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Ikigai Pillar 5: The Here and Now

Hopefully you are starting to see in your day to day journey some activities that you take part in pointing to your true Ikigai. My cheat sheet has the pillars in pairs:
Kaizen and Kodawari
Accepting and Releasing Yourself
Harmony and Sustainability
Enjoying the little things
And today: the Here and Now
 
The here and now is the main idea behind “Ichigo Ichige”, (once in a lifetime meeting), meaning that you need to present when things are happening because it will never happen the same exact way with the same exact consequences or benefits ever again. Just like every decision you make affects the rest of your life, every thing happening right now in the moment is all you have. Mother Teresa said, “Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come, all we have is today”. So take advantage of this moment in time.
 
Being present in the moment is most important thing you can do when it comes to being aware of your purpose. If God is speaking to you and giving instruction, if you are living in the past, you miss it. You are too busy reliving something already gone. Just as bad is trying to live in the future, neglecting the tasks and people who are right here and now in front of you, who you’ve been called to serve and touch. Being in the present with the mindset that every meeting and experience is a once in a lifetime thing will make every moment a purpose driven, fulfilled, and ordained moment catered just for you!

Pillar 4: Enjoying the Little Things

Quick Recap:
Kaizen and Kodawari - to start small with high standards in the details in the things we do. 
Wabi Sabi for acceptance and releasing yourself to do great things.
Ikigai flow having harmony and sustainability as you go about doing these things.
 
Today is about the things you do bringing you joy. It also brings back the little things, the small details, those things that warm your heart and make you feel glad to be alive as they are happening as you do the things you do. This is how you know that you are close to your to flowing your Ikigai. 
 
Even though I’m older now and I don’t have the patience I use to have, i can always feel the flow in Ikigai happening when I make someone laugh and they get the point in the lesson I’m trying to convey. To me that is one of the greatest feelings in the world to see the light bulb come on and you know that they got it!  Especially when I’m talking or teaching about who God is and how special they are in this world. 
 
Another for me is making music, no better feeling than adding layers of sound to other instruments and seeing people feel it right along with you. Watching people sing or dance or grab their instruments to play along is equal to seeing the light bulb to me. I just love it.
 
I think about this:
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 NIV

Ikigai Pillar 3: Harmony and Sustainability

So far we use kaizen and kodawari to start small with high standards in the details in the things we do. Next is acceptance and releasing yourself. This is Wabi Sabi choosing to accept your imperfections and use them to define how wonderfully different you are. And now harmony and sustainability.
 
One of the great things you’ll notice when are flowing in your ikigai is that things you do come together with harmony and sustainability. 
 
Harmony - an agreement or concord forming a pleasing and consistent whole. 
 
Sustainability focuses on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. I think of it as being a perpetual state or system where needs are met without constant outside influences. 
 
In relationships, I think of this scripture:
“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, But if there’s no one to help, tough! Two in a bed warm each other. Alone, you shiver all night. By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 MSG
 
But overall my favorite scripture would be:
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28 NKJV
 
 

Ikigai Pillar 2: Accepting and Releasing Yourself

Awakening your ikigai pillar 2
Starting small was the first pillar, and small steps to improvement is the essence of kaizen. Also in starting small we took care of the small things, the details. Kodawari is the high standard we have in what we love and do that takes care of the little things, because we love what we love. 
 
Another pillar in our ikigai is releasing yourself. Releasing yourself to be you and accepting who you are. This is Wabi Sabi at its core. It’s finding perfection in the imperfections and knowing that you were fearfully and wonderfully made the way you are on purpose. 
 
When I first started high school I spent a lot of time trying to fit in, trying to like what everyone else liked, and hang out doing what the crowd would do, good or bad. Not a very good time. I met a few kids who I noticed was always happy and nothing seemed to bother them. I wanted that. What I discovered was this: they didn’t care about anything but what they liked. And that was just to find the food and funny in everything. So I joined them and accepted that I liked to laugh and draw and be silly, instead of fighting, smoking, stealing, and running from police. 
 
I released me from being like them, to accepting that I like the me that made me happy. The world became a weird and wonderful adventure from then on. 

Kodawari: Your Ikigai At Work

The essence of your personal ikigai working for you lies within five things happening within your ikigai framework.
Starting Small
Releasing Yourself
Harmony and Sustainability
The Joy of the Little Things
Being in the Here and Now
 
Kodawari is the commitment to doing the things you are called to do to a high standard or level of quality. It is all in the details. The very small things that matter to you because you were called to do this, and no one can be you better than you because of it.
 
In Wabi Sabi we understand that we may not be perfect, but we have a sense of what perfect is when we have the five working together within our living our lives.

Getting Up Earlier

One of the many meanings of ikigai is the reason you get out of bed in the morning. Today, we are going to get a little head start on accomplishing things in our day by starting to get up earlier. One of the things about fall that I like about this country is the time change. We set our clocks back an hour and what we do with that extra hour is up to you! You can sleep in, (but your body’s rhythm will probably not allow you to do it) but I wanted to suggest this: keep your pattern. If you wake up at six, maybe take 30 minutes and wake up at 5:30 until spring. Why?
 
That 30 minutes gives you an extra 30 minutes to accomplish more of your day. That’s also an extra 2 and a half hours during the work week to get things done, or to think, or to exercise, or whatever! In a 4 week period, on just the weekdays for 30 minutes, you’ve gained an extra 10 hours to whatever you devoted that time to. 
 
Your brain is at its finest when you first get up, your day has been cleared, your mind is fresh, you haven’t been bombarded with all of the negative emotions and energy from people who demands your attention, and you can think. If it was just 30 minutes. Can you see the potential that 30 minutes has for your trajectory? 

Enjoying the little things

There are many facets to discovering and understanding your own personal ikigai. We have to take time to examine our lives and notice the little things. More than likely, you function in your ikigai everyday, but since there’s is no emphasis on it, it doesn’t seem strong enough to fulfill your mission, purpose, and vision, for your life. 
 
I think back to when I went to a certain class on relationships and the counselors there broke down the psychology of men and women, different personalities, and why people do the things they do. It was the greatest class I’ve really been through, and it may be why I’m still married after 26 years now. But i chose to listen and apply the strategies, logic, and reasoning. And the person next to me, probably didn’t make it. In fact, some didn’t even finish the class. It’s what speaks to you, and what you do with it. 
 
Pay attention to what you are telling yourself about your everyday life. The little things matter. 
What are some little things do you do that brings joy throughout your day?
What are some little things that seem to cause stress and anxiety?
What are some little steps to accomplish or small things to make happen to make you feel better about the day?

Value Placement

Finding our ikigai in our lives will stem from the things that are important to us. Everyone is different, so no one’s ikigai will be exactly the same. Some will serve the community using their talent because that is all they will focus on. Some will try to change the world by using every ounce of everything they own, it all comes down to the balance of the four essential elements:
What you love
What you are good at
What you feel your purpose is
How you view the world and it’s needs
 
Value placement in each area will have you lean a certain way to a certain group of people. If you are focused-heavy on what you love and nothing else, you will do things just for you, and no one else outside of your interests will get to get close to you. Same as the other four. But when there is a balance in the four, the value you place reaches a wider demographic of people you want to serve. 
 
So when trying to discover what your ikigai is, let’s start at the point of what are your most sentimental values? 
And think of this too: In what areas do you think you add the most value?
Also as we are thinking inwardly, what are the small things that give you pleasure?
 
At the very base of our ikigai, it is all about discovering, defining, and appreciating those life's pleasures that have meaning for us. It is OK if no one else shares our values, because pursuing our own joys inwardly often leads to the outward rewards that the world benefits from.