In my previous blog I wrote about ikigai, a Japanese word that means doing something:
- that you love
- that you are good at
- what the world needs and
- that you get paid for
And my closing line was: "May you, who are reading this, live and work from your heart. May you realize your ikigai!"
A friend of mine, who creates beautiful art, responded to this with: "Sure, that’s easy for you to say. You’ve been able to make that happen in your profession. But me? I do what I love, what I’m good at, and what makes the world happy… and yet I can’t earn a living from it."
She’s right, and this applies not only to her. Many people know what their passion, their mission, their calling is, but they cannot make it their profession because they can’t make a living from it.
Earning money and doing what fulfills your heart—it’s easier said than done. Notice the word easier. It doesn’t say it’s impossible. In my life, I’ve learned that for the heart nothing is impossible. The challenge lies in the execution, in translating your heart’s desires into action through your personalityI call this “giving your heart hands and feet.” But how do you do that? When you overlay De Bloem (The Flower) as a template, the answer consists of two interwoven parts:[1]You do that by
being who you are becoming and becoming who you are
It’s about your personality (the part of you that becomes, where your personal growth occurs) embracing the desire of your heart (the part of you that simply is, beyond the historical dimension)) This means truly owning this longing of your heart. In English, the phrase is incredibly powerful. ‘I own this.’ No doubt, no hesitation. This is my heart, and I am committed to shaping it, no matter what. This process of ownership isn’t a one-time event—it’s something you repeat over and over until your heart has settled into every cell of your body. Day in, day out, you let yourself be mentally, emotionally, and physically inspired by your heart. This generates enormous energy and intrinsic motivation. Your heart and personality begin to align: you are who you are becoming.
The second part of the answer is becoming who you areThis involves expressing who you are and bringing your heart (ge)worden into the material world. For my friend, this means concretely exploring her options. It starts with opening herself to a conclusion she’s already reached:“I can’t make this my profession.” And that’s no small thing. It means surrendering to seeing what is.[2] —acknowledging reality as it is without resistance. Letting go of resistance against a reality you cannot decisively change is highly effective. It allows you to release frustration, freeing up all the energy you were directing against something, so you can now channel it for something.tégen vrij, die je nu kan gaan inzetten in energie-vóór. ZSeeing what is Letting go of resistance against a reality you cannot decisively change is highly effective. It allows you to release frustration, freeing up all the energy you were directing against something, so you can now channel it for something. doen – je gaat de tering naar de nering zetten.
For example, my friend might decide to earn the money she needs in the easiest and most effective way possible, recognizing that this is currently the only way to realize her ikigai.. I call this “must-do in service of want-to-do.”.[3] She might work four days a week, leaving three days to pursue her passion. And if her art starts generating income, she could transition to a three-day workweek and who knows…
eeing what is empowers you to take action without feeling like a victim. The energy this mindset —must-do in service of want-to-do— gives you can be transformed into inspiration and creativity to realize your ikigai.
How simple life can be…
[1] Een bloem heeft een hart en bloemblaadjes. In mijn metafoor van De Bloem bestaat wij mensen uit twee delen: ons hart en onze drie bloemblaadjes, die de drie elementen van onze persoonlijkheid vormen: ons denken, onze emoties en ons lichaam. Ons hart en onze persoonlijkheid zijn op een non-duale manier met elkaar verbonden. Zie Eva Wolf, The Flower (2022), 1.4, 1.11, 3.
[2] Idem, 12.2.
[3] Same, 4.17.