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people still search for meaning in what they do and how they live.
“the happiness of always being busy,”
healthful diet, a simple life in the outdoors, green tea, and the subtropical climate (its average temperature is like that of Hawaii)—is the ikigai that shapes their lives.
“treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.”
Because those who discover their ikigai have everything they need for a long and joyful journey through life.
having a purpose in life is so important in Japanese culture that our idea of retirement simply doesn’t exist there.
the keys to longevity are diet, exercise, finding a purpose in life (an ikigai), and forming strong social ties—that
This creates a tendency to stick to routines, and the only way of breaking these is to confront the brain with new information.
The American Institute of Stress investigated this degenerative process and concluded that most health problems are caused by stress.
test
They found that stress promotes cellular aging by weakening cell structures known as telomeres, which affect cellular regeneration and how our cells age.
As such, though challenges are good for keeping mind and body active, we should adjust our high-stress lifestyles in order to avoid the premature aging of our bodies.
“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
“If you are angry and want to fight, think about it for three days before coming to blows. After three days, the intense desire to fight will pass on its own.”
Add a little something extra, something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
This is perhaps one of the greatest obstacles we face today, with so much technology and so many distractions. We’re listening to a video on YouTube while writing an e-mail, when suddenly a chat prompt pops up and we answer it. Then our smartphone vibrates in our pocket; just as soon as we respond to that message, we’re back at our computer, logging on to Facebook.
It has been scientifically shown that if we continually ask our brains to switch back and
forth between tasks, we waste time, make more mistakes, and remember less of what we’ve done.
Several studies conducted at Stanford University by Clifford Ivar Nass describe our generation as suffering f...
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protecting the time that brings them happiness,
Even Bill Gates washes the dishes every night. He says he enjoys it—that it helps him relax and clear his mind, and that he tries to do it a little better each day, following an established order or set of rules he’s made for himself: plates first, forks second, and so on.
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Shintoism—are
What is indisputable, though, is that finding flow in a “ritualistic workplace” is much easier than in one in which we are continually stressed out trying to achieve unclear goals set by our bosses.
