On Layton: The View from My Front Porch

In a Worldwide Pandemic,
We Need to Know Our Ikigai.

Our health care professionals are living grueling, dangerous days,
battling COVID19 and saving lives.
No question about it: they have purpose, motivation, goals, ikigai.

But some of us have been retired or furloughed from jobs.
Home isolation has been our venue ... for weeks.

So what's your purpose every day?

Are all of the long-untouched boxes in your closets and attics sorted or trashed?
Has every last one of the board games been played and your second 1,000 piece puzzle is now on the table?
Have you read all the books stacked on your night stand?
Is laundry at a minimum as no one is changing clothes regularly?
Has the dog been walked ... and walked again to the point of exhaustion?

These are times that try the spirits of the hardiest among us.

Without an ikigai, our days can be empty and meaningless.

"A reason to get out of bed in the morning ... something that makes life worth living" is a rough translation of the Japanese word "ikigai." The French call it "raison d'etre." In America, thanks to Rick Warren's book, we call it The Purpose-Driven Life.

The extra time and the isolation may have you wondering, "What on earth am I here for?" Days are passing without marker events to delineate them and often without any motivation. A life without purpose is an empty life. "It's motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason" (Warren).

National Geographic ran a story in 2005 on areas of the world with the greatest longevity. Okinawa, Japan, had one of the highest concentrations of people over 100-years-old. The demographic study revealed that one of the top life style reasons for their longevity was the individual's sense of life purpose, their ikigai.

So what's your ikigai?

What's your reason for getting out of bed during these days of isolation? To enrich the lives of your children? To improve some else's life? To foster closer family relationships? To serve a neighbor? Purposes that look beyond ourselves to those around us may not increase our bank accounts or even our own pleasure, but they are life's most rewarding goals ... fulfilling reasons for living.

When we reach the end of our days and people look back on our lives, will we be remembered because we did everything we could to make ourselves happy or because the primary goal of our lives was to bring help and joy into the lives of others and, in so doing, to serve God?

God often works in paradigms. When we set serving others as our ikigai, the joy of giving comes right back on us.

"For such a time as this" was the reason given for Queen Esther's appearance before the king in order to save her people. Even though precedent and history assured her she would probably be killed, Esther chose to sacrifice herself, if necessary, for the good of her people.

Perhaps it is "for such a time as this" that we are living COVID19. Our lives are not demanded of us, as they may be for some health care workers, but "purpose" certainly is. When we get out of bed each day, let's creatively imagine what we can do from our isolation to make life a bit better for someone else.

HERE ARE A FEW IDEAS THAT CAN CHANGE SOMEONE'S DAY DURING THIS ISOLATION:

Offer to make a prescription or grocery run for the elderly or handicapped in your neighborhood or social circle. Do they have any spring yard chores you could do to help?

Cards or notes are a welcome sight when we open the mailbox. Even with texting and emailing, a card can go a long way to brighten someone's day. Send lots. You have time, and you can usually order stamps directly with your postal carrier. There's something delightful about a card in the mailbox that lightens spirits.

Let your kitchen be a boon to someone: bake cookies, make soup, or a casserole. How fun leaving a treat on someone's porch or in some safe place. No need to even go to the door ... just text them, "Check your porch."

The local hardware and garden stores have drive- through service. Pick up a few spring plants and leave them at the doors of a few people you want to encourage.