer, thanking the house and also thanking each item that has to be given away. Watch it for a new level of perception, that we miss as we gon about like zombies in our daily dull routines.

She often uses the term " Sparking with Joy" and says if clothes,books,jewellery,etc do not spark joy, thank them and let go of it or give it away.

Her Ikigai is easy to figure. It is "To Spark Joy" or "To Declutter" or "To Tidy Up".

The Last example I would like to close my blog on would be incomplete without mentioning Mr. Casey Neistat. This guy tried on many things till he found his Ikigai which was To Do More/ To Create.

Casey found his passion in vlogging and all he had was an old camera where he would shoot anything, anywhere and whatever appealed to him at any time. His work ethic and passion, got him going or rather his Ikigai,kicked in made him do the work he enjoyed doing most.

He soon became a name and developed a million followers on Youtube so much so that Nike contacted him and asked him to shoot an ad for them, but in their format. Casey told them, to give him the budget money for the ad and he would do it his way. So his friend and he jet-setted around the globe and shot the ad till the money ran out. This video is the result which Nike ran for a long time.

This ad has generated 31 million views and counting.

    

https://a.co/d/07FlwdyC amazon kindle ebook link : THE IKIGAI TREASURE MAP