Being an Every Day Santa is My Ikigai
"True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals."
"True happiness is not made in getting something. True happiness is becoming something. This can be done by being committed to lofty goals. We cannot become something without commitment." ~ Marvin J. Ashton
This post will include the following:
My Why and My What
Why did I move to Japan?
What did I learn from moving to Japan?
Finding my Ikigai
The Takeaway
My Why and My What
Why did a small-town New Englander end up in Japan, and what is he still doing there?
Why did I move to Japan?
After university, I knew I wanted to teach. However, a B.S. in Business Admin is not very useful if you want to be a teacher. Long story short, I needed to find shortcuts or loopholes to get my certification. During this time, I was living in Boston. I was waiting tables and working as a substitute teacher in the greater Boston and New Hampshire Seacoast areas.
While living in Boston, I studied Karate and jiu-jitsu and dabbled in Kendo, Arnis, and some Tai-chi. As an avid reader, I always had a book in my back pocket, and during this time, they were mostly about martial arts and Eastern Philosophy. My roommate, my best friend from UNH, was also taking jiu-jitsu and Arnis. We often joked that we had graduated from UNH and gone right into an MA in martial arts.
During this time, I found peace. As a middle child, peace was a foreign language to me. I was raised in chaos. Any fight with my older sister became a fight against her and my younger brother. A battle with my brother ended with my sister taking his side. The only peace I found was in hiding and reading. However, in Boston, I was able to find peace of mind in the Tao Te Ching and Buddhist writings.
I resonated with the Buddhist concept of seeking answers internally rather than externally. The idea that we all have a potential Buddha inside us rang true. Also, the concept of balance in the Tao and love for all things, seeing things as they are, reminded me of compassion and acceptance.
And then I saw an advertisement for an English as a Second Language certification program, and I was sold. I would teach English in Japan for a year or two, gain teaching experience, and expand my understanding of Eastern Philosophy.
What did I learn from moving to Japan?
I sat for Zazen at temples; I visited temples everywhere I went. I learned about Shinto, the other religion in Japan, read more about Buddhism as I traveled, and still carried my portable version of the Tao Te Ching in my bag wherever I went. The more I read about them, the more I fell in love with the underlying philosophies. This was a massive shift for me. I was raised in a “casual Christian” household. We were not strict about it. We did not say grace but made the token effort of attending Sunday school and church for essential events.
Moving to Japan allowed me the space to put aside the concept of an external god. I embraced the idea of the Buddha, the inner potential in all of us to reach enlightenment. I fell in love with feeding the fledgling god inside of me and becoming a better version of myself. I let go of the idea of reaching out to an external god for solutions and chose to look inward instead.
However, where I thought I would find the seed of a Buddha within myself, I found Santa. After all, I had been trained by a master. I was raised in the shadow of a man who walked the Path of the Every Day Santa. Suddenly, Buddhism meant less to me. It was only a framework for me to adapt to reach a different goal. I would feed the Santa within me until it outgrew me and pushed out all that was no longer needed.
My joy, my compassion, and my kindness would grow and push out my jealousy, my anger, my anxiety, and hopefully my depression. This is the path I choose. This is the path I am trying to forge. I will follow the example given to me by my grandfather, and I will document it for others. I will write the book The Path of the Every Day Santa. It is my Ikigai.
Finding My Ikigai
What is Ikigai1? I assume that this word has made it into some circles in the English-speaking world; just in case, let’s start from the beginning. Ikigai is a Japanese word meaning “a reason for being.” You may be familiar with the French term “raison d’etre,” which is reasonably similar. However, the Japanese love their details. As such, there is more to it.
Ikigai is the intersection of four concepts: your passion, mission, vocation, and profession. These four concepts are the overlaps of four larger questions:
What do you love?
What are you good at?
What can you be paid for?
What does the world need?
Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It's the reason we get up in the morning.
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
If you want to find your own Ikigai, you only need to ask yourself the four core questions.
What do you love?
What are you good at?
What can you be paid for?
What does the world need?
Your Passion is a subset of what you love and are good at. Your Mission is a subset of what you love and the world needs. Your Profession is a subset of what you are good at and what you can be paid for. Your Vocation is a subset of what you can be paid for and what the world needs.
Here is my Ikigai diagram.
What do you love? I love Santa Claus. Specifically, I love the ideas Santa Claus represents and think he should be revered as a role model for our daily lives.
What are you good at? Teaching and Coaching
What can you be paid for? Teaching English as a foreign language in Japan as a University Professor
What does the world need? The world needs love, kindness, generosity, and joy.
What does this say about me?
My Passion, the intersection of my love and skill, is Santa Evangelism. I want everyone to find their own Santa within and become a more kind, generous, and joyful person.
My Mission is volunteering as Santa, the intersection of my love and the world's needs. I see this as my way to spread kindness, generosity, and joy.
My Ikigai? I define that as walking The Path of The Every Day Santa. That is, being Santa. Every. Day. I touched upon this in an earlier post: An Unexpected Gift
An exciting benefit of understanding one’s Ikigai, according to García and Miralles2, is that “a clearly defined ikigai” is an integral part of the longevity of Okinawans. So, if you want to live longer, embrace your Ikigai.
The Takeaway
If you made it this far, I thank you for the gift of your time. Time is valuable; it may be our greatest asset, so I thank you for sharing yours with me.
My Takeaway questions for you:
What is your Ikigai?
Are you actively working towards your Ikigai?
If not, what is stopping you?
If so, is it a daily practice?
Ikigai 生き甲斐 The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Héctor García and Francesc Miralles
I love this and now I need to feel the need to read more about Buddhism and Ikigai IIm familiar with it but I want to know more).
I think I am moving in the direction of my Ikigai. It must be nice to have yours defined.
Love this window into your journey, Steve. Rooting for you as you follow and share The Path of the Every Day Santa.