Japanese”- you must be wondering what we Africans have to do with the Japanese philosophy. Well, we learn every day and it is time to learn something from the Japanese, some of you might already know this (knowledge is given to a lot of people) and some of you may not. It does not matter, you can learn something new or remind yourself.

It always feels like there is too little time to do all of the things that we have to do on a daily basis; we meet deadlines, take care of our families, visit the market etc. the list goes on. While we are engrossed with all the things life has in store for us, we stop to think about what life would be if we did not have so much to do.

I bet we have all been in that place where we wished we could just sit down and chill because we believe that relaxing for eternally is the best thing in life. Well our Japanese friends would disagree.

“Ikigai” pronounced aki-gay-aii… this idea translates in English as “reason to get up in the morning” or “finding purpose”. The assumption is that once you find your “Ikigai” you would live a happy, prosperous and (yes they said it) long life.

As it turns out this idea has been backed up by science, some researchers after a careful study that people who had a purpose lived 7 years longer than those who did not. Well thank you science for the update.

Many of us already know that we have a purpose in life, and finding and acting through this purpose would bring about happiness. Finding a purpose is never as easy as it sounds or seems, you have to reflect and this does not happen in a day but over time.

Humans are active during their life time, managing, being responsible, being care-takers, trying to make money etc. the only difference is what do you feel when you are engaged in all this activity. If you are happy then you have found your purpose in life.

PS: Stress and busy are two different things, let’s do well not to mix them up.

SOURCE: madivasmag