In addition to concepts like #hansei and #kaizen, I talk a lot about #ikigai in my #MediaTherapy class.

It comes about because most people consuming and binging media are doing so often for reasons of displacement, transference, and/or rehabilitation due to needing an escape from the conflicting aspects of their daily lives ... especially the collisions of hope and reality that cause depression.

It usually comes out during therapy sessions that people are looking for reason and meaning.

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Ikigai is a Japanese concept which translates to “a reason for being”.

Ikigai is found at the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

In many people's worlds this simply equates to balance ... but Ikigai is more about purpose.

Finding balance is what ultimately ALLOWS you to more easily find your ikigai.

Ikigai is often considered to be the same in meaning as raison d'etre, which in French is - "reason to exist".

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Discovering your Ikigai is an entirely personal process and it encompasses so many different things including how you relate to the world around you and where you fall on that scale of truly contributing to said world.

Stoics believed that unhappiness, depression, and even evil stemmed from a persons inability to conceive of their importance and role in the Universe.

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Everyone has a specific purpose in the grand scheme of the Universal body. Everyone has a role in the great machine and true happiness and harmony comes in every persons individual acceptance and embracing of that role no matter how big or how small.

Finding balance will allow you to slow down and focus enough to be able to narrow down your ikigai ...

𝘐𝘬𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘰𝘺, 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.

𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣, 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘬𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘪 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘦𝘥.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥.