The word ikigai has become widely known outside Japan.
The ikigai spoken of there, however, has shifted a little from what the Japanese word means.
Let me start with that difference.
Where did the four-circle diagram come from?
When ikigai is explained abroad, a Venn diagram of four overlapping circles is often used: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, plus what you can be paid for. The center where the four overlap is said to be ikigai.
This diagram did not originally come from Japan. It is based on a Venn diagram of purpose made by a Spanish writer. Around 2014, a British blogger replaced the word in the center, changing Purpose to Ikigai.
The book IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, published in 2016, became a worldwide bestseller, and it is reported that the diagram spread along with it. The Wingston Japan Foundation has also written about where the diagram came from.
In Japan, ikigai lives closer to everyday life
The four-circle diagram ties ikigai to work and achievement. Earning an income is one of its conditions.
In Japanese, ikigai is often something much smaller. Morning coffee, flowers in the garden, a child's sleeping face. Small things that make each day feel worthwhile are also called ikigai.
The neuroscientist Ken Mogi has written that ikigai has a side that is about cherishing small joys. It does not need to be a profession, nor does it need anyone else's recognition.
What ikigai is for me
For me, ikigai is painting.
Then there is the time I spend with my family. A color that caught my eye on a walk. The moment fried food changes color in the kitchen.
Less a great purpose than the things that make me want to carry the day on a little longer. They gather, and become the colors of the next painting.
One painting, and ikigai
Placing a painting in your daily life is not ikigai in itself.
Still, having something where you can see it that reminds you what you hold dear can help.
Mermaid nao's Personal Order Art takes what you value, as shared in conversation, and turns it into color, form and light on a single painting. Each piece is delivered framed.
[References]
Wingston Japan Foundation (Japanese): The reality of the IKIGAI theory spreading abroad: where did the four-circle model come from?
note / zenschool (Japanese): Japanese ikigai versus IKIGAI abroad were different things
Nikkei Business (Japanese): People with ikigai know: four things that matter in life
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