The Japanese word ikigai describes “the reason you get up in the morning”: the point where what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and — when possible — what you can be paid for, all meet. Popularized in the West through books and articles about the longevity of the people of Okinawa, Japan, ikigai isn’t really a career goal. For many elderly people interviewed in the region, their reason for being has nothing to do with work at all — it’s a grandchild to walk to school, a meal to cook for their children, a daily phone call to a sibling far away.
Demographic studies on Okinawan centenarians, among the longest-living populations in the world, point to exactly this sense of still being needed by someone as one of the factors associated with a longer, healthier life. Feeling useful within one’s family network is linked, according to several studies, to lower rates of depression, better cardiovascular health, and a greater overall sense of well-being, regardless of age. So there’s no need to go looking for some grand existential purpose — it’s often already there, in the everyday things your family asks of you.
A small exercise to try today: take a moment to notice one way, even a small one, that someone in your family needs you right now — practical help, your presence, simply listening. Recognizing it consciously, instead of just going through the motions, is the first step to turning it into your own daily ikigai.
Sources
- Sone T. et al. (2008). Sense of Life Worth Living (Ikigai) and Mortality in Japan: Ohsaki Study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70(6).
- Willcox, B.J., Willcox, D.C., Suzuki, M. — Okinawa Centenarian Study, research on longevity and ikigai.
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