Ikigai : Japanese Art of staying Young.. While growing Old and The Art of Public Speaking

By Keira Miki and Dale Carnegie

A collection of most influential self help books includes the 2 bestsellers in English which have inspired readers for generations. Packed with wisdom and time-tested principles that are as relevant in modern times as ever before, these inspirational books are a must-read for all those aspiring for personal growth and wealth.This Set Includes:
Ikigai : Japanese Art of staying Young.. While growing Old
The Art of Public Speaking

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Dec 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9789356849761

Book preview

IKIGAI

Japanese Art of staying Young..

While growing Old

and

The Art of Public Speaking

eISBN: 978-93-5684-976-1

© Author

Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.

X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II New Delhi-110020

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Website: www.diamondbook.in

Edition: 2023

Ikigai: Japanese Art of staying Young.. While growing Old and The Art of Public Speaking

By - Keira Miki and Dale Carnegie

Japanese Art of staying Young..

While growing Old

Preface

Ikigai: Japanese Art of staying Young.. While growing Old

Just as the whole world is influenced by the personality of a single person, in the same way, there are very few countries which have influenced other countries of the world. There are very few countries which are eminent for their lifestyle. At the present moment, I would like to set one’s heart on a country about which it is said that its people live the longest lives. That country is Japan.

The Japanese live longer lives, remain active longer, live a social life, and subsidize the development of their nation. Currently, people want to know how this was possible and want to learn about how the Japanese live. This is even though Japan was badly hit during the Second World War. Millions of people lost their lives. Many countries had enforced bans. So much, so people in Japan had begun starving to death. Even then, Japan rose to become one of Asia’s biggest political and economic power. How was this possible? This was made possible by the Japanese lifestyle.

Now, you may think about what the Japanese lifestyle is. I would like to elucidate in the forthcoming chapters, and the name of this art of Japanese living is ‘Ikigai’. The people of Japan follow this way of living to make their lives contented and everlasting. The meaning of Ikigai is, What is the meaning of Life? The principles of Ikigai help people to look for the intent of their life. When you find your Ikigai, that is, the meaning or aim of your life, then you can lead a great life. This book will not only provide you with theoretical ideas but also how to lead the Ikigai life with practical examples. It is then that you will know what this Japanese way of living actually is, how the people of that country attain their goals, how they scale great heights in society and achieve a high social standing. What do they eat that they are able to live a long and fruitful life? This book will help you live a successful life and achieve new heights of success every day, and you will enjoy it.

What is Ikigai? Ikigai is the art of living life in a way that a person is always inspired to remain focused on their goal. The meaning of Ikigai is to make your life meaningful. The people who use the principles of Ikigai always wake up in the morning with a sense of meaning. This is why, despite having been destroyed in the second world war, Japan did not only develop but also became a nation of longevity. How was all this possible? This was only possible by adopting the principles of Ikigai. If you would like to live a good and meaningful long life, then this book will help you.

–Author

Contents

The Aptitude of Staying Young

The Unrevealed Tale of Staying Young

Ikigai from Logotherapy

The Hunt for the Motion

Longevity Masters

Ikigai Food Culture

Rhythmic Exercises

Anxiety and Tensity

Chapter I

The Aptitude of Staying Young

We possess an entrancing and artful entity. If you once grasp the principle of Ikigai that we embrace in our lives, then one can have an enduring and treasured life. You may look back that 24% of our natives persist for about 100 years of their age. How do we manage to bloom up? Initially, if I state, following the path of Ikigai, we perceive the rationale of our existence. Thence, we move on to the notions of Ikigai in our food intake, the standard of living, toil, and culture. Let’s explore what we, the Japanese, do to wear our age well.

Motive of Life

In this world, individuals find delight in their life based on their self-contemplation. Everyone is in a race, competing against each other and going head-to-head. Their only motive in life is to knock down everyone else. In the concurrent scenario, people sweep aside almost everything. They even show a cold shoulder to their family. Everyone is self-occupied, but there is a lack of tranquility or euphoria in their lives. One can even interrogate: What do you aspire to? What is your intent of living? Frequently one would get feedback like: ‘How do you define aspiration? My motive in life is only to earn a living, to be able to feed myself; to acquire a livelihood and to relish life before its departure.’ If one catechizes people far and wide, the same answer is reciprocated from almost 90% of the lot. Thereupon, I put forward my case as, should this and only this, be the basis of our life? Should we move round the clock killing our life for just earning money?

Athwart, we, the Japanese, keep intent for our anticipated life. To accomplish that, we steadily switch over our conduct and conventions as per our goals. Most people are goal-oriented, conforming to their conduct of life, and this results to be one of the misapprehensions. We don’t amp up because it is sun-up time; instead, we wake up to progress and accomplish our goals.

Abdication has No epoch

Declining years of life remind us about abdication. After it, most people kick their heels at home and sink in, living their monotonous everyday routine. Most people perceive that life would be drudging after abdication, and it would be difficult to fritter away time. If you also reflect the same, recast it. Because we, the Japanese, don’t let ourselves to grow weary. When we reach a certain age, we Bourne out new intents. If you ratify this concept, you, too, will be alluring. If you are fading, try your hand at something new in your life.

Emplacing goal provides contentment: Japanese people are always goal-oriented. This makes our living and sovereign ameliorate. Wherefore, we are cheerful and exhilarate others too. This way, we stay young and have gratification and merriment. The legitimate imprinting from this context is that human life should be goal-oriented.

Absolute meaning of our entity: What does life stand for? How do we characterize ambitions, wholeness, and gratification in life? Can we grab the ultimate significance of anything? The silent majority haven’t paused to ponder over these important questions. When they reminisce about why their links have broken, why they feel impassive, even though they conquered everything, for which they embarked on. Japanese are always working towards making life worthwhile. That being the case, tenderness always shines on our faces.

Manifestation of being youthful: Many people feel like old persons even though they are young. But we don’t look a day over even when we are grey-haired, as we live an industrious and diligent life inspired by our goals. This makes Japan shine brightest.

Engage in your obsession: One and all have some avocation in one’s life. It is a way to merriment. It helps to avoid boredom from our flustering and buzzing schedule. In this gigantic world, everyone has their own nature and bent. Their hobbyhorse and pursuits vary. At the hand of this, while some people prefer candy-coated things, others prefer to eat sourish. Since there is no word for abdication in the dictionary of Japanese, we choose to keep on doing our favorite work and our ecstatic state helps us to outlive.

Food Culture, living lifestyle, and folkways

We, the Japanese, are eminent to be fitness freak and we are prominent because of our lifestyle. Our fitness is the skeleton in the closet which almost the world at large wants to perceive. Everyone knows that we are diet-conscious and fitness fanatics. Because of our wholesome intake, we stay in fine fettle for a prolonged time. We stay vibrant because we espouse the path of Ikigai.

Bread and water intake: Conventionally, we consume thrice a day. Nonetheless, our eating time is deficient, as we prefer to make room for our work. Substantially, we hardly bite for our breakfast as we are conscientious about our work. Customarily, our ideal munch commences at 12. Both the major and minor munch keep a thread for an hour. For the most part, we are acclaimed galloping. Chinese forks are put into use for eating. Generally, Japanese food is very light.

Ethic of drinking tea: Japan is renowned for one of its favorite beverages, tea. Here, different types of tea are consumed every now and then. Japan brings forth over and above 100 types of tea. Commoners cherry-pick green tea. Ours is strongly preferable to Indian tea because we don’t add sugar and milk to our tea. Even in the state of co-morbidity, tea is put into service as a cure. The approach of producing and consuming each tea varies. In addition, there are approx. 28 families of green tea which are consumed here. Specific kind of tea fends off any knot in the way of bone, hair, and skin. Therewithal, tea is filthy rich in antioxidants, so it keeps the body bushy-tailed, which endures us to execute work even when fatigued.

Strolling: The Japanese like to ramble eminently. This is a cornerstone of our lifestyle. However, there is an abundance of things in Japan owing to innovations, though we prefer to jaunt in public transport in lieu of our private ones. On the grounds, we presume that by this means, we keep ourselves hale and hearty, as we have to travel meters by foot before boarding train or bus. Occasionally, we have to stand while traveling. This makes digestion nimble, and the bodyweight also dwindles.

Sanitation: In Japan, we heed tidiness. Ergo, Japan is among one of the sanitized countries. When we pay a call to other countries, we keep an eye on cleanliness there also. We have credence that sanitization shields everyone from diseases and helps maintain tranquility in mind. Therefore, one can be sheltered from minor diseases effortlessly by simply following hygiene.

Living perky life: Sometimes in our life, things don’t happen as we aspire. Part of our dreams and wishes remain disillusioned. At this juncture, we have to apprehend that everything cannot happen according to our wishes in the world. Certain things are out of the question. And, there is no point in brooding over such unrestrained things. In lieu of abandoning life, it is better to live life cheerfully. We stay young because we don’t live a rigid life.

Gentle workout: It is ascertained in our studies that gentle workouts, i.e., exercises, keep natural killer cells mobile while long-lasting arduous and strenuous exercises subside our competency. These replacements appertain correspondingly on hormones responsible for tension and antibodies cells as well. Thus, we consume light food and perform gentle exercises.

On the ground job: The Japanese prefer to toil on their plough land. This way, we remain zestful and in fine fettle.

Bare booze: Consuming a highball glass of aqua vitae results in 178 calories. This corresponds to eating two chocolate biscuits. To ablaze these calories, you ought to hoof for half an hour. When you are a dipsomaniac or gobble a lot, your weight escalates. Food has some nutrients, but there are no nutrients in alcohol. The Japanese barely sup up booze; thereupon, we don’t have plumpness.

Less eating keeps us juvenile: The directive of Japanese life is to eat lesser food, just to fill our half stomach. Partaking much food requires vitality to ablaze the calories which we have consumed, which lessen our age. To partake less food, it is served on smaller plates. Inessential, one should not consume food, snacks, or any other edibles. We consume lots of green vegetables.

Abide in Bounded fount

The cue to a victorious life: To be triumphant in any of the chores and one should be a fitness freak. Owing to this, victory cannot be garnered if one is enfeebled. When one is able-bodied, his mind, astuteness, and diligence towards his work are always exemplary. In that case, he can be victorious. We, the Japanese, know that there is a pool of bounded life resources in our country, so we have surrendered to dwell while harnessing snippets of things. This succors them to appear underage.

Putting oneself out for someone: Assisting one another is quite admirable. We cannot stress enough the positive aspects of kindness. We should all try to become a person whom people will remember in a time of need. We believe that assisting each other is also a form of Ikigai. Helping each other is allied to our culture. In consequence feeling also, people endure longer.

Allocation of hours: Investing your time contemplates your wellbeing. Allocation of time and its preordain boosts up to wind down. We should espouse the vogue of working that unveils direct changes in how we use our time. The main rule of time management is to put your time into the important work or those works which are helpful to get your goal. The Japanese do their time management very well, so their life is happy, and they remain young.

Affectivity with one’s entity

There is no viable layout for alliances. Despite the trials, it is unfeasible to elaborate on any kind of tie-ups. It doesn’t reflect that things are intertwined. The definition of relations is one that can’t be understood, but the reality is that relationships are the big scale of life’s success which can’t be expressed in words. Some bonds are responsible for remodeling in one’s life.

Nevertheless, there are few we may repent of being attached to. The smidge of any such bonds seems enduring. The secret of our felicity is the affectivity with life.

Bubbly demeanor: The salient step to an aeonian life is to say goodbye to any animosity. According to Ikigai, one should be convivial with everyone in one’s course of time. Thence, we stay affable and this also succors the Japanese people to endure longer.

Foregather for a rationale: Co-operation is a person’s birth need. A person’s existence, buildout, and viability are all contingent on cooperation. Famishment acts as the indispensability of a person. For their contentment, they reach out to different people, which has become a postulate. Correspondingly, they need many other things, which require others’ cooperation. Consequently, the Japanese affirm a cooperative life system and cohabitation.

Welfare works: Co-operation acts a prerequisite for a person. A person’s existence, buildout, and viability are all contingents of cooperation. Famishment acts as the indispensability of a person. For their contentment, they reach out to different people, which has become a postulate. Correspondingly, they need many other things, which require others’ cooperation. Consequently, the Japanese affirm a cooperative life system and cohabitation. Our lifestyle is intimately linked with our welfare works. This keeps us gleeful and endures longer.

To unite in hostility: Certainly, life perpetuates, and time is capricious. Therefore, we should always stay level-headed. We should contemplate and face life’s adverse times with forbearance. We believe in facing the adverse conditions of life in a united manner. This is our nonpareil and pivotal locution adapted from the concept of Ikigai.

To help each other: Our intent of life is to boost up others corporally, intellectually, and in all ways possible. It is observed that those people who boost up others alleviate tension in one’s mind. They discern mental peace and contentment. They feel spirituality attached to them, and their life is satisfactory. While those people who are engaged in pitting of wits and juxtaposition are always frazzled. The Japanese are always ready to help others on their part. This creates a euphoric and dynamic environment. It might be the secret of a long life.

Accumulate monthly endowment: Helping one another is a very good quality. We can’t say enough about the positive aspects of kindness. We all try to become such a person whom people remember in their time of need. The Japanese organize community feasts, games, and other activities by collecting community donations. It brings a quality of prosperity to our life. Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.

Life at peace: In modern times, it is almost out of the question to have a life without tensity. Every day it has its own obstacles. Whether one is poor, middle-class, rich, or super-wealthy, everyone is troubled in some way or another. And tensions make one’s body hollow. The way people take a call of their problems creates tension. Stress is now an inextricable part of one’s life. We remove our stress by sharing within our community. When you don’t have any stress, life expectancy will increase. This is the rule of Ikigai.

❒

Chapter II

The Unrevealed Tale of

Staying Young

If you are goal-oriented; you persist more compared to those who aren’t. Longer persistence is not a secret. One’s lifeline can be extended by having a set of commitments and valuing some unique things. It doesn’t bother, at what age one takes up the goals of one’s life. Body workouts are more important than any other exertion. On the other way round, during dotage, people often reduce their physical activities and switch to sedentary life. This results in people falling sicker. Whatever may the age, workouts are important for a person to be robust, exuberant, and zestful.

Stay Young in Body and Mind

Graying isn’t a disease which is remediable. We have to look buoyant; however, it doesn’t mean we should be able to turn back the clock. We are the product of our genes. The way we look after our body initially, it becomes accordingly. Accept the changing of your lifestyle with alacrity. Stay delighted and gracious. Instead of grumbling about something in any specific period or age, learn to forgive and have a smiling visage. The basic aspect is to keep one’s mind and body young.

Everyone wants to have a life of ease. This would be feasible by any chance if they are bodily and intellectually healthy. Intellectual well-being is of paramount importance as that of bodily well-being. In the current scenario, many such issues directly affect people’s mental health.

But one can do some exercises for better mental health which will help you to stay mentally healthy. Let me share that a person will feel physically healthy only when he is mentally calm. So, for any person, it is very important to be mentally healthy, owing to which he spends his entire life.

What is Eunoia?

Human beings drop their insight into things when they aren’t mentally strong. They stay abstracted. In this ballgame, initially, changes can be seen in deportment, which takes hold of their well-being inadequately. Their appetite may subside gradually and they may get strained. This keeps them indisposed. And they could put up with chronic diseases like high blood pressure or diabetes. Therefore, it is essential to do workouts and yoga for mental health to stay physically strong.

Intellectual drills: Every day in the morning when you wake up, your health conditions determine your daily routine. Any bodily disease incapacitates our enthusiasm and adds hindrance in the quotidian way of your day-to-day stints. The art of practicing yoga helps in controlling an individual’s mind, body, and soul. On the whole, one has to cognizance that bodily workout strides the larger goal of the complete goal of overall health. One’s intellectual wellbeing is coequally pivotal. One’s intellect performs a dominant role in working out day-to-day operations. One’s rejoinder amplitude, apprehensive amplitude, sentimental aptitude, and working normally are adjoined with one’s brain. Primarily, it’s enigmatic, similar to that of other body parts; even the brain demands vigor and sustenance all day round. Just as physical workouts are crucial to maintaining one’s body shape, intellectual workouts are coequally pivotal for wellbeing.

Community sports: Sports are an integral part of our life. Sports are essential for physical outline and well-being and be at service to call forth our intellectual upbringing and import sentiments of amalgamation, routine, and chauvinism.

Colloquy within individuals: If you want your mental health to be stabilized, don’t seclude your tensions or problems from others. In lieu of this, you should get rid of the tensions and problems by chattering them out to the people around you. Correspondingly, you will feel lively. If feasible, converse with people close to your heart regarding your sentiments, anxiety, and troubles, so these should not derange your intellectual wellbeing.

Inquisitiveness: It is found in human beings and animals. Inquisitiveness is the fundamental cause inducing to scientific methodology. Inquisitiveness is the perspective to contrive such things which are unrecognized by all. First and foremost, it buckles down to those things which do not trouble people or which are futile for them. The persons with more curiosity endure more.

Intellectual upskilling: Anyways, intellectual upskilling and analysis take hold of people’s psychological health in a vigilant and purposive way. It can be done in any state of affairs; particularly: Class, the sports field, complexes or public places, you can even do it near a river or a mountain, tourist spots, etc.

Swapping in working methodology: Other than one’s persona, the secret of inveterate living lies in one’s working methodology, attitude, and optimism towards one another. Life can be monotonous, with the unaltered style, constant attitude, constant perspective, which cannot bloom one’s life. This lifestyle is tedious as there is nothing new to spark in it. There isn’t any enthusiasm, any triumph or a solution to it. In this respect, to make a living spellbind, one has to switch one’s methods, approach, and oneself.

Optimistic field of vision: Environment is sometimes commendatory and sometimes depreciatory. Life has its own vicissitudes. Everyone may be a victim at some point of time. Therefore, there isn’t any need to be depressed in such situations. Rather than taking it to one’s heels, we should encounter the challenges life throws at us. To add on, don’t dishearten yourself during adverse scenarios as the situation is as simple as it is complex. In simple words, it is normal. Sometimes we dishearten and demoralize ourselves a lot. Whereas, we must encourage ourselves to fight against all the adverse circumstances in life.

Yearn to learn: There isn’t an epoch to learn. It is an unceasing affair. The one-to-one connection of learning is connected to an optimistic and ardent attitude in life. Prioritize yourself. Put name and cherish your aptitude, nature, character. Dig up for contentment in things like iota. Appreciate God for every minute thing, the conditions you live in, and the people around you. Gradually, you would have a rosy attitude. You will ultimately incline towards updating one’s knowledge. Once you develop this willpower to learn within, it will become a part of your nature.

Stress abates one’s viability

Advanced humans have one tremendous challenge, i.e., their health. Present-day conduct of life and its policies are taking the edge off the average age of people. Before said, mortals live around 100 years, which as of now has declined to less than 60 years. Though studies claim that if we cast aside our tensions, we can live up to 150 years. Stress or anxiety leads to a great crash in one’s life. To boot, the quality of a person’s life also gets affected because of stress.

Hormone levels also fluctuate due to stress. Out of the hormones in the body, adrenaline and cortisol are the main ones. Incessant stress leads to depression. Although depression isn’t a disease, it’s an alarm that one’s physique and life are unsound. Depression is supposed to be associated with mental diseases but its symptoms can be seen from outside also.

Marks of stress

Absent-mindedness: The main sign of depression is that a person always seems perturbed and is not able to concentrate on any work. There is no simple sadness but not concentrating on any work, no interest, neither feeling of happiness nor even sadness, are signs of depression.

People who have never dealt with depression think it’s just being sad or being in a bad mood. That’s not what depression is for me; it’s falling into a state of grayness and numbness.

-Dan Reynolds

Negativity: Depression takes off a person’s mind randomly. Consequently, a person always seems hopeless. When this rises at its peak, a person feels his life is futile. Furthermore, always having a feeling of inferiority also reflects depression.

How to get rid of stress

Everyone is environed with stress in the present macrocosm. Currently, there is cutthroat competition in every field, so from small children to pensioners, everyone has a lot of stress. It can have many root causes - for little ones, it is education; for grown-ups, it’s parenthood, homemaking, controversies in official and unofficial life, professional predicaments, etc. To conclude, none can postulate a life without stress.

Pointers to put end to stress

At its peak, stress can lead us to some diseases which can impact our body as well as our intellectual health too. These are follows:

Depression

Heart disease

High sugar level

Irritating behaviour, short temper

Mental diseases, etc.

In order to avoid these diseases, the question that originates in our mind that how do we get rid of tension? And, how can we cheer up? Answers to these questions can be got by adopting these simple methods in our lifestyle:

Contrive your quotidian drill: Per Diem, we confront such situations in life, be it school, home, office, or society, where we not only have to find a solution to it but also have to prove ourselves the best in dealing. Instead of being unnerved, we should adopt one routine to make things sorted. Then, confronting the day-to-day problems will not lead to major stress and therefore, we can deal with them efficiently.

Commence your day at the crack of dawn: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.This clearly illustrates that once you commence your day on time, you can devote more attention to your work. Stressbusters like getting late to work, traffic, etc., can easily be avoided following this.

To-Do list: Prepare the list of all the works which keep you contented and optimistic. This helps you complete your work without forgetting them and ultimately reduces your stress level.

Learn to take one up on the challenge: We need to develop the habit of looking at whatever happens through a positive mindset instead of a negative, defeatist one. Try to pull through the difficult chapter of life by facing it. In such a manner, you will have the courage to face the obstacles and fight against the difficulties. Your assertiveness will rise up, and there will be positivity in you. So, you will be standing stronger in future problems and will have less stress.

Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.

-Arthur Rubinstein

Fend for yourself: If we are in some dilemma or a catastrophe; instead of looking after ourselves, we should keep an eye on the situation only. This not only disturbs our diet plan but also rises up our craving for unhealthy food. This also impacts our sleeping schedule. Instead of any solution, ultimately, our health suffers and deteriorates. Therefore, it is essential to look after one’s health. If we are healthy, we will stay stress-free and then we will solve the problem.

Meditation: Meditation narrows the path of stress. Daily meditation for 20 or 30 minutes is enough for a stress-free life. It is quite supportive to get rid of exasperation, and vexation one feels. This also increases your concentration power.

Meditation is the only way to get freedom from all the stress that man is going through.

-Sadhguru

One work at one time: Take only one work at a time. Don’t pile up yourself with a lot of work at a time; otherwise, you won’t be able to complete any one of them in the scheduled time. Or it may even be not very accurate. Take one work in your hand and finish it on time. This way, work will be completed fast, without errors. Thence, there will be no stress and you will be happy.

Shun the turmoil and intrusion: Keeping an eye on your emails, mobile, social media notifications, or any other gadgets leads to digression and disruption in the work which ultimately delays the completion of work. This will raise your stress level as you won’t be able to wind up your work on time since you haven’t completed it.

Concentration: While doing some work, your aim should be to complete it with full concentration. When you concentrate fully on one work, only then it gets completed fast. Besides, you should not add on many things together, so that you are able to do work with concentration.

"One reason so few of us achieves what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.

-Tony Robbins

Self-scrutiny: If you are frazzled about some matters, then do introspect to remove the stress. Interrogate yourself with such questions which you have in mind related to that problem. The answers to these questions will help to get yourself out of this problem, and you will be able to stay away from stress.

Don’t defer the work: Delaying or procrastinating any work is a nasty habit. It can be well stated as ‘hell freezes over.’ It’s unsuspected how much work one would have for tomorrow. Whether you will get time to do the postponed work or not cannot be predicted. If yesterday’s work couldn’t get done today, you would be under stress. Therefore, you should never wait till the actual deadline and complete your work within the time frame.

To aspirate: While you are in a dormant state; taking deep breaths helps you fight any intellectual stress. Whenever you are agitated, halt a little and take a long deep breath.

This technique ultimately relieves your mind, and you feel stress-free.

Calisthenics: Daily exercise not only maintains your physical outlook but also keeps you intellectually strong. It also turns down the stress hormones of the body. And then, we can live an exuberant and stress-free life.

Bon appétit: Oftentimes, having breakfast and lunch in the haste of work is neglected. Gobbling up these meals seems as some task to be completed. So, we don’t get sufficient and required nutrition. A healthy meal refuels the body and replenishes the blood sugar (glucose), giving the energy necessary to start a new day. It is proven that the right food intake is good for both physical and mental health. You will experience peace of mind. It will make you happy, and thus you will be stress-free.

Workout on your hobbies: Whenever you feel sick and tired of doing your work, invest your time in doing works of your interest and hobby. You will be happy to devote time to your hobbies, and you will become stress-free. There onwards, you will do your work with more enthusiasm.

Getting a good night’s sleep: It is essential to take sound and sufficient sleep in the night so as to rise and shine in the morning with complete freshness and enthusiasm for the day’s tough grind. By virtue, if all your tasks are done correctly, there will be no stress and you will be happy.

Communicate about your obstacles: It is often stated, Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is a half sorrow. Therefore, if you are perturbed, communicate about it with your family members and good friends. It is presumed that you would be able to untangle the situation. If not completely, at least you would feel relieved and have less stress.

Stick around your family: At present, many people stay away from family because of their livelihood, or even when they stay with family, they don’t give enough time to their children and other family members. This creates a communication gap between family members and causes stress. Hence, you should give time to your life partner and family members. Have vacations or a picnic with them, tell your childhood stories to your children, and have fun with them. Take an interest in their studies and hobbies, and know their problems. It will make your relationship stronger, and you won’t be affected by stress and will be happy.

Engage yourself with optimist: It is crucial to figure out with whom you are engaged in your tough times. Investing your quality time with pessimists would ultimately lead to a lack of confidence resulting in bad results in the end. Whereas, on the other hand, time spent with optimists would lead to a positive attitude towards your problems so you would be ready to face them. By this, most of your life’s problems would be solved easily.

Over-intellectualize: If you want to do any work, then go ahead and do it. Do not ponder on others’ reactions to it. Certainly, examine the results of it but do not stress much, lest it should create tensions.

Live in the present: If you always retrospect, or dream and plan about the future, then you would be losing the happiness of the present. So, it’s very important to be always happy and stress-free, live in the present, and enjoy every moment of it.

Don’t belittle yourself: We often disparage ourselves while comparing to others. We often focus on our drawbacks and forget our qualities and capabilities. Everyone is unique in their own way; some people get profits in business while others get promotions in their jobs. One is good in studies, and another is good in sports. Some women are quite capable of doing household activities, while some handle the professional work front efficiently. So, we all are unique, and we are not subordinate to others. To have this feeling in our heart, we must have confidence in ourselves, and it helps to win over the difficulties. This will keep us stress-free and happy.

In elation with oneself: This is something crucial. Different people get happiness in different ways. We must realize that society is not the source and responsibility of our happiness. Why should we wait for others to make us happy? When we have learned the art of keeping ourselves happy, stress vanishes. It can even boost one’s immune system and relieve stress.

Keep sauntering: The body’s cells’ receptive power increases while we walk. There is movement in each nerve so the production of hormones responsible for stress decreases; therefore, the existing tension goes out by one’s breathing process. That is why doctors and health experts always advise people having depression to walk regularly.

Avoid sedentary life: By sitting for long hours, our body tends towards harmful changes. Although, we may not pay any attention to them. For example, sitting in front of the TV for a very long time is harmful, and therefore, we can become the victim of many diseases.

Engage in welfare works: You can furcate to positive works on the basis of unity created by social work. Be innovative. There is no need to organize high-level events for social activities.

Even small gestures are efficacious. It isn’t necessary to keep your presence to make changes.

Be an altruistic. You can compromise with their suggestions unless it is not hurting your ideals.

Revitalization of habits: To grab any habit, there is a simple way- transpose behaviour with experience. It is described as an automatic reaction for special situations, which can be obtained by learning and reviewing. When behaviour is developed in such a manner to be automatic, it is said to become a habit.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

- Aristotle

Generally, habits need not be under surveillance. Habits perform a crucial role in our daily life. We adopt different habits, and they become a part of our life. Habits can be good or bad. Hard work, reading, writing, regular exercise, meditation, etc., are good habits. Alcohol, addiction, lethargy, laziness, telling lies, being dishonest, theft, deceiving others, etc., are examples of bad habits.

Look up for a great commencement: A great beginning is the base of work. The saying goes, Well Begun is Half Done. Therefore, we should commence with a good beginning to learn good habits. We should make strong oaths and have strong inspiration. We should not bewilder our minds. For instance, one nursing student decided to study for a certain period at a specific time. He should decide timely and then stick to the plan to ensure success. 

Prosper good habits: It is important to execute the new habits until they become a part of our day-to-day life. Beware of hindrances or disarrays as they weaken our habit making. For instance, we should not give lame excuses like headaches or lack of interest to hold up the work.

Look for enthusiastic environment: Developing the good habits are also dependent on an energetic and glowing environment. For instance, one student who is industrious enough should have the company of diligent students, not indolent and unambitious students who are not interested in studies.

Persist to accomplish your goal: Once habits form, they should be made stronger.

Therefore, this should be continued till it becomes deeply rooted.

By embracing these puny efforts, we can lessen our stress and be happy.

Perspective to be in the ‘springtime of life’

In this .macrocosm, who doesn’t want to stay young forever? Despite that, it is not enough to desire such a thing, you must have to immerse in something fruitful so that the aging signs don’t reflect. Old age is the eternal truth. But if you don’t let it overcome you then you will feel young forever. Despite being young at heart, it is also important to stay young physically and this is what we are giving some tips for:

Let your intellect sound well: In the language of psychology, an unhealthy mind is the sign of an unhealthy body. Our willpower grows out of a healthy mind. If one has good intellectual health, he can have a beatitude life even with an unhealthy body. On the other hand, a person with a healthy body but an unhealthy mind shed tears all his life.

The biggest challenge is how to keep your mind healthy or at least try your best to achieve this.

From my perspective, the intellectual well-being can be taken care of by adopting the following techniques:

Learn to chuckle and make others giggle too: Yes, on laughing, our body produces endorphins and serotonin hormones, which help our body and mind to stay healthy.

Learn to express gratitude: This is a part of gratitude therapy. When we thank our surrounding things or the persons who have somehow helped us, we achieve mental peace.

Keep optimistic attitude: Pessimism encourages negative thoughts, and optimism leads to positive thoughts. A positive frame of reference reduces your stress, resulting in keeping your mind healthy. Try to stay away from pessimistic people or turn them into optimistic too. This inculcates a habit of not to denounce others.

Engage yourself: It is often stated, An empty mind is the devil’s workshop. Though the mind is never empty but diverts itself to fruitless things. Therefore, one should keep one’s mind engaged in useful things.

Dip into books and articles: It is said that you become what you read. Therefore, good reading would give you good thoughts in your mind and keep it healthy.

Reading is to mind what exercise is to body.

- Joseph Addison

6. Keep your enthusiasm at apex: It’s essential to go around some logical rules to become victorious. The statements given by glorified souls fill us with new enthusiasm by reading them. Those who have great personalities who don’t leave the work incomplete or halfway done, despite several hurdles, keep on trying to work best with the same enthusiasm. Victory is directly related to enthusiasm and excitement. The one, who learns to keep their enthusiasm and energy alive, will be energetic, and the world belongs to energetic people. Energetic persons never let their enthusiasm betide; they keep doing their work which petrifies or provokes them the most. Because they know that victory could be gained by contending and competing against it.

Enthusiasm is the scale of human progress and fortune. The enthusiastic one gets progress. Fortune favors the person who works with enthusiasm. Where there is no enthusiasm, no excitement, there is no growth. Nothing grows beneath a cold sheet of ice. No work can be done without enthusiasm. To get the desired results, one has to do hard work with enthusiasm. Therefore, begin today with enthusiasm and new desires and try to indulge in life and bolt the life out of the blue. Therefore, be enthusiastic today!

Intimate: We should constrain on making some good decisions, and have good thoughts that prevent us from getting any of life’s bummers. Life has given us everything. But to think of everything as single-handedly is unjustified. Because, just as life presents us something swiftly, it seizes things from us even faster. Many incidents occur in our life about which we wonder, Why me? Don’t take anything over yourself. Because if we don’t get the things we desire, we feel desolate. We should understand that everything has its limitations and can’t be extended.

Don’t take anything very personal and escalate.

Listen to your heart: The decisions taken by the heart could be wrong, but you will never repent for them. When we take decisions with our heart, it’s our own decision and dominated. When we work on the task with our heart, we feel happy, so to live a happier life, we should take decisions through our hearts.

Only do what your heart tells you.

-Princess Diana

Acknowledge the strong side: Our potential to take a strong stand plays a crucial role in living a good life. Everyone is strong in some way or the other; it is just a matter of identification.

To live a good life, a person should work with his strong side. If we take a firm stand, our decisions, thoughts, and living style reflect this positivity.

Upward Comparison: If you are comparing yourself with anyone, you are devaluing yourself. Don’t compare yourself with anyone. Compare with yourself only. This will ensure that we should not get tense, which harms us.

Comparing your bad with their good doesn’t make any sense.

-Nitin Namdeo

Stay in shape: ‘Health is wealth,’ we have heard this so many times, and it is very true. If we are unhealthy, how can we wish for good long life? A feeble person spends more than half of his life visiting doctors and becomes mentally weak. If we are unhealthy, we can’t do any work wholeheartedly and with enthusiasm.

Work on something eccentric: If anybody performs the same work repeatedly, he would have a mundane life. If we live a monotonous life, we won’t enjoy it. Therefore, do something eccentric of your choice which gives you happiness.

Stay gratified: It’s better to learn more about yourself rather to know the choices. If a person isn’t contended within himself, then how could he make others happy? To keep yourself happy, spend some time with yourself, understand yourself, and then only you can lead a happy and satisfying life.

Fit of laughter increases life’s expectancy: Your little smile makes others happy, and this is beneficial to you also. Everyone has a wish to look younger and more beautiful. If you are one of them, then laugh wholeheartedly. By doing this, your blood circulation gets improved on your whole face, which keeps you young and beautiful.

You don’t stop laughing because you grow older. You grow older because you stop laughing.

-Maurice Chevalier

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Chapter III

Ikigai from Logotherapy

As every person has some unique characteristic in himself, every country also has a unique mode of life conduct which keeps on evolving round the clock according to the unique conditions. Correspondingly, our Japanese lifestyle also prospered from Logotherapy and finally culminated in Ikigai.

What is Logotherapy?

Logotherapy stands for the good motives to live life. Logotherapy was developed by neurologist and psychologist Victor Frankl. He based it on the belief that any person’s primary inspiration is searching for the meaning of life. (It is described as the third Viennese school of psychotherapy, with Freud’s psychoanalysis and Adler’s psychology being the other two.)

Logotherapy is formulated on existence analysis which concentrates on the meaning of Kierkegaard, which is opposite to Alfred Adler’s and Nietzsche’s will to power, or Freud’s will to pleasure theory. Instead of potential or enforcement, Logotherapy is based on the conviction to figuring out the meaning of life is the primary and most energetical inspirational power. A preface of this system is given in Frankl’s famous book ‘Man’s Search For Meaning’. He mentions how his principles helped him escape from his holocaust experiences and how that experience further nourished and prospered his principles. Currently, there are several Logotherapy centers all over the world.

The theory of Logotherapy originated from the Greek word ‘Logo’ (cause). Frankl’s theory is dependent on that any person’s primary inspirational power is to search for meaning in life.

The following list of principles represent the original theory of Logotherapy:

The meaning of life can be found in every situation, even in pitiable situations also.

Our Main inspiration to live is our will to search for the meaning in life.

What we do, we experience or at least when we are facing continuous pains, in that situation, we have the freedom of searching for the meaning of life.

The human soul exists in the context of many different beliefs of Logotherapy. But, the use of the word soul is not spiritual or religious. In Frankl’s view, the soul is the human’s will. So, the thrust is on the search for meaning which is not necessarily the search for God or any supernatural person. Frankl also noted all the hurdles for humanity to look for the meaning of life. He cautioned against prosperity, pleasure, and materialism, searching for meaning.

Impulsiveness, meaning in life, building existence, vacuum, and will for meaning appear in Frankl’s writing of Logotherapy, along with those who defined the principles of a positive psychological system. Frankl observed that when someone’s cast around for meaning is obstructed, it could be psychologically harmful to that person. An optimistic life is joined with an aim, elucidation, resolute conviction, group memberships, adhesion for a cause, behavioral conduct, and life’s abstraction. In adulthood and matured principles, the motive is included in life’s abstraction. Maturity emphasizes the motive of life, directions, and a clear insight of intentions, which contributes to this feeling that life is worthwhile.

Frankl’s thoughts were incorporated into experiments by Crumbaugh and Maholich’s Purpose in Life (PIL), which estimates the meaning and motive of a person’s life. Examining the experiments, they discovered that the meaning of life mediates between the relations of religion and welfare, uncontrollable tensions and use of alcoholic substances, depression, and self-abuse. Crumbaugh found that the Seeking Of Noetic Goals (SONG) test is a supplementary solution to public internet petitions (PIL). When public welfare petitions scale the presence of meaning, SONG measures the inclination towards meaning. One score in public welfare petitions and a high score in SONG will predict better results in the application of Logotherapy.

Logo- Remedial convection and Rehabilitation

Charge over stress: Stress can be controlled by putting one’s finger on the objective of our state of affairs. About the use of Logotherapy, there are lectures given by Tim Sanders, New York Times writer, in which he shares, how he uses this theory to escape tensions of his fellow airline’s passengers by asking them the intentions of their journey. When he does that, his fellow passengers’ complete school of thoughts changes, and despite how much they may be desolated, they stay contended throughout the journey. Taking everything into consideration, Frankl’s belief was that a wayward man could not understand that his stress is the result of dealing with a feeling of incompetence and lacking life’s meaning.

Healing Neurosis: Frankl states the example of two insane disease factors: - first is Overdetermination --one strong idea of any point which makes its end unreachable. The other one is Over imaginative reflections ---more attention towards oneself which tries to escape from neurosis which he thinks is pre-decided. To remove expected stress and to heal the resultant neurosis, Logotherapy gives paradoxical intentions, in which the patient wants to do the opposite of his most wanted intension.

A person, who is agitated (meaning someone who takes stress in advance), becomes an insomniac will try very hard to sleep (brooding over ideas), adding hurdles for their capabilities too. A logo therapist will recommend that the person should go to bed and hit the hay. He will eliminate his already present tensions, which keep him awake. This way, he was allowed to knock out for the scheduled time.

Depression: Viktor E. Frankl believed that depression is of a psychological, physical, and spiritual level. On the psychological level, he believed that inadequate feelings make an appearance from the working beyond capabilities. On the physical level, he validated important laws, which he defined as the scarcity of physical energy. In the end, Frankl believed that on the spiritual level, desolate people confront the stress of who they are and what they should be in this context. Frankl advises if the motive seems unapproachable, then the person loses the future feeling, and this way, it leads to depression. This way, Logotherapy’s motive is to change the patient’s viewpoint towards life as a work along with the disease.

Compulsive Obsessive Disorder (COD)

Frankl supposed that people suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder are devoid of a feeling of magnificence which most other people possess. Doctors should bring to bear change in their neurotic viewpoint towards neurosis instead of concentrating on fighting repeated thoughts or repeated works or changing the personal signs of disease. Therefore, it is predominant to pinpoint that the patient is not responsible for his obsessive thoughts but surely he is responsible for his views towards these thoughts. Frankl advised that it is essential to pinpoint the patient’s inclination towards perfection. It should be put into knowledge in the form of fortune and also accept some points of precariousness. To conclude, people should shut their eyes on their snobbish thoughts on the basis of Logotherapy and should cast around the meaning of life despite these thoughts

A class of mental disorder: Though the Logotherapy’s intent was not to accord with serious disorders. Frankl believed that Logotherapy could add convenience to people suffering from schizophrenia. He identified the roots of schizophrenia in physical lethargy. In this disease, the patient, suffering from schizophrenia, considers himself as an object instead of a subject. Frankl advised that a person suffering from schizophrenia could be taught to ignore the sounds and continually stop himself. In the review period, the schizophrenic person should be taken towards positive activities, because even for schizophrenic people the fortune and freedom remain for that disease, which humans always have, however sick he may be, in every situation and every moment of life, till the last moment.

Intent of Ikigai

Aforementioned was that we, the Japanese, have evolved the theory of Ikigai from Logotherapy. In our language, there is a profound meaning of the word Ikigai. Iki stands for life and gai stands for the price or value. This way, Ikigai means ‘the value of life or the reason to stay alive.’ In Japan, it is seen in a separate manner. Some people believe that the other person cannot decide this value for one’s life. One has to decide oneself what the value of his life is. It would be possible only when he would understand why he is alive?

Most of us are curious to know how we manage to bring home the bacon for having milk and honey in our lives? On which requirements do we rely to appease ourselves? Which hobby to fulfill so that our relatives and friends will envy us? Among these, there is Ikigai, which enquires: Do you know, why are you alive? Only for your bank balance? Or for a duplex or a four BHK? Or to pay the premium? If we envisage, what is the key to the contended life?

Ikigai states that people’s perspective to observe life is transposing. It took place earlier also, but people’s feelings are in the limelight in the 21st century. This is the thinking that goes beyond money. Money is not