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October 19 - October 24, 2025
IKIGAI The art of staying young while growing old
ANTIAGING SECRETS Little things that add up to a long and happy life
What, then, does logotherapy do? 1 The answer is pretty clear: It helps you find reasons to live. Logotherapy pushes patients to consciously discover their life’s purpose in order to confront their neuroses. Their quest to fulfill their destiny then motivates them to press forward, breaking the mental chains of the past and overcoming whatever obstacles they encounter along the way.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Ten Differences Between Psychoanalysis and Logotherapy Psychoanalysis Logotherapy The patient reclines on a couch, like a patient. The patient sits facing the therapist, who guides him or her without passing judgment. Is retrospective: It looks to the past. Looks toward the future. Is introspective: It analyzes neuroses. Does not delve into the patient’s neuroses. The drive is toward pleasure. The drive is toward purpose and meaning. Centers on psychology. Includes a spiritual dimension. Works on psychogenic neuroses. Also works on noogenic, or existential, neuroses. Analyzes the unconscious
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Existential frustration arises when our life is without purpose, or when that purpose is skewed.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl cites one of Nietzsche’s famous aphorisms: “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
Existential crisis, on the other hand, is typical of modern societies in which people do what they are told to do, or what others do, rather than what they want to do. They often try to fill the gap between what is expected of them and what they want for themselves with economic power or physical pleasure, or by numbing their senses. It can even lead to suicide.
Better living through logotherapy: A few key ideas We don’t create the meaning of our life, as Sartre claimed—we discover it. We each have a unique reason for being, which can be adjusted or transformed many times over the years. Just as worry often brings about precisely the thing that was feared, excessive attention to a desire (or “hyper-intention”) can keep that desire from being fulfilled. Humor can help break negative cycles and reduce anxiety. We all have the capacity to do noble or terrible things. The side of the equation we end up on depends on our decisions, not on the condition in
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Morita therapy focuses on teaching patients to accept their emotions without trying to control them, since their feelings will change as a result of their actions.
The basic principles of Morita therapy Accept your feelings. If we have obsessive thoughts, we should not try to control them or get rid of them. If we do, they become more intense. Regarding human emotions, the Zen master would say, “If we try to get rid of one wave with another, we end up with an infinite sea.” We don’t create our feelings; they simply come to us, and we have to accept them. The trick is welcoming them. Morita likened emotions to the weather: We can’t predict or control them; we can only observe them. To this point, he often quoted the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who
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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. —Aristotle
“Be water, my friend.”
flow is “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
The Seven Conditions for Achieving Flow According to researcher Owen Schaffer of DePaul University, the requirements for achieving flow are: Knowing what to do Knowing how to do it Knowing how well you are doing Knowing where to go (where navigation is involved) Perceiving significant challenges Perceiving significant skills Being free from distractions1
Strategy 1: Choose a difficult task (but not too difficult!)
If the rules for completing a task or achieving a purpose are too basic relative to our skill set, we will likely get bored. Activities that are too easy lead to apathy.
Easy Challenging Beyond Our Abilities Boredom Flow Anxiety
Strategy 2: Have a clear, concrete objective
the number one complaint of employees at multinational corporations is that they don’t “communicate the team’s mission clearly,” and that, as a result, the employees don’t know what their objectives are.
it’s important to reflect on what we hope to achieve before starting to work, study, or make something.
Vague Objective Clearly Defined Objective and a Focus on Process Obsessive Desire to Achieve a Goal While Ignoring Process Confusion; time and energy wasted on meaningless tasks Flow Fixation on the objective rather than getting down to business Mental block Flow Mental block
Strategy 3: Concentrate on a single task
Our brains can take in millions of bits of information but can only actually process a few dozen per second. When we say we’re multitasking, what we’re really doing is switching back and forth between tasks very quickly. Unfortunately, we’re not computers adept at parallel processing. We end up spending all our energy alternating between tasks, instead of focusing on doing one of them well.
Concentrating on one thing at a time may be the single most important factor in achieving flow.
Other studies indicate that working on several things at once lowers our productivity by at least 60 percent and our IQ by more than ten points.
Concentrating on a Single Task Multitasking Makes achieving flow more likely Makes achieving flow impossible Increases productivity Decreases productivity by 60 percent (though it doesn’t seem to) Increases our power of retention Makes it harder to remember things Makes us less likely to make mistakes Makes us more likely to make mistakes Helps us feel calm and in control of the task at hand Makes us feel stressed by the sensation that we’re losing control, that our tasks are controlling us Causes us to become more considerate as we pay full attention to those around us Causes us to hurt those
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Advantages of Flow Disadvantages of Distraction A focused mind A wandering mind Living in the present Thinking about the past and the future We are free from worry Concerns about our daily life and the people around us invade our thoughts The hours fly by Every minute seems endless We feel in control We lose control and fail to complete the task at hand, or other tasks or people keep us from our work We prepare thoroughly We act without being prepared We know what we should be doing at any given moment We frequently get stuck and don’t know how to proceed Our mind is clear and overcomes all
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ganbaru, which means “to persevere” or “to stay firm by doing one’s best.”
Microflow: Enjoying mundane tasks
Humans as ritualistic beings
The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.
Never Stop Learning “You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then—to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.” —T. H. White, The Once and Future King
“The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”2
1. Don’t worry
2. Cultivate good habits
3. Nurture your friendships every day
4. Live an unhurried life
5. Be optimistic
Radio taiso
Basic version of the radio taiso exercises (5 minutes).
The here and now, and the impermanence of things
“The only moment in which you can be truly alive is the present moment,” observes the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
Ichi-go ichi-e teaches us to focus on the present and enjoy each moment that life brings us. This is why it is so important to find and pursue our ikigai.
Wabi-sabi teaches us to appreciate the beauty of imperfection as an opportunity for growth.
“Happiness is always determined by your heart.”
“Keep going; don’t change your path.”
Our ikigai is different for all of us, but one thing we have in common is that we are all searching for meaning.
When we spend our days feeling connected to what is meaningful to us, we live more fully; when we lose the connection, we feel despair.
