Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

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For fans of Japanese culture like I am, this is a true treat, as it mixes that with a neat account of self-development. For me, it is the concept of resilience, and how we handle any challenges and focus on the meaning or purpose we give to our lives.

There they had the chance to interview more than a hundred villagers about their philosophy for a long and happy life. Héctor García is a citizen of Japan, where he has lived for over a decade, and of Spain, where he was born. It is a Japanese concept that shows us the beauty of fleeting, changeable and imperfect nature of the world around us. The Stress Solution: The 4 Steps to Reset Your Body, Mind, Relationships and Purpose is a better and more concrete book. Antioxidants are molecules that slow the oxidation process in cells (I would encourage you to google iron oxidation for a visual representation of the similar process that goes on in our bodies).The authors take us on a journey to Okinawa and ‘the village of longevity’ and you wonder ‘is it really that simple? and that's not the only concept discussed here which needs to be understood from a different source. If you want to be nannied into being told to sleep better, eat better (somehow to objectively figure out how to fill only 80% of your stomach, never mind what you eat), don't take stress and somehow find your purpose in life (all in the span of 15 minutes of reading), go for it.

I liked a few chapters, more like 50-60% of the book to which I would happily give 5 stars, explaining how to live a fulfilling life. Most books are badly overwritten and in need of editing: the value of a book is in the quality of its content, not the number of pages it fills. There are quotes and interviews with centenarians who lead a simple live, eat simple food, are social and friendly, sleep the requisite amount of hours, keep busy and moving and yes, drink that awful tasting green tea! The important thing is how happy we are with our lives in each and every moment we live in this world. It that feeling when you are sharing good, comfort food with your closest friends, by candle light and exchanging easy conversation.It is another Japanese concept which can be translated as 'This moment exists only now and won't come again'.

I have to admit that the timing was good for me as I was losing this desire to go on and this book reminded me of some of the basics. It explains how it is an alternative to Psychotherapy (which I have been doing weekly for 4 years) - it is similar but different as it shows clearly in a table format. Telling the world why according to statistics they live to be more than 100 years old and yet be healthy.It's not a guide og help to living in the modern world and was more "move to a cabin in the woods with friends" approach. One of the things it taught me was that Japan has the highest average life expectancy in the world, and the importance of the simple lessons of the citizens of Okinawa, a place in Japan that exceeds the national average and has the most centenarians in the world (people aged over 100), and the secrets to their longevity. Warm, patient, and kind, this book pulls you gently along your own journey rather than pushing you from behind. The book further tells the exercises and techniques these long living and happiest people used in their daily routines/tasks to keep them stay active for a long time even in very old age. However, I was expecting the book to talk about the Ikigai diagram in rich detail (the diagram you’ve likely seen if you’re interested in reading this book), but instead, it was more focused on interviewing the centenarians and supercentenarians of Okinawa and learning about their daily practices, and the simple life of farming and other similar roles the citizens of Okinawans live is very different from the Western world, especially for an ambitious person.

Okinawa has the highest life expectancy in Japan, and it is remarkable considering the fact that it was one of the worst affected provinces after WW/II. Ikigai offers a genuine recipe for living a meaningful life if you are prepared to give it some time and thought.There are methods, there are ways being practiced, with good empirical studies that made the suggestions to attain happiness doable. The book does not succeed in providing more than observations around behaviour and seems to jump feet first into the "correlation equals causality"-trap. The only setback I would like to mention is perhaps the beginning of the book, since I find the writing to be a bit dry and plainly informational content.