Csikszentmihalyi calls this microflow. We’ve all been bored in a class or at a conference and started doodling to keep ourselves entertained. Or whistled while painting a wall. If we’re not truly being challenged, we get bored and add a layer of complexity to amuse ourselves. Our ability to turn routine tasks into moments of microflow, into

Can someone really retire if he is passionate about what he does?

They have an important purpose in life, or several. They have an ikigai, but they don’t take it too seriously. They are relaxed and enjoy all that they do.

ichariba chode, a local expression that means “treat everyone like a brother, even if you’ve never met them before.”

What do Japanese artisans, engineers, Zen philosophy, and cuisine have in common? Simplicity and attention to detail. It is not a lazy simplicity but a sophisticated one that searches out new frontiers, always taking the object, the body and mind, or the cuisine to the next level, according to one’s ikigai. As Csikszentmihalyi would say, the key is

She stopped smoking at 120, when her cataracts started making it hard for her to bring a cigarette to her lips. One of her secrets may have been her sense of humor. As she said on her 120th birthday, “I see badly, I hear badly, and I feel bad, but everything’s fine.”

The key is to accept that there are certain things over which we have no control, like the passage of time and the ephemeral nature of the world around

According to scientists who have studied the five Blue Zones, the keys to longevity are diet, exercise, finding a purpose in life (an ikigai), and forming strong social ties—that is, having a broad circle of friends and good family relations. Members of these communities manage their time well in order to reduce stress, consume little meat or

Easy Challenging Beyond Our Abilities Boredom Flow Anxiety