What are the rules of Ikigai?

Nurav baruhan
3 min readMay 12, 2021

1. Find your passion

The first and most important step is to pursue your dreams. It’s practically impossible to live a life with purpose if we abandon the path of what we really want to do. However, sometimes it’s hard to discover our passion and then pursue it.

There are many things that pressure you to abandon your dreams and be “realistic“. You already know the established path. Society states that you have to get a degree, get a safe job, and save money to be able to go on vacation for fifteen days a year.

2. Be active physically and mentally

After working or studying all day, what most people want to do is disconnect. Perhaps you like to lie on the couch and watch TV, surf the Internet, or eat junk food and have a drink.

However, one of ikigai’s most important rules is that you must always remain active. No matter how tired you are, if you want to find your purpose, you have to care for your body and mind.

To achieve this, it’s essential to develop healthy habits. Eat healthy, play sports, learn new things. These are routines that will help you achieve excellence and purpose in your life.

3. Connect with other people

One of the most important ikigai rules states that you must share your life with others. In solitude, finding the meaning of our existence is much more difficult. Therefore, you have to make sure that your purpose includes connections with other people that are meaningful to you.

Ikigai guidelines

Always be active. It’s important to do valuable things, do what we love, and do things that fulfill us. In this way, we bring beauty and usefulness to others.

Take it easy. Rushing isn’t pleasant. It clouds our mind and makes us make bad decisions. When we incorporate calm and serenity into our lives, life begins to have new meaning.

Don’t eat until you’re full. Sometimes less is more as long as there’s a balance. What we eat also influences us.

Surround yourself with good friends. The people who are in our lives are essential for us to experience that feeling of wellbeing and fulfillment that we’re all looking for. A good chat, sharing moments and having fun all contribute to living life more intensely.

Get in shape for your next birthday. Physical health is essential to enjoying good emotional health. In addition, exercising secretes hormones that contribute to happiness.

Smile. A pleasant attitude towards oneself and others strengthens relationships. It also makes us feel at ease. There’s nothing more important than learning to enjoy the present.

Reconnect with nature. Recharging our soul’s batteries through contact with nature gives us a sense of freedom and unmatched energy.

Give thanks. Giving thanks is an act of noble hearts, of those who appreciate the simplicity and complexity of life.

Live in the moment. All we have is the present, the here and now. Therefore, let’s stop thinking about the future. We should also free ourselves from the prison of the past to increase the flow of happiness.

Follow your ikigai. There’s a passion inside each of us, a talent that we should discover. We have to push ourselves to become the best version of ourselves.

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