Ikigai - How To Live A Long And Happy Life

as the famous saying in Okinawa goes at 70 you are but children at 80 you are merely a youth and at 90 if the ancestors invite you into heaven ask them to wait until you're 100 and then you might consider it Okinawa is an island south of mainland Japan containing some of the world's longest living humans on average men live until 84 and women until 90 there's also a very high concentration of people who are 100 or more even the oldest Okinawans are considered healthy and have the emotional physical and intellectual capacity to live and function independently those who study why the inhabitants of this island in the south of Japan live longer than people anywhere else in the world believe that one of the keys in addition to a healthy diet a simple life in the outdoors green tea and the subtropical climate is the icky guy that shapes their lives a key guy I keep meaning to live and guy meaning reason or as we would say in English your reason to live which is why in this video we'll be learning about a key guy and the other things people of Okinawa do to live a long and happy life from the book of a key guy the Japanese secret to a long and happy life by Hector Garcia and Frances Mariah's number one follow you're a key guy in the culture of Okinawa a key guy is thought of as a reason to get up in the morning that is a reason to enjoy life Okinawans especially the old ones discovered that early on and can easily describe the why behind their daily life they have a reason for getting up in the morning which means they have something to live for a key guy is the philosophy that blissfully keeps them busy until the end of their days most of us from other cultures are confused we follow a path that society is created for us living by someone else's standards we do many things all the time and don't really pay attention to our own deepest desires we rarely find out our purpose and passions in life and even if we do get close we're all too often afraid to admit to them and to follow them to find your reason or purpose ask yourself these four questions what do I love what am I good at what does the world need from me and what can I get paid for as we all know your personal happiness relies on much more than simply having a career and getting a paycheck likewise only doing things that you love or doing things you're good at is not enough to sustain you financially if you don't know how to turn it into a paying job hence you're a key guy lies at the center of four interconnecting circles each of these elements helps contribute to your happiness all for a crucial to your reason for being finding and embracing your ikigai is one of the first steps to a long happy life without it you'll just wonder through life holding on to material things memories from the past or other people you'll jump from one goal to another from one daily task to the next and you'll rarely know why you do all that according to psychology today individuals who believe their lives of worth living live longer number two take it slow Okinawa is known for its slow-paced life slow living is a lifestyle emphasizing slower approaches to aspects of everyday life people here are passionate about everything they do however insignificant it might seem they have an important purpose in life they have an icky guy but they don't always take it too seriously their relaxed and enjoy all that they do please celebrate all the time even the little things music song and dance are essential parts of daily life we live in a world in which technology is continually invented that saves us time we use that time to do more and more things and so somewhat counter-intuitively our lives become more hectic and fast-paced than ever life moves at such breakneck speed that it's to pass us by before we can really stop to enjoy it however it doesn't have to be this way a slower paced life means making time to enjoy your morning's instead of rushing off to work in a frenzy it means taking time to enjoy whatever you're doing to appreciate the outdoors to actually focus on whomever you're talking to or spending time with instead of always being connected to an iPhone or laptop instead of always thinking about work tasks and emails slowing down is a conscious choice and not always an easy one but it leads to a greater appreciation for life and a greater level of happiness number three don't fill your stomach the mortality rate from cardiovascular disease in Okinawa is the lowest in Japan and diet almost certainly has a lot to do with this the Okinawa diet includes at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day of at least seven types typical items include tofu miso bitter melon seaweed soy sprouts peppers and green tea they rarely eat sugar and if they do it's cane sugar the average daily intake of an Okinawan is only about 1,900 calories significantly less than the average number of calories consumed by a typical American especially those who are middle aged they also eat practically half as much salt as the rest of Japan seven grams per day compared to an average of twelve they practiced this Confucian teaching called Hara Hachi Bou which instructs people to eat only until they're 80% full there's a significant calorie gap between when an American says I'm full and an Okinawan says I'm no longer hungry this cultural practice of calorie restriction and mindful eating is part of the reason that Okinawa has a higher percentage of centenarians than anywhere else in the world we too can make changes to our eating patterns or environment enjoy food and learn to eat only until we're 80 percent full and put the secret of Hara Hachi boo into practice for improved health or for weight ways to get started include eating slowly eating faster results in eating more if we slow down we'll be mindful and be able to allow our body to respond to cues which tell us we're no longer hungry focusing on food if you're going to eat just eat this way you'll eat more slowly consume less and savor the food more use small vessels if you choose to eat on smaller plates and use tall narrow glasses your brain believes it's had more portions and you're likely to eat significantly less without even thinking about it don't believe me look at the size of your plate next time you're at an all-you-can-eat buffet and you'll see there are lot smaller than the ones in your kitchen cabinet number four surround yourself with good friends in small neighborhoods across Okinawa friends meet for a common purpose sometimes daily and sometimes a couple of days a week to gossip experience life and to share advice and even financial assistance when needed they call these groups their moai the term originated hundreds of years ago as a means for a villages financial support system originally now eyes were formed to pool the resources of an entire village for projects or Public Works today the idea has expanded to become more of a social support network a cultural tradition for built-in companionship traditionally groups of about five young children were paired together and it's then that they made a commitment to each other for life as their second family they would meet regularly with their mouths for both work and play and to pool resources some Mau Y's have lasted over 90 years research shows that friends can affect your health even more than family and people with the most friends tend to outlive those with the fewest by 22 percent keep in mind that this means real friends not Facebook friends or Twitter followers the key isn't to try to have tons of friends because superficial distant and less than meaningful relationships will only lead to feelings of insecurity and loneliness which will increase your risk of illness and death just as much as obesity alcoholism and smoking the key is to have three or four really really good friends that care for you the same way you care for them the easiest way to develop close friendships is by thinking about what you can do that will help the people closest to you be happier and then do it number five smile the Okinawans are very cheerful and there's always a smile on their face they believe it's good to recognize the things that aren't so great but we should never forget what a privilege it is to be in the here and now in a world so full of possibilities one of the secrets of their long life is smiling and having a good time this cheerful attitude is not only relaxing it also helps them to make new friends there are no bars and only a few restaurants in ome but those who live there enjoy a rich social life that revolves around community centers the truth is that it takes 46 muscles to frown and only seventeen to smile when we smile we're happy or we've heard something funny it occurs when we see a person that we love or win a competition smiling does more than just tell other people that you're happy besides the fact that it comes naturally there are numerous other benefits to smiling smiling lowers the heart rate and reduces blood pressure while relaxing your body a study from London University College stated that happy cheerful people are 35% more likely to live longer smiling can help you make more money and move up the career ladder it makes you appear more confident professional and self-assured those who smile at their colleagues and customers are more likely to get promoted be approached with business ideas or get a raise people who smiles seem more trustworthy and are rated higher in generosity and extraversion so don't forget to take your smile with you everywhere you go number 6 reconnect with nature in Okinawa virtually everyone keeps a vegetable garden and most of them also have fields of tea mangoes chikuwa and so on they say that anybody who wants to grow old healthily needs an icky guy or reason for living gardening gives you that something to get up for every day getting together at the local market bringing their produce and sharing their latest creations from the garden is a big social activity this helps people feel connected and grounded a sense of connection to other people is important but so too is the individual connection to nature one Harvard University study showed the people who were surrounded by lush greenery lived longer with a lower chance of developing cancer or respiratory illness over 100 studies have shown that being in nature living near nature or even viewing nature in paintings and videos can have positive impacts on our brains bodies feelings thought processes and social interactions in particular viewing nature seems to be inherently rewarding producing a cascade of positive emotions and calming our nervous systems this in turn helps us to cultivate greater openness creativity connection generosity and resilience with more than half of the world's population living in cities we've lost touch with nature the rat race sucks up our time and energy leaving us feeling stressed anxious or like we've lost meaning we have midlife crises travel to find ourselves fight depression with pills change jobs and cars but somehow we cannot fill that void our lives revolve around paying bills buying things we don't actually need drinking to feel something and staring at a computer screen even though today we don't need to hunt for food or collect firewood every other day in the winter there are easy ways to connect with nature like growing a plant in your house playing with your pet eating lunch in the park watching the Sun Rise or set or going on a trek sleeping under the stars and so on even if you can't or don't want to leave your comfortable urban life get out there and be wild every now and then if you do that regularly you'll start to get drawn towards nature number seven give thanks the people of Okinawa give thanks to the smallest of things they give thanks to their ancestors to nature for providing the air and the food to their family and friends to everything that brightens their day and makes them feel lucky to be alive they also have the special Naga tug of war festival to give thanks for a good harvest gratitude has produced such miraculous results for people that scientists have been seriously studying the practice of gratefulness and its physical and psychosocial benefits one study conducted by the University of Berkeley California divided participants into three groups and asked them to maintain a journal for ten weeks one group was asked to write a list of ten things they were grateful for over the past week the second group was asked to write a list of ten minor annoyances over the past week and the third group was asked to write about 10 things that impacted their lives in the past week but with no further direction at the end of the ten weeks people from the first group were reported feeling 25 percent happier than the other groups apart from increasing your happiness levels the gratitude also improves our physical health it lowers our stress levels while stress causes heart attacks and other chronic conditions gratitude leads to a positive outlook and Spurs an optimistic approach to life optimism in turn increases immunity boosting cells you can start being grateful by keeping a gratitude journal every day pick three to five things that you're thankful for and write them down you could be grateful for your friends family and material goods your health and various other blessings in your life when we're truly thankful and we feel it deep inside us we're grateful feeling grateful forces our minds to adopt an abundance mindset as opposed to a scarcity based one where you feel you're lacking something an abundant mindset is key to our growth and well-being number eight exercise in Okinawa people over 80 and 90 years old are still highly active they don't stay at home looking out the window or wastes time reading the newspaper they walk a lot do karaoke with their neighbors get up early in the morning and as soon as they've had breakfast or even before head outside to weed their gardens they don't go to the gym or exercise intensely but they almost never stop moving in the course of their daily routines with regular access to sunshine and exercise they're healthier with stronger bones higher vitamin levels and generally in a brighter mood the real reason we don't exercise is our desire to avoid any experience of discomfort the truth is in order to stay healthy you don't need to go to the gym for an hour every day or run marathons as Japanese centenarians show us all you need is to add movement to your day practicing any of these Eastern disciplines like yoga Qi Gong and Tai Chi is a great way to seek harmony between your body and mind so that you can face the world with strength joy and serenity these gentle exercises offer extraordinary health benefits and are particularly appropriate for anyone who has a harder time staying fit number 9 live in the moment Japanese professionals are renowned for their perseverance and absorption in their tasks with a thorough attention to detail we see this in all kinds of contexts from the old people of Okinawa working on their garden to the college students working the weekend shift in convenience stores they're always in their flow flow is the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it at great cost for the sheer sake of doing it imagine yourself climbing a great mountain high above the ground you move very deliberately aware of every placement of your foot there is no room for error one lapse in attention can cost you your life you focus intently nothing exists but you and this mountain time seems to slow down and your mind shifts into a new space a sense of vibrancy of being alive connectedness and peace infuse your being you are in the zone this is the moment there is no past no future just now you are in your flow you don't need a mountain each time to enter into flow if you often find yourself losing focus while working on something you consider important there are several strategies you can employ to increase your chances of achieving flow like focusing all of your attention in the present moment avoiding multitasking or unplugging from social media the most effective way of achieving this flow is by choosing a task that's difficult but not too difficult every task sport or job has a set of rules and we need a set of skills to follow them if the rules for completing a task or achieving a purpose are two basic relative to our skill set we will most likely get board activities that are too easy leads to apathy if on the other hand we assign ourselves a task that's too difficult we won't have the skills to complete it and will almost certainly give up and feel frustrated the ideal is to find a middle path something aligned with our abilities but just enough of a stretch so we experience it as a challenge we want to see challenges through to the end because we enjoy the feeling of accomplishment associated with pushing ourselves if you're a graphic designer learn a new software program for your next project add a little something extra something that takes you out of your comfort zone this will create a win-win situation for you and your work we can also use this strategy in achieving flow in doing some of the most mundane tasks like laundry for example washing dishes or paper work Bill Gates washes the dishes every night he says he enjoys it that it helps him relax and clear his mind and that he tries to do it a little better each day following an order or set of rules he's made for himself plates first Fork second and so on it's one of his daily moments of micro flow we too can get through these mundane tasks by trying to do them better than we did the last time flow is mysterious it's like a muscle the more you train it the more you'll flow and the closer you will be to your icky guy number 10 never retire it's interesting to note that in the Okinawan language there isn't a word for retirement older Okinawans can readily articulate the reason why they get up in the morning they live intentional purposeful lives they feel needed they matter they contribute and as a result they live longer than most their retirement is not looked upon favorably since it implies that once you retire you'll cease to do anything at all become a burden on society and stop following your passions the idea is to keep mind and body active in order to fill yourself with purpose and a key guy on a daily basis we think of retirement as an ultimate destination of well-earned rest from the battlefield of a career we think of retirement as a golden age of holidays golf coffee and well mostly one form of recreation or another retirement kills your icky game we need to stop spending so much time worrying about making more money and our eventual retirement and instead we should be focusing our efforts on making a great life while we still have the time so never retire keep learning keep changing and keep growing we hope you find your a gigai and live a very long and happy life we really hope you enjoyed this video and if you did please do make sure to check out our other videos on this channel and for more videos to help you find success and Happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom don't forget to subscribe thanks so much for watching

Channel: Philosophies for Life

Views: 588,712

Rating: 4.9351201 out of 5

Keywords: Ikigai, how to live long, how to live a long life, how to live longer, philosophy, Japanese philosophy, stoicism, Marcus aurelius, meditations, how to live longer and healthier, how to live long like Japanese, how to age gracefully, japan, live long, tips to live longer, how to be happy, living long life, ikigai book, Okinawa, okinawa people's diet, Okinawa people

Id: vV50KoF1Y6Y

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 14 2019