Ikigai is a Japanese word that roughly translates as “reason for being,” and it encompasses joy, a sense of purpose and meaning, and a sense of well-being.
The term is derived from the Greek words iki, which means “life,” and kai, which means “the fulfillment of hopes and expectations.” The book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life by Hector Gracia discusses how incorporating ikigai elements into an employee’s position is thought to yield the highest levels of employee engagement and productivity while also fostering job fulfillment and loyalty to the organization. It is your inner motivation for your sense of professionalism, which consists of how passionate you are and how much willpower you have to achieve something. The Japanese believe that they were born to fulfill Ikigai and that it is predestined.
Inner Motivation is the Key to Live Life
The motivation which one needs to start the daily routine is what Ikigai consists of. If we adopt the concept of ikigai we can do wonders as it brings consistency to our life. The degree of specialization can be achieved in any field and the job will become easier as one will attain stunning dexterity and skill. It gives inspiration and does not let you give up. Thus, also possessing the aspect of longevity. It also has a medical advantage, not being inactive lets you medically fit. The benefits of consistent activeness always result in an extremely low rate of unhealthy lifestyle and diseases or low immunity. Being physically active plays a significant role in an individual’s life. In the old people only the ones who have been doing an event the simple forms of movement are full of energy despite their age whereas others are full of joint pains or diseases.
Exercise is Therapeutic
A happy and long life can easily be grabbed by a basic hack i.e movement, the simplest form of physical activity not especially sports or strict workout. It’s as simple as walking around the neighborhood, working in gardens, or climbing stairs. The key here is not the intensity but the fact that it is never stopped. The book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life states that consistency is required for long-term effects.
Sitting Slows Metabolism
You can also consider what modern science has to say:
According to health expert Gavin Bradley, sitting adversely impacts your health. He found that after just a half-hour sitting in a chair, the metabolism slows down, disrupting the healthy digestion of fat. What’s more, sitting for over two hours causes good cholesterol levels to drop. The good news is that getting up for a mere five minutes every half hour is sufficient to offset these effects; even so, most office workers neglect such a practice.
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Healthy Life touches upon how nowadays, most people tune their workout from various sources like online videos, television, etc but in past years especially Japanese used to have a Radio Taiso which was broadcasted on radio. It was more a concerted form of exercise by communities usually in their mornings. During the lockdown, the trend to be fit has again made its space having a basic ideology to warm up joints and body of every individual to have a strong immunity to fight from corona virus and live a strong healthy happy and long life with the family.