Ikigai

I want to leave you with a concept I learned recently. It is the Japanese concept of ikigai (ee-key-guy). Although I have been a student of Japanese history and culture since I majored in it in college, this was a new one for me.

Ikigai means “a reason for being.” To quote from Wikipedia: “Everyone, according to the Japanese, has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self.” Or, to put it more simply, it is a person’s reason for getting out of bed each morning. Those who find their ikigai become passionately involved in a focused activity.

For some, their ikigai is a passion for making wine, for some it is martial arts, for some it can even be weeding.

I am certain that, other than my family and close friends, my ikigai has been The Costco Connection.

National Geographic photographer David McLain explained the concept to me. According to McLain, who traveled the world to talk to and photograph those people who live longest—often well past 100—although they share very few traits, all of them tend to have found their ikigai.

-- David W. Fuller, Costco Connection, November 2013