There's a phrase in Japanese, "otona joshi" — "grown-up girl." It's less about age than about someone who fully takes on the responsibilities of adult life while never letting go of the things she loves. Someone whose days may be filled with work and household matters, but who still keeps a room in her heart for the things she likes.
"Ikigai" Was Originally an Everyday Word
In recent years, the word "IKIGAI" has often been introduced overseas. It's frequently explained through a diagram showing the overlap of four circles: what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
But this diagram was actually created overseas, and it's said to be a little different from the original Japanese sense of "ikigai." The psychiatrist Miyeko Kamiya wrote about ikigai as something much simpler in her 1966 book "On the Meaning of Life" (Ikigai ni Tsuite). Waking up in the morning and feeling, "I want to keep living today." Having small pleasures. Feeling that it's okay for you to be here. It wasn't about some grand purpose — it was about the everyday texture of life.
Displaying Art Is a Way of Practicing Self-Care
I think "wellbeing" works the same way — you don't need to do anything special. Sleep well. Eat something warm. Place something you love somewhere you'll see it.
I work as an artist, and I feel that hanging a piece of art is also a way of "making space for yourself." Not for your family, not for guests, but hanging something you love on the wall you see the most. It may seem like a small thing, but it becomes a practice of taking care of yourself.
One customer told me, "Every time I look at it, I feel happy, like I'm being praised." Another began incorporating the colors from her painting into her clothes and accessories, and said it made getting dressed more fun. A single piece, once displayed, can lift your mood a little each day. I think that's the kind of work art can do.
Not Letting Go of What You Love
As adults, we tend to choose things based on "what use is this?" But keeping something you love in your life, even if it serves no practical purpose — having that one corner — is probably close to what's called ikigai.
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