Daniel's notes on Ikigai

Whatever you do, don't retire! Having a clearly defined ikigai brings satisfaction, happiness, and meaning to our lives. One surprising thing you notice, living in Japan, is how active people remain after they retire. In fact, many Japanese people never really retire—they keep doing what they love for as long as their health allows.

Our neurons start to age while we are still in our twenties, This process is slowed, however, by intellectual activity, curios-ity, and a desire to learn. Dealing with new situations, learning something new every day, playing games, and interacting with other people seem to be essential antiaging strategies for the mind.

Research into the causes of premature aging has shown that stress has a lot to do with it, because the body wears down much faster during penods of crisis. An study found out that stress promotes cellular aging by weakening cell structures known as telomeres, which affect cellular regeneration and how our cells age. As the study revealed, the greater the stress, the greater the degenerative effect on cells.

The search for meaning: The search for purpose became a personal, driving force that allowed Frankl to achieve his goals. The process of logotherapy can be summarized in these five steps: 1. A person feels empty, frustrated, or anxious. 2. The therapist shows him that what he is feeling is the desire to have a meaningful life. 3. The patient discovers his life's purpose (at that particular point in time). 4. Of his own free will, the patient decides to accept or reject that destiny. 5. This newfound passion for life helps him overcome obstacles and sorrows.

Based on his own experience, Frankl believed that our health depends on that natural tension that comes from comparing what we've accomplished so far with what we'd like to achieve in the future. What we need, then, is not a peaceful existence, but a challenge we can strive to meet by applying all the skills at our disposal.

I feel empty inside Sunday neurosis, for example, is what happens when, without the obligations and commitments of the workweek, the individual realizes how empty he is inside. He has to find a solution. Above all, he has to find his purpose, his reason for getting out of bed—his ikigai.

In German concentration camps, as in those that would later be built in Japan and Korea, psychiatrists confirmed that the prisoners with the greatest chance of survival were those who had things they wanted to accomplish outside the camp, those who felt a strong need to get out of there alive.

Morita explained the idea of letting go of negative feelings with the following fable: A donkey that is tied to a post by a rope will keep walking around the post in an attempt to free itself, only to become more immobilized and attached to the post. The same thing applies to people with obsessive thinking who become more trapped in their own suffering when they try to escape from their fears and discomfort.'

The basic principles of Morita therapy: 1. Accept your feelings. If we have obsessive thoughts, we should not try to control them or get rid of them. If we do, they become more intense. Emotions are like weather: We can't predict or control them; we can only observe them.

The basic principles of Morita therapy: 2. Do what you should be doing. We shouldn't focus on eliminating symptoms, because recovery will come on its own. We should focus instead on the present moment, and if we are suffer-ing, on accepting that suffering. Above all, we should avoid intellectualizing the situation.

The basic principles of Morita therapy: 3. Discover your life's purpose. We can't control our emotions, but we can take charge of our actions every day. This is why we should have a clear sense of our purpose, and always keep Morita's mantra in mind: "What do we need to be doing right now? What action should we be taking?" The key to achieving this is having dared to look inside yourself to find your ikigai.