There are plenty of books on meaning and purpose. While most regurgitate notions like ‘follow your passion’ and ‘hustle hard,’ The Ikigai Journey stands out. It doesn’t feel like advice but a reminder to align with our true nature and to live with purpose moment by moment.
After marking most parts, I’ll share the biggest lessons I pulled from it. So, if you are at a crossroads or refining your path, this might hit just as hard for you. And if you need help with discipline, getting in shape, or magick rituals, my books and manuals might be just what you need.
Shinkansen
Charges of magickal intent are extra specific about outcomes but vague about the means. This enables the Magick to follow the path of least resistance, which it usually does.
The Ikigai Journey teaches us to organize our work around incremental improvements. To move from doable change to another, following the path of least resistance.
It is the Shinkansen effect, as it’s how the Japanese Bullet train, Shinkansen, came into being. Beyond work, Shinkansen can be implemented for managing:
- Health,
- Relationships,
- Intellectual, artistic, and spiritual goals.
Do the Impossible
“There is nothing more enjoyable than doing the impossible.”
— Walt Disney.
There are three steps to leverage the Shinkansen effect:
- Write down a seemingly impossible goal: As Francesc Mirales and Hector Garcia say, ‘If you feel you can achieve it relatively easily, it cannot be classified as a “bullet train objective.”‘
- Reverse engineer and note 10 perfectly doable steps, each coupled with: ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘when.’
- Take full ownership, and reflect on this daily.
To make Shinkansen part of your identity, write down and reflect on all the things that seemed impossible at one point. Here’s some of my toughest ones:
- Not taking drugs or drinking,
- Suppressing my appetite and building a head-turning physique.
- Learning English so I can write books and content.
- Finally liking how I look in front of a camera.
“Our life is full of mountains we believe to be forbidden or that we feel incapable of climbing, but the fog that prevents us from seeing the path ahead is usually on the path through which we are viewing it.”
We have to wipe out our gaze clean of “impossibilities,” as we would a steamed-up window, before setting off on our way to the summit. Because the impossible is, in reality, a mental label, a deceptive filter before our eyes.”
Ganbarimasu
Anime protagonists often grow up with shortcomings and perhaps traumas. Yet, by following their Ikigai, moving from one quest to another, they come on top unfolding their full potential.
The Ikigai Journey encourages us to embody that archetype, embracing what’s called Ganbarimasu. Ganbarimasu means doing as well as we can, and if needed, stretching beyond personal limitations with full determination.
It is a secret to perseverance. When coupled with the Shinkansen effect, Ganbarimasu results in the formula:
“Patience without action leads to a passive life. Patience with perseverance leads us to fulfilling our goals.“
Habits
Mention goals, they are useless without habits. To prevent that, The Ikigai Journey plugs the insights of Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit.
“Habits are the subconscious options and invisible decisions that surround us on a daily basis.”
— Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit
Habits are not eradicated but replaced within existing routines. According to some, this takes 40 days; according to Duhigg, 21. Based on my experiences, it depends.
Waking up at 04:00/05:00 am is not like quitting speed or booze.
“A new habit begins as a choice, and at the end of this period of repetition, the new habit becomes an automatic pattern.“
In and of itself, this is the basis of self-discipline. As covered in my second book, discipline starts with but never relies on decision making, aka willpower. And while playing its initial role, willpower is a joke if not supported by automation and momentum.
Feedback and Adventures
Whatever you do, test it in the world asap. The scientific method of trial and error is the only way to improve. Getting constructive criticism is ideal, but not always available, while feedback from reality is.
All it takes is embracing the adventure and stepping out of our comfort zones. Children don’t have trouble falling countless times when learning to walk.
Deep within this is how we are with everything. It’s part of our nature. The trouble, as identified by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, occurs when schooling enters the picture, numbing down children’s curiosity and drive for exploration.
Yet, the more we do the things we thought we couldn’t, the more we gain momentum, resilience, dignity, and hope. Such an inclination can be cultivated by doing simple but uncommon tasks like:
- Changing our routines and ways of accessing different places.
- Visiting neighborhoods we’ve never been to.
- Simply learning something new and exciting, etc.
Words and NLP
Mentioning change brings us to the power of words and post-modern Magick systems like NLP.
“If you want to change your reality, you have to change your language and banish negative or defeatist expressions, along with those that disempower you, because they place decision-making outside your control.”
Two techniques the Ikigai Journey offers are:
- Create and sign a personal contract that you’ll take the necessary actions toward something: Reflect on it for 21 days, so the habit solidifies.
- Give the whole operation a name. “When something has a name, it exists forever.“
- Magickally, you create and nurture a thoughtform. It first turns into a reality and then a memory, or as Viktor Frankl would call it, an actualized potentiality, you still refer to by its name.
“Given that our memories are stored in some corner of our inner being, we have to use the right words to evoke hidden memories and connect ideas; they are like springs opening up new universes.”
“Words are spells with power to activate memories and neural patterns to make us more creative. For that very reason, it is important to become aware of the power of words.”
Childhood Dreams
The Ikigai Journey complements its predecessor, Ikigai. It advocates deep intro and retrospection, while Ikigai looks into the future, stepping on teleological systems like Logotherapy and Flow Psychology.
One way it does that is by advocating for taking inventory of childhood dreams. As we know from Thelema, childhood passions hold critical information about our Ikigai, or True Will.
Qabalah stresses the importance of the Nephesh or animal soul, which carries:
- The Freudian Id,
- The Jungian Shadow,
- And the inner child.
Unlike what discipline gurus preach, the nephesh is not punished but integrated. The Ikigai Journey provides a straightforward approach to help with that and have fun.
- Note the three childhood dreams you have yet to realize.
- Meditate on how to bring each forth.
- Couple each with three actionable items to implement.
Hindsight and Nostalgia
“Although it may seem to us that feeling sad is a negative thing, scientists have shown that nostalgia can be beneficial for our health and for the achievement of our objectives, since it makes us recall positive memories and feelings…”
Besides remembering the past, nostalgia can help us navigate future challenges with clear objectives.
We all carry portable happiness reserves we can tap into when needed. Scents, memories, photos, music, etc. By identifying and polishing the golden hits of our lives, we can connect the dots.
“You cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them by looking backward.”
— Steve Jobs
Three questions that help with that are:
- What is your most important life event in the past five years?
- What happened before it? And which were the dots or people, actions, and situations that led to it?
- What followed next?
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
— Søren Kierkegaard
Worse Than Drugs
“Few of us take steps to distance ourselves from this new drug, whose adverse effects have led to even the fathers of technology distancing themselves from their own creations.”
- Anxiety,
- Depression,
- Absenteeism,
- And even suicide.
Recognizing those as side effects of social media, aka the worst drug I personally dealt with, The Ikigai Journey offers analog solutions like:
- Writing by hand,
- Reading physical books,
- Using analog tech, like tape decks and record players, and most importantly, staying aware of the actual impact social media has on you.
As I like to say:
“Whatever you are going through, you can make it feel worse by going on social media.”
— POTB
Slow Life
The authors share my opinion that scrolling vastly defeats your optimization through diet, exercise, and behavior. They also disapprove of hustle culture and sheer business as truly productive, let alone meaningful.
The Ikigai Journey advocates slow and mindful living coupled with moderate minimalism, and basically letting ourselves enjoy as many moments as we can by actually being present.
- Less but better quality food,
- Fewer tasks, more leisure time,
- Fewer, but better quality clothes,
- Fewer but actually meaningful friends.
- Only spending the absolutely mandatory and essential time at work.
“We just need to opt for a simpler, purer, and more satisfying life that is more fun and enjoyable.”
Writing as a Therapy
Writing is one of the most effective therapies. When we allow what’s inside of us to come to the surface, we not only clarify and organize our thoughts and emotions, but also clean the subconscious of unnecessary burdens.
This helps life speed up and move in the right direction.
It’s one of the reasons writing was used in Morita Therapy, which Ikigai has a whole chapter on.
In a study, they tested two groups. The first wrote about their emotions daily. The second didn’t or just reported unimportant stuff.
After a few days, amygdala activity in the first group dropped, which is a sign of emotional balance and lower stress. Turns out, simply journaling about what you feel regulates amygdala activity, putting you in a calmer, more grounded state.
A journal is a logbook of your life. The practice the authors offer comes down to three things:
- Write at the beginning and end of each day, whatever comes to mind, without judgment. Very similar to Morita meditation, or even the mindfulness stuff found in Golden Dawn texts.
- Note something that genuinely excited you during the day, or something you’re looking forward to.
- Aim to catch the positive side of things, especially when that’s hard.
Poetry
The Ikigai Journey encourages us to awaken our inner poets through Haiku.
Besides activating our true essence, Haiku is a self-exploration device. The Haiku master, Basho Matsuo, advocated finding meaning by practicing.
The good news is that knowing Japanese is not mandatory. Haiku is possible in other languages, as long as it:
- Is written in the present tense.
- Consists of three verses that don’t rhyme.
- Is short enough to read aloud in a single breath.
- Includes reference to Nature.
- Expresses observation and astonishment.
Advocating to try it for 30 days, the authors add that Haiku is always spontaneous. So if you think about it, it’s really a form of freestyle. And perhaps freestyle is a form of Haiku.
Caligraphy
- Haiku,
- Caligraphy,
- Enso circles
Are all Zen techniques revealing our hidden side? Maybe you can combine your writing and haiku or aphorisms with calligraphy. And if your inner child is into graffiti tags, which is in fact a form of calligraphy, you can journal and reflect by actually tagging. This is what I do instinctively.
Another practice you can do is enso circles. According to Sho Teramoto, aka one of the goats of Japanese calligraphy, enso circles are photographs of the mind, direct projections of consciousness, expressing much more than words.
Uncertainty and Serendipity
Remember what we covered about charges of intent? Habits and routines are essential. Yet it’s equally important to invoke some serendipity.
Serendipity requires surrendering control and provoking new situations so that fortunate accidents and unplanned synchronicities can take place. It is precisely what we had on the internet before the algorithmic cages took place.
Whether it’s the randomness of Saturn or the luck of Jupiter, it’s intentionally letting the Universe surprise you.
You can also do that by checking my products and books, just in case you need help with getting in shape, discipline, and ritual magick. But that’s just my opinion. Let me know if you agree. And thank you for your time!