Ikigai-kan is a guiding force -Part 2.
Our need for meaning and value: Find life-affirming answers to feel your ikigai. Anytime is a good time to reflect on your values.
To setup our discussion and stimulate your thoughts, I would like to share a passage from the book ‘Ikigai Ni Tsuite’ (Mieko Kamiya 1966).
The need for meaning and values. 意味と価値への欲求
All humans have a desire to feel meaning and value in their lives. Where did these human demands come from? This is probably related to the fact that even simple life experiences such as perception already contain judgments of meaning and value in an undifferentiated form. This is because, as Whitehead (1861–1947 British mathematician and philosopher) says, human perception always involves ‘interpretation,’ and it is thought that the past and future are inherent in that interpretation.
Until the beginning of this century (20th century), there was a view that issues of meaning and value were monopolized by philosophers and thinkers. However, these days, even in the fields of psychiatry and psychology, more people are starting to realize these issues are being ignored and without them, it is impossible to properly understand the problems of the human mind. I’m glad more and more people are starting to turn their attention to these topics.
Kamiya goes on to cite names and works of Karl Jaspers (1883–1969), Karl Pinswanger (1886–1962), Viktor Frankl (1905–1997), Hadley Cantril (1906–1969), Erich Fromm (1900–1980), Gordon Allport (1897–1967), and Lawrence Abt (1921–2009). These notable figures contribute valuable insights to the discussion.
After the citation, Kamiya continues by emphasizing the significance of life-affirming answers in experiencing ikigai-kan.
It seems that the mental functions of meaning and valuing described above are included not only in perception, but also in emotions, thoughts, memories, and all other human experiences.
In other words, people are constantly asking themselves questions and confirming the meaning of their own lives in all their experiences, without even realizing it. The answer to that question can be anything, but unless it is something that justifies one’s life and is “life-affirming,’’ one will not feel ikigai.
People who can easily get this affirmative answer will find life easy and must be looking forward to it. However, some people have complex personalities and are prone to feelings of inferiority, are unable to accept the affirmation of others, and are unable to recognize the meaning of their own lives, and spend their entire lives struggling to find this meaning.
How do you find your life-affirming answers?
Personally, I’m someone who easily gets this answer, and I look forward to discovering many more. I also happen to know many people who are unable to find affirmative answers. Therefore, I will dedicate the rest of this article to explain how I go about reflecting on my values and recent experience to find the life-affirming answers using my ikigai compass.
This is my ikigai compass, my reflection.
It’s comprised of three parts: a set of keywords representing my values (green circles), keywords reflecting my self-image (red circles), and a central symbol that ties everything together. At the heart of my ikigai compass is the Japanese Kanji character 志 (kokorozashi), which astonishingly encapsulates a warrior’s mind, encompassing will, motive, purpose, belief, goal, kindness, courteousness, and records. It also signifies the moving direction of one’s heart.
So my ikigai compass is a representation (reflection) of my values, self-image and 志 kokorozashi. It is purposefully packaged in a compact manner to achieve brevity.
Use case #1: Updating LinkedIn profile, resume.
Since my compass serves as a concise representation of my inner self, I routinely use it to review and update both my LinkedIn profile and resume. This process can be as straightforward as checking the prominence of ikigai keywords. While it’s acceptable to leverage AI resume builders, it’s crucial to conduct a final review and editing to ensure that the keywords from your ikigai compass are prominently represented in the output.
Use case #2: Coupling with my freedom of choice.
Freedom of choice is another ikigai need defined by Mieko Kamiya and we will discuss it in a separate article. For now, let me briefly mention that I’ve learned to recall my compass and its keywords when making day-to-day choices, such as ‘Should I wake up now or later?’ or ‘Do I want coffee or tea for breakfast?’ or even ‘Should I skip breakfast?’ Like yours, my waking moments are filled with opportunities to choose my direction for the day.
Seeing and feeling the alignment is the key.
So, in its simplest, smallest form, my concept of life-affirmation is the alignment of ikigai keywords with the choices I make to set a direction for the moment. When I observe them aligning more frequently, even with a single word in my compass, I sense ikigai-kan and the feeling of life-affirmation. I can confidently say that ‘Learning’ is the most powerful keyword in my compass, as there are numerous learning moments in my day.
What if you don’t feel the alignment?
There are three plausible causes: One, you haven’t set up your compass. Two, your compass is old and needs updating. Three, your compass has become too complex, and you can’t recall it in a given, brief moment.
Setup your compass for the first time.
I’ve written a few articles to help you build your ikigai compass.
How do you accept yourself? (A LinkedIn Article.)
If you’d like additional assistance, please contact me through LinkedIn.
Updating and simplifying your compass
Your values and self-image are evolving all the time, so you need to routinely update your compass. Anytime is a good time to review and update your compass and its keywords.
Over time, your compass may become too complex and start to lose its value. I use the Design Thinking process to continuously update and simplify my compass, a topic I will cover in the next article in this series, Ikigai-kan is a guiding force.
