How Authenticity Will Allow You to Live A Happier and More Fulfilled Life

All of us desire to have a fulfilled life. I don’t believe any one of us on the planet are secretly wishing for a life unfulfilled. I further believe that each and every one of us desires to be happy.

Those two things can be different for everyone. What I determine to be fulfilling or what I find happiness in is going to be different from you. That is ok, that is what makes the world a beautiful place. We shouldn’t strive to be carbon copies of each other.

But, we need to consider that when we go against who we truly are at our core, we ignore our human nature and then deviate from our authentic selves.

Dokkōdō Principle #1: yo yo no michi o somuku koto nashi (世世の道お背くことなし)

English translation: Do not go against the way of the human world that is perpetuated from generation to generation (aka Accept everything just the way it is)

Musashi is trying to get the point across that we shouldn’t be trying to deny what is happening around us and deny being who we were meant to be. Basically learn the principle of acceptance.

No one else on the planet is going to be able to be you, just like no one else is going to be able to be me. What I have discovered since I have learned more deeply about what ikigai means to me, is that I am finding more and more who I really am at my core.

For sometime in my life, let’s call it the middle part, I was striving to be something and someone that I wasn’t. That left me feeling hollow and not at all my true self. That is until I decided to change that, and start embracing who I was and who I am meant to be.

Rather than trying to go against your human nature recognize that it is likely much easier to embrace your nature. Looking inside oneself to understand your true authentic self is a way for you to be able to truly embrace your nature.

So how do you do that? Well, I can tell you what I do, I have learned to practice self-reflection. To look inside myself to see if I am embracing my surroundings and my true authentic self or if I am turning away.

I have learned to keep this idea of work:life harmony at the forefront of my mind. The kanji character for harmony is wa (和) which can be interpreted as seeking harmony and peace in the world around us.

This is how I am choosing to live. This is how I am reminding myself of who my true authentic self really is. What are you going to do to build more work:life harmony for yourself?

I will leave you with a quote: “Accepting oneself as one is often involves releasing yourself, especially when there is an illusory self, which you hold desirable. You need to let go of the illusory self, in order to accept yourself to be happy.” – Ken Mogi

Just a reminder, I’m looking for 5 Continuous Improvement Professionals who want to be a part of a Case Study where you will learn how to build a personal workflow strategy.

Step by step I’ll show you exactly what to do. It’s simple and it works. This isn’t a DIY self-paced course, this is going to be live 1:1 and group calls.

We start on March 7, 2022.

If you want to learn more send me a PM and I’ll message you more details shortly.

#ikigai #worklifeharmony #flow #selfreflection #naikan #hansei #acceptance #dokkōdō