Ikigai book review

 

Ikigai book review

Ikigai the Japanese secret to a long and happy life this book is super special to me because it's completely different from any other self-help book 

How beautiful the cover of this book is it has to be hands down one of my favorite book covers ever I love the soothing blue color and the beautiful artwork of the Japanese cherry blossom 

So ikigai was co-authored by Hector Garcia and Francis miral these two met for the first time at a bar in Tokyo and that is where the book was conceptualized 

They went on to travel to Okinawa and regime in particular and interacted with a lot of centenarians and supercentenarians that is people who lived beyond 

At the age of 100 and they've documented all of these interactions and researched quite a bit on various western schools of psychology Viktor frankl's logotherapy 

So on and that's how they came up with this book coming to the premise of the book ikigai is a Japanese concept that refers to the purpose or the meaning of your life 

It is beautifully represented with a diagram in this book what you love what you're good at what you can be paid for and what the world needs where all of these factors go inside that is your 

Ikigai the Japanese island of Okinawa is home to a few of the longest-lived people on the planet and the town of ogimi in particular which is situated to the north of Okinawa is actually known 

As the village of longevity, it boasts of the highest life expectancy in the world so what is the secret behind this unusually high longevity this book dives deep into the lifestyle of the Japanese people living in this region and discusses various aspects of their lives 

The initial few chapters of the book talk about the importance of finding your ikigai or finding your purpose in life the authors observed that amongst all the Japanese centenarians and supercentenarians 

They had one thing in common that is all of them led a very active lifestyle in spite of their advanced age all of them had a purpose that made them jump out of bed every morning that kept them going kept them motivated right from making ceramics to preparing sushi each person had their own individual 

Ikigai the authors also go on to talk about Viktor frankl's logotherapy Morita therapy Nikon meditation all of these forms that are centered around finding 

The meaning or true purpose in life the book then goes on to talk about finding a flow in whatever you do whether you're working 

You're eating reading listening to music whatever you're doing you need to be completely absorbed in that particular activity at the moment 

Let go of all the distractions around you in the last few chapters of the book you'll actually read stories and interactions with these Japanese people who have actually managed to live beyond 100 years of age 

They talk about what kind of food they eat how they incorporate gentle movements into their baby routines and in general what are the reasons that have managed to keep them alive for this long 

They've also beautifully illustrated various gentle movement techniques like yoga tai chi shiatsu radio taiso and so on 

So that you can also practice them by looking at this book they also stress the importance of having an antioxidant-rich diet consuming green teas white teas and so on 

Finally, the book talks about the concept of baby Sabi and resilience I'm sure most of you are aware that in Japanese culture they don't correlate beauty with perfection in fact 

They believe in celebrating the inherent imperfections because they believe that's what makes a thing or a person beautiful the book explains this concept very beautifully now coming to why I love the book 

So much it's because it's just so simple it's not trying too hard to be too philosophical or to be too preachy 

It's just simply stating facts and telling you stories of people so that you can draw inspiration from them and live your life accordingly it's not promoting toxic positivity like many other self-help books do 

In fact, it's just giving you a simple way of life so that you can live a happier and longer life and before I wrap up let me tell you my takeaway from this book 

A few things that I'm going to try my best to incorporate in my life first is incorporating gentle movement or exercise in my daily routine without overdoing 

It seconds trying to eat a more balanced variety rich and antioxidant rich diet and eating only till i'm 80 full so that i don't overeat the third is building a community surrounding myself with a community of supportive friends 

People fourth is reconnecting with mother nature and five is finding those small little activities that give me pleasure and spending my time doing them keeping myself busy not necessarily looking for some result or some kind of productivity 

The book is 194 pages long and it is written in a very simple and flowing language so much so that you can even finish it in a single day

But I suggest don't pace it out and absorb it in completely so that's about it from me on ikigai the japanese secret to a long and happy life 

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 THANK YOU SO MUCH