What do you wake up in the morning for? What is your reason for being? How many times in your life have you asked yourself this question?
Ikigai (生き甲斐, pronounced [ikiɡai]) is a Japanese concept meaning “a reason for being”. Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self. Such a search is regarded as being very important, since it is believed that discovery of one’s ikigai brings satisfaction and meaning to life. Examples include work, hobbies and raising children.
In the culture of Okinawa, ikigai is thought of as “a reason to get up in the morning”; that is, a reason to enjoy life. The word ikigai is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile. Secondly, the word is used to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. It’s not necessarily linked to one’s economic status or the present state of society. Even if a person feels that the present is dark, but they have a goal in mind, they may feel ikigai. Behaviours that make us feel ikigai are not actions which we are forced to take—these are natural and spontaneous actions.
In the article named Ikigai — jibun no kanosei, kaikasaseru katei (“Ikigai: the process of allowing the self’s possibilities to blossom”) Kobayashi Tsukasa says that “people can feel real ikigai only when, on the basis of personal maturity, the satisfaction of various desires, love and happiness, encounters with others, and a sense of the value of life, they proceed toward self-realization.” Finding your Ikigai podcast
Can culture hold a people together and song save a nation?
These short video clips gave me pause, and nudged me to reflect upon the many solemn blessings of our freedom, often taken for granted.
Oh, that we hold ourselves to a higher purpose through these trying times. –
The song, Finlandia (This Is My Song), was originally written and sung in 1899 as a covert protest against increasing censorship of Finland by the Russian Empire. The lyrics written in 1941 are powerful and speak to the beauty, strength and love of a nation struggling to hold to a higher purpose…
Perhaps one of these version will speak to you, as they all did to me.
The Indigo Girls
The military history of Finland during World War II encompasses three major conflicts. The first two––the defensive Winter War in 1939–1940, and the Continuation War alongside the Axis Powers in 1941–1944––were waged against the Soviet Union. The third one, the Lapland War in 1944–1945, followed the signing of an armistice agreement with the Allied Powers, which stipulated expulsion of German forces from Finnish territory.
By the end of hostilities, Finland managed to defend its independence, but had to cede nearly 10% of its territory, including its second largest city, Viipuri, and pay out a large amount of war reparations to the Soviet Union. As a result of this territorial loss, all Finnish Karelians were evacuated from their homes, relocating to areas that remained within the borders of Finland.
COO to CEO – “Why are things not clicking? We’ve got the Vision, Mission, Strategy, Tactics, Objectives, Game Plan, Goals, Funding, Talent, Technology, Economy is up, Tasks/Action Items… but we don’t seem to be getting anywhere. What did we forget?”
Often times companies get so wrapped up in the all the above they forget about the company’s culture.
Before you scoff and hit delete, I challenge you to read on.
Believe me, there is nothing “touchy feely” about examining, paying attention to and consciously shaping a company culture. And left to evolve on its own can be disastrous.
If you don’t believe me, think back on an organization that was really being successful; people working hard; passionate about winning; cheering one another on; growing profitably. What happened when it sold, or when the leadership changed hands? If all went well and things continued to progress… good! Most likely, however, it felt like an out of balance tire at 75-mph down a bumpy road.
A company’s culture can take years to build up, but in the wrong hands, can falter overnight. Alternatively, a culture can change overnight in the right hands… for the better. A change in leadership is only one of a thousand factors that can impact a company culture.
The trick is in recognizing that the culture may be the elephant in the room, and that it takes a special skill set to handle successfully.
What is consciousness? What is the link between consciousness and our brain? How does consciousness affect our mind, and how does it shape our lives? Is consciousness separate from our brain; like a radio that receives the signal?
It’s a well known fact that the average human being uses only about 10% of their brain. What about the other 90%? What about the fact that we can change our minds and that there is such a thing as neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, is an umbrella term that encompasses both synaptic plasticity and non-synaptic plasticity—it refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behavior, environment, neural processes, thinking, emotions, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury.
The subconscious mind can make roughly 10-million observations in any one setting, whereas, the conscious mind can only keep track of about 100. This means that 99.999% of the observations you make you are not consciously aware of.
Intuition can be described in several ways such as the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Some use the term intuition in the same context as instinct, but if looked at closely, instinct refers more to the fixed pattern of behavior in response to a certain stimuli.
While both intuition and instinct can be sparked in the same instant by the same event, instinct is tied more closely to a fight, flight or freeze responses; whereas, intuition is tied more closely to deep listening to the still small voice within, those 10-million observations coupled with one’s past experiences, and involves some level of judgement. In a fleeting instant when a feeling is triggered instinct may cause the body to react instantaneously. Conversely, intuition may say stop, make another choice. –
Said another way, we use the words instinct and intuition interchangeably. And while they do exist on the same spectrum, there’s still a crucial difference between the two ideas. Instinct comes from the word instinctus, or, “impulse,” meaning it’s a biological tendency. It’s the transient reaction that happens in our bodies, apropos of right now. Intuition comes from the word intuitio, or, “consideration,” meaning it’s an accumulated belief. It’s the ongoing collection of experiences, apropos of everything up until now. –
So this raises good question: How does one connect in with those 10-million observations… what many call the still small voice within?
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What do you wake up in the morning for? What is your reason for being? How many times in your life have you asked yourself this question?
In the culture of Okinawa, ikigai is thought of as “a reason to get up in the morning”; that is, a reason to enjoy life. The word ikigai is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make one’s life worthwhile. Secondly, the word is used to refer to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their lives are valuable. It’s not necessarily linked to one’s economic status or the present state of society. Even if a person feels that the present is dark, but they have a goal in mind, they may feel ikigai. Behaviours that make us feel ikigai are not actions which we are forced to take—these are natural and spontaneous actions.
In the article named Ikigai — jibun no kanosei, kaikasaseru katei (“Ikigai: the process of allowing the self’s possibilities to blossom”) Kobayashi Tsukasa says that “people can feel real ikigai only when, on the basis of personal maturity, the satisfaction of various desires, love and happiness, encounters with others, and a sense of the value of life, they proceed toward self-realization.” Finding your Ikigai podcast
