Ikigai! Living a Life of Meaning and Purpose ⛩

You don't find meaning and purpose in your life, you create it.

Seena and I launched our new and improved Building a Better You program and it's been really gratifying to develop this program over the past two years. For us, creating educational programs like Building a Better You ... and mentoring students, residents, and colleagues ... gives our lives meaning and purpose. The idea that our lives are enriched because we get to do something we think is important is a concept the Japanese call ikigai. Loosely translated, ikigai combines the word iki, meaning “alive” or “life,” and gai, meaning “benefit” or “worth.” The French call it “raison d’etre” or your “reason for being.” While creating the Building a Better You program isn't our ONLY reason for living, having the opportunity to use our skills and talents in personally meaningful ways really boosts our sense of well-being.

Ikigai arises from devotion to activities you enjoy, which, in turn, brings a sense of fulfillment. Increasingly, psychologists have realized the importance of meaning to our well-being and happiness. Research has shown that people who find significant meaning in what they do are happier, exhibit increased life satisfaction, live longer, and report lowered rates of depression. Your narrative, the story you create in your mind, produces the meaning you assign to yourself, the world around you, and your role in it. Your purpose – your aim and goals – motivates the activities that take you through life. Thus, both meaning and purpose are vital to your well-being and help you define who you are. We are all free to lead a life according to our values, assigning meaning to what we see as vital and pursuing our unique purpose.

Meaning in life is achieved when a person believes his/her life has purpose, significance, and coherence.

Ikigai is not transitory pleasure. The ancient Greeks used the word hedonia to describe the fleeting pleasure we feel from such things as eating indulgent food, having sex, watching a sitcom, or buying new clothing. Instead, ikigai is similar to the ancient Stoic concept of eudaimonia – the sense of a life well-lived, a virtuous life.