Finding your Ikigai means discovering the little things that make you happy. It’s not always easy to discover what we like to do in a world where we are increasingly spectators of our own lives. Indeed, our time is stolen by thousands of distractions, and we get lost in them. It’s high time we discovered our Ikigai. Here are 10 tips to help you do just that.

The book you need to read to find your Ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese word meaning “reason for being”.

It’s much more than a word, it’s a philosophy of life. One to which I wholeheartedly subscribe.

I discovered it in the book
“The Little Book of Ikigai” by Ken Mogi:
A book that explains that we can give meaning to our lives, not in having or being, but in doing.

The book is packed with stories that inspire us to set off in search of our Ikigai, those little actions that bring us joy.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book as a guide to greater happiness.

I’m writing this article today to help you with your Ikigai.

1 – Understanding Ikigai

Finding your Ikigai means finding an action that makes you happy.

Indeed, we are invited to seek in doing, rather than in being or having.

Mind you, it’s not about doing things for the sake of doing things, it’s about finding things that make us happy.

And these actions are unique to each individual. Some people will be happy cooking, others playing guitar, and still others hiking mountain trails.

To find one’s Ikigai, it’s essential to free oneself from the gaze of others and the weight of society.

Indeed, to seek one’s Ikigai is not to look for actions that are recognized and applauded by others, nor is it to look for actions that will bring us financial abundance and success.

Ikigai leads us to one thing: joy, happiness!

So to find your Ikigai is to have your heart as your guide, not your mind.

2 – Finding your Ikigai: what little things give you the most pleasure?

Sometimes we think that to give meaning to our lives, we need to find strong, grandiose actions.

Yet Ikigaï is to be found in the simple things of everyday life: cooking, singing, walking, making music, writing, reading, painting, drawing, gardening…

There’s nothing to invent, nothing to look for on the other side of the world.

To find your Ikigaï, start from your everyday life and look for the little things that give you the most pleasure.

3 – What makes you want to get up in the morning?

When we’ve found our Ikigai, we feel a strong desire to get up in the morning, because our life has meaning, we’ve found what we like to do, we’re eager to start a new day.

If this isn’t already the case for you, I invite you to set up a morning ritual. Something that will make you want to get up.

What’s the one thing that makes you want to get up in the morning?

Would it be a delicious breakfast?
A reading session?
A walk in the garden?
A little dancing?
I invite you to explore your tastes, to do things you’re not used to doing. Set yourself little challenges. For example: this week, every morning, I’m going to read for 10 minutes.

4 – What do you have patience for?

Finding your Ikigai means finding that action for which you have infinite patience.

Not always easy to discover, since in today’s world we’ve learned to jump from one activity to another, and especially to give up as soon as it takes us a little too long.

Think back to when you were a child. What could you do for hours on end?

5 – Find your Ikigai: what makes you feel part of a whole?

When we feel joy, we have the impression of being part of a whole, as if all the planets were aligned for us at this moment.

The emotion of joy is magical!

To find your Ikigai is to find your source of joy.

I invite you to discover what makes you feel part of a whole, in which you forget yourself, your fears, your beliefs and your expectations.

6 – What are the little things that get you through the tough times?

Finding your Ikigaí also means finding that action that keeps you moving forward in life, even when everything seems to be going wrong.

It’s an action that allows us, for a few moments, to forget that we’re going badly. An action that comforts us.

7 – Finding your Ikigai: what could you do without being paid to do it?

What would you be able to do for hours, for days, without being paid to do it?

Finding your Ikigai is about finding that action that transcends society’s injunctions to seek gain and success in everything.

8 – Not wanting to be the best

Seeking one’s Ikigai means forgetting what we’ve learned from our society. It means forgetting about performance and the pursuit of gain.

It’s about finding the action that makes us happy, with no expectation of results.

An action in which we can be an eternal student, learning every day, exploring, experimenting.

9 – Do only one thing, but do it well

Finding your Ikigai means discovering that one action, that one thing that fills you with joy.

It means giving it time, without trying to be the best.

It means giving it our full attention.

Too often, we tend to be impatient and even a bit messy, jumping from one activity to another, so we do things quickly, but not really well.

What if you slowed down? What if you found that one action that made you want to do things at your own pace and with all your heart?

10 – Seek to savor fleeting experiences

Ikigaï is a philosophy of life. It’s much more than a little trick to make you happier.

Indeed, finding your Ikigaï means opening up to a new way of living: slower and more intense at the same time.

A life in which we pay attention to the little things, in which we put all our attention into what we’re experiencing in the present moment.

Slowing down to feel. Immerse ourselves in our sensations and emotions.