Few days back, I went through a book named ikigai, a Japanese term which means any passion that gives happiness or joy in life. I was quite inspired from the book after I came across some secrets which are followed by Japanese people to lead a longer life. Most people in the island of Okinawa are centenarians and live for hundred years or more. While reading the book I came across a very beneficial term defined as FLOW which I still follow and it really turned my life much productive.

Flow in life can be referred to as doing a course you love and believe that you are good at it and keep on doing it consistently. This makes your life productive and you can find out your meaning and purpose of life through the activities where you find flow.

Look around yourself and try to find flow in the objects surrounding you. It can be anything. Your books, any instrument you love to play or anything that helps you relax in your leisure time.

For me, I find flow while reading books, playing the guitar, solving the Rubik’s cube, listening to music and painting in my art copy. Similarly, a chess player finds flow while playing chess and an artist while painting a masterpiece.

We like doing things we like but there are times when we are given courses where we get bored easily. At that time we can make our work interesting and develop flow while doing the job by adding something we like together with that particular odd job we are assisted to do so. For example listen to music while solving mathematical problems, or singing while cleaning the house. A painter whistles while painting the walls because he is aware of the fact that it is a tiring job for him and can be boring as well therefore, he whistles to make his job interesting and helps to relax at the same time.

Great physicist and scientist off all time Sir Albert Einstein used to play the violin after working on his equations to relax and stay concentrated.

There is a Japanese proverb mentioned in the ikigai which says that

Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.

If you wish to delve deeper into the insights and concepts outlined in the book about Ikigai, you can explore this reference link. Additionally, if you found this blog informative and engaging, you might want to visit our blogs section, where you’ll find a wealth of similar content.