Ikigai - Dogukan

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being”. The word refers to purpose in life, that which makes one’s life worthwhile, and towards which an individual takes spontaneous and willing actions giving them satisfaction and a sense of meaning to life.

Ikigai, consist of 4 questions and their intersection. The questions are “What you love?”, “What the world needs?”, “What you can be paid for?”, “What you are good at?”. The intersection point of “What you love?” and “What you are good at?” will be you passion. The intersection point of “What you love?” and “What the world needs?” will be your mission. The intersection point of “What the world needs?” and “What you can be paid for?” will be your vocation. The intersection of “What you can be paid for?” and “What are you good at?” will be your profession. The lack of an answer of the questions will lead some negative effect in your life. Please, look at number 1 at the figure above. If the answer of “What the world need” lack, it makes you feel useless. For number 2, lack of the answer of “What you can be paid for”, deligh and fullness but no wealth. In number 3, lacking makes you feel uncertainty. And number 4, the lack of the answer makes you feel emptiness.

The history of IKIGAI

According to Hasegawa, the origin of the word ikigai goes back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). “Gai comes from the word kai (“shell” in Japanese) which were deemed highly valuable, and from there ikigai derived as a word that means value in living.”

There are other words that use kai: yarigai or hatarakigai which mean the value of doing and the value of working. Ikigai can be thought of as a comprehensive concept that incorporates such values in life.

Reccomendation

Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles break down the ten rules that can help anyone find their own ikigai. 1. Stay active and don’t retire 2. Leave urgency behind and adopt a slower pace of life 3. Only eat until you are 80 per cent full 4. Surround yourself with good friends 5. Get in shape through daily, gentle exercise 6. Smile and acknowledge people around you 7. Reconnect with nature 8. Give thanks to anything that brightens our day and makes us feel alive. 9. Live in the moment 10. Follow your ikigai

For More Information

There are many different resources about IKIGAI, you can find various deffinations and explonations. I don’t reccomend to read books about IKIGAI because there is enough information in webpages and blogs. Also, you can watch videos like “How to Ikigai | Tim Tamashiro | TEDxYYC”.

IKIGAI 2.0

Time flows and everything changes. Some writers think that IKIGAI should be changed and they named the main IKIGAI informations as IKIGAI 1.0 then create new style named IKIGAI 2.0. If you wonder, you can read also IKIGAI 2.0.

Dogukan Sever

Sources: https://medium.com/thrive-global/ikigai-the-japanese-secret-to-a-long-andhappy-life-might-just-help-you-live-a-more-fulfilling-9871d01992b7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk-PcJS2QaU https://www.sloww.co/ikigai-2-0/

Cooperation of Creativity and Brain magics (Creagic)

Your mind is full of magic, go ahead and discover them. Creativity is the key that opens doors for your future. It is a powerful tool to use, but don’t look for it in your toolbox, because it is inside you. Usually, you get confused and complicated about how to use it or think whether you have that tool or not? The answer is quite simple: everyone has that tool, and that is your creativity that shapes you as a different person.

Home for ideas, concepts, dreams, goals which are kind of overlooked is the brain. Using tongue for expressing mostly everything processing in our brain is one of the means, but there are many other means of getting over the patterns in our brains, such as painting, singing, dancing, and building. Different people use different means to express themselves, and that way they develop their skills and abilities and most importantly their creativity. When you watch dancers dancing they speak silently, through their motions. When you look at paintings they don’t speak but they explore the painter. Even if the painter tries to repaint his/her painting they will not look the same, there might be slight differences and that differences show the act of creativity. All these are the ways of describing the indescribable.

The 21st century is developing every second and we can see many products are coming out. That’s the outcome of creativity. Human creativity is developing the world and making advancements. So we are part of this world and we are also humans who have the ability to create the impossible and make others not to go with the flow but embody the magic in their brains. Creativity is an inner state that should be put into a process, which will push us forward to chasing our goals and ideas and make impossibles possible. We start to look for other ways especially in bad states when our brain and mind is locked down and there seems to be no way out of it, the first thing we do we start thinking not about how it happened but how to come over it, and we use even those ideas which seemed insane during the normal state. The pressure we should not avoid it when it comes, let me call it as a “wake up” call for our creativity. And I am quite sure that lots of people are familiar with the backstage histories of many masterpieces, which have been created while being under pressure or stress. So, let’s not ran away from the pressure, just turn it to a masterpiece. I have decided to create a blend as a name for brain magics and creativity cooperation: “Creagic”.

Finally, our three factors: brain, creativity, and pressure shape us to be unique and different in this rapidly developing century, where each of the factors has its own place, but only their cooperation can make us a creagic people. Hidden inside you it helps to make impossibles possible only we need to find the right ways to use it. Be creative to explore yourself and be the example others seek.

Kristine Khachaturyan Design: Kirsi Suomi

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure

Second-hand buying culture is flourishing in Finland, especially in summer, when you can just grab a blanket, go to a park and place your soon to be sold clothes and items on that, and just enjoy a beautiful day and other people’s company while getting rid of your stuff you no longer need.

Second-hand buying is profitable in so many ways, not only for individuals but also for the planet. The first and probably the main reason that attracts people is that it’s much cheaper when compared to buying brand new stuff. You can easily find good quality clotheswith only a few euros. By selling you are not going to get rich, but you’ll have some profits and you don’t have to throw the stuff away, it’s good recycling. There are multiple options for second-hand places. Some companies work in a way that people donate their stuff and the profits of the selling go to charity, whatever the target group is. Also, there are self-service flea market places where you can rent your own selling table for a couple of weeks and you can bring your clothes and merchandise there and gather the profit for yourself. One option is to sell things online, which has become very popular, usually on Facebook marketplaces and groups. This is very convenient, but it requires fast action because there are so many people online.

One option, which is my favorite, is outside secondhand events during summer. They work in a way that for example every Sunday at a specific park there is an event and whoever wants to participate, can. The only thing you need to do is show up with your things

and find a place in the park to settle down. And then just wait that people come to see what you have and start selling. It’s really lovely. You can sit all day in the park, drink and eat, maybe walk around and see what other people have brought and make discoveries. Also, the prices are lower because you can talk with the sellers and make compromises. At spring, usually, people arrange so-called “cleaning days”, the idea is to clean your house after winter and go to the street or your yard to sell everything you want to get rid of.

You can find really cool things whether it is vintage products, quality fabrics like wool and silk, or other unique items. Things that would cost probably ten times more if bought new. And the selection is so diverse, especially when compared if you’d go to a shopping mall and every shop has a similar selection of clothes, depending on what’s considered as the fashion of the current season.

So, if you want to use less money and be more kind towards our planet, check out if there are some second-hand places near you and go and take a look if you still haven’t done that. You might get surprised in a positive way.

Kirsi Suomi