Ikigai by Héctor Garcia and Francesc Miralles
“People who maintained a low level of stress, who faced challenges and put their heart and soul into their work, in order to succeed, lived longer.”
3 Main Messages:
Eat well, sleep well and keep moving
We thrive when we have community and purpose
Connect with nature and find joy in small, simple tasks and things
‘Live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse’, or LFDY, is a popular mindset for the youth of any generation who like to think that they are immortal and who are enjoying living for today, with little thought of the consequences. It was a phrase loved and made famous by James Dean who died aged 24, but it was first coined by John Derek in the film Knock on any Door (1949) who went on to live until he was 71.
Even 71 is young, however, in comparison with many of the citizens of Okinawa, a small south western Japanese island in the middle of the Pacific, where over 24 people out of 100,000 are over 100. Ogimi, a small town in the North West of the island, boasts the highest life expectancy in the world. Their secret, it seems, is the very opposite - live slow and live long. It is, of course, a little more complicated than that, but this book seeks to share their lifestyles, diets and approach to life so that we can incorporate some of their habits into our own lives.
Much of their healthy lifestyle can be attributed to simple living, which can easily be emulated. They eat healthily, with a diet full of fruits, vegetables and fish and they only eat until they are 80% full. This is helped by eating small portions on a selection of small plates. They also consume lots of white tea and limited alcohol and processed food is non-existent. This is combined with plenty of sleep and lots of gentle movement like walking and gardening; these centenarians and supercentenarians like to remain mobile and avoid being sedentary.
Also seemingly relevant are the social networks which have been developed amongst the residents, where there is a strong sense of community and much celebration and joy. They employ the principle of “Ichariba chode”, which means to treat everyone like a brother.
While exploring all of these contributing factors, authors García and Miralles focus on the Okinawan practice of Ikigai, similar to Logotherapy in western culture, as taught by Victor Frankl, which focuses on individuals’ search for meaning in life and task. As stress can cause physical and mental problems and be a significant contributing factor in shortening life, Ikigai gives us the alternative.
The book goes on to explain that, in order to find our ‘flow’, our Ikigai, our work should be something that we love, that we’re good at, that we can be paid for and that the world needs. Thinking through a list of possible jobs which could fulfil this definition, they all are in some way in service of others. In fact, for Okinawans, having this purpose in life is so important that retirement just doesn’t exist.
With anecdotes, quotes, instructions, diagrams and explanations, this book sets out to share the secrets of living a long and happy life. It is simple and beautiful and something everyone should read and attempt to incorporate into their lives.
After reading it I bought and gifted it to three friends and have discussed it with a number of other friends who have already read and love it. There is definitely something there. Perhaps, we can start a new trend: LSLL. Who’s with me?
