Women in Dentistry - Blog

According to the Japanese, everyone has an Ikigai. Ikigai is a Japanese word for which there isn’t a direct English translation. I like to think of Ikigai as a concept, as a guide or framework to live by.

A few years ago, I picked up a book called Ikigai – the Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life (Hector Garcia, 2016). I have a mild obsession with anything Japanese, and I had stumbled upon this word when researching mindfulness. Like many concepts for living well, initially Ikigai seems quite simplistic. Simply put, it means “your reason for being”, your purpose, that which brings you satisfaction and happiness. Essentially…why you get up in the morning!

However, if one spends a bit of time trying to uncover their own Ikigai, you come to understand that there’s so much meaning behind this one word, this one concept. The origin of the word Ikigai dates back thousands of years and has recently become very popular in the West as sociologists, scientists and journalists have researched and dissected its meaning. Interest has grown over the years as many associate this concept with why the Japanese live so long, especially those in the Blue Zone island of Okinawa Japan.

Blue Zones are areas of the world where people live exceptionally long lives and top of that list is Okinawa, Japan. Okinawa is also a hotbed for Ikigai ideology. It is believed that the concept of Ikigai is one of the major contributors to a long and healthy life for the people of this region.

In 2010, writer Dan Buettner released a book titled “Blue Zones: Lessons on Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest”, now a Netflix documentary series. He studied areas with some of the longest-living residents (including Okinawa) and what he discovered was that the various Blue Zones including Okinawa had a strong uniting link and that was Ikigai or “purpose in life”.

Most of us would love to live long happy lives. It’s not just lifespan, which is how much time passes between when you are born and when you die that matters, but rather healthspan which is how long you live in good health. Research seems to point out that finding purpose in life is critical for healthspan. Your purpose will change throughout life, that is normal, but what is important is that one always find a reason for being. Ones purpose in retirement will look very different than when at the height of our career.

So how do you find your Ikigai, your purpose, your reason for waking up? The first step is understanding that finding your Ikigai could be a life-long individual explorative journey. It is the journey on the path of finding your Ikigai that’s the teaching, and not necessarily finding it. Like all things worthwhile, you need to put time and energy in the process. There must be a willingness to participate in living well, to want to be happier and more satisfied in life.

It requires self-reflection and answering questions that can be challenging. But in the process, you will learn so much about yourself.

The Venn diagram below from Garcia’s book on Ikigai is a good place to start.

Free up a little bit of time to answer the questions in the diagram. Doing this exercise will give you a visual representation of the different elements that are important in your life. You might find some questions are easier to answer than others. If you feel stuck, just move to another question and come back to it later.

The first step is to answer: what do you love?

What brings you joy, activities that make you forget everything else, what makes you feel in a state of flow? Sometimes it’s a hobby and you may be already doing it. Or it could be a routine task that you particularly enjoy doing.

But stuck in the busyness of life, it might be difficult to remember what you truly love doing! So think about what makes you curious, what made you passionate before and do more of that!

It’s so important that we take time to incorporate doing things we love.

What are you good at?

These are activities that you enjoy doing and that energise you. These include your strengths, what are you naturally good at? Things you could do all day if you had the chance. As well, your skills, these are the competencies that you’ve learned over time, through education and professional experience.

What can you be paid for?

For many of us, the answer is being a dentist or dental professional. As an exercise, think outside the box and free your mind to explore and brainstorm. No idea is a silly idea.

What the world needs, what matters to you?

This is about the impact you want to have, whether it is on your local community, on a specific group of people or in the world. Think about who or what inspires you, but also what makes you angry or frustrated.

Once you have done the above exercise and answered the questions, take a step back, take some time to let it simmer and keep referring back to the diagram, where the circles intersect.

What is your passion, mission, profession, vocation? Start to create small goals. From items you identified in “what you love”, how can you incorporate more of those into your day to day?

If you love baking, maybe bake every weekend and share your creations with friends and neighbours. If you love animals, maybe see if you can volunteer at an animal shelter. If you love interior decorating, take a course online and maybe offer to decorate a room at your friend’s house or tackle a room in your own space.

For many of you reading this, you are already practicing your profession and if it generally aligns with you having a satisfied happy life, then you work on incorporating more of your hobbies and other things that bring you joy in your life. However, for those that may be unhappy with their chosen profession, this exercise is just one way of working towards discovering what your true calling is.

One thing is for sure, working towards finding your Ikigai will be one step in helping you unlock the secret to your most joyful life.