Inspecting the Idea of Ikigai
The Ikigai, with its four overlapping circles arranged to form a central focal point, is clear and simple in its design. It takes into account so much more than the usual question 'What do you want to do with your life?' Yet talking to college students, it seems to feel overwhelming to them. One put it bluntly: 'I can fill in the four outer rings, but there seems to be no link between those things. They are completely different spheres." With some others, two or three circles overlapped.
We started discussing the hypothesis, if their Ikigai could be bi-fold. For example, would it still count as an Ikigai to have an employment that fulfils three circles, plus one volunteer commitment that fills the fourth? What would happen to the overlap areas in-between these circles, would they still exist?
So these are my questions to you - looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
@LikeRingsInWater
I'm.so looking forward to seeing how this discussion plays out, a very interesting topic 💚🤗
@LikeRingsInWater that's an interesting topic! I think the idea behind Ikigai is balancing inner fulfilment and affordance of wished lifestyle, so if you manage to do it with several activities instead of one, it still counts, as long as you are genuinely doing for right reasons and not just to match some graph
@LikeRingsInWater
That is very interesting and thoughtful indeed.
@LikeRingsInWater
Hi, this is a really interesting perspective on Ikigai! I can see how it might feel overwhelming, especially when the different areas don’t seem to connect clearly. I like the idea of it being more flexible, such as having different parts of your life fulfil different circles rather than expecting everything to overlap perfectly. It feels more realistic and less pressure-driven. Do you think separating these areas could actually make it easier for people to find balance and meaning?