That Sneaky Ikigai: Modern Research Uncovers Ancient Secrets to Longevity, Fulfillment and Happiness

Let me tell you a story...I have already shared on this podcast, how I got back into this show. I was in the car with my wife Sana. I was literally ready to retire from trumpet playing, really having anything to do with the trumpet. In my mind, it was something that I had done and I had done it well, and I'd done some cool things. But it appeared to me that my life was going on a different trajectory, and it appeared trumpet was not a part of it. That's what I was thinking while my wife and I were traveling to the mall here in Hanoi, Vietnam in a cab, just kind of talking with each other. And I had told her that I was going to quit and I was done. And she said, "Well, James, I think that you should continue with it. I think you should stick with it." And I said, "I would have to have a really good reason to do that." And she said, "I'm your wife. Isn't that reason enough?" Well, that's a good point. If your wife says that you should do something, you do it for her. So I decided that I'm going to continue to play it. And if I'm going to do it, then I'm going to do it the very best that I can with the time and resources that I have at my disposal. And I'm just going to make the absolute best of it because that's really the way that you should approach anything. So that was, I think, in May of 2021, and I believe it was just a couple of weeks later, I had been sleeping and woke up in the morning and just this word was in my mind that it was this word that was in my mind when I woke up, it was Ikigai. Now I am not an expert on Ikigai. In fact, I had heard the word just once or twice listening to one of my podcast production clients, Ben Greenfield, who has mentioned that word a couple of times. But that was really my exposure to the word. But there I was, I woke up and there was this word on my mind. And it wasn't just a passing thought. It was really pressing on me. And so I went onto my smartphone and I opened up Amazon and just typed in Ikigai. I want to know more about that. One of the fir