Ikigai is a way of understanding what makes life feel worthwhile, especially through change and transition.
生き甲斐 - IKIGAI
Ikigai is often translated as “a reason for being,” but its deeper meaning is quieter and more human.
In my work, Ikigai is not about finding one perfect purpose. It’s about listening to what makes life feel worthwhile, especially during times of change, loss, or transition.
Root of IKIGAI
Ikigai is more than a buzzword. It’s a philosophy with roots in lived experience, psychology, and everyday life, especially in times when our roles, energy, or identity are shifting.
Japanese psychiatrist Kamiya Mieko was one of the first to study Ikigai in depth. In her work, she described Ikigai not as constant happiness, but as a sense of life’s worthwhileness, something that can exist even through hardship.
Kamiya observed that periods of suffering, including those experienced during menopause and midlife, were often less about physical symptoms alone and more about shifts in identity, roles, and meaning.
From this perspective, times of difficulty are not failures to be fixed, but invitations to realign with what truly matters.
The Ikigai Inner Renewal Model, showing how meaning evolves through life stages and transitions.
Guiding Dialogue
At the centre of this model is the Core Self, our values and inner compass. This part of us remains, even when everything else feels uncertain.
Surrounding this is Ikigai, meaning shaped through joy, hardship, and connection.
The outer circle represents Inner Renewal, the way meaning is reshaped through life transitions. Perimenopause may bring cracks, menopause may feel disruptive, and postmenopause often opens space for renewal.
This work is not about fixing what is broken, but about listening more closely to what is being asked to change.
• Core Self — What doesn’t change
Explains values and inner identity.
• Ikigai — How meaning is made
Explains joy, hardship, connection.
• Inner Renewal — How life reshapes meaning
Explains perimenopause, menopause, post-menopause.
How Ikigai Informs My Work
In my practice, Ikigai sits alongside naturopathic care, not instead of it.
Hormonal changes, fatigue, and emotional shifts are real and deserve practical support. At the same time, these changes often arrive with deeper questions:
Who am I now?
What no longer fits?
What feels meaningful going forward?
Ikigai offers a compassionate framework to hold both the physical and the personal, especially during midlife and life transitions.
If you’re feeling called to explore how this framework shows up in your life, the Ikigai Realignment Journey offers guided support through reflection, calm clarity, and meaningful transition.
Way to explore IKIGAI…
Some people encounter Ikigai through reflection and reading.
Others are ready for a deeper, guided process.
If you’d like to explore further, you might like:
Ikigai Realignment Journey
A guided, supportive process for times of transition
Free Ikigai Guide
A gentle introduction to the framework
Ikigai Podcast
Conversations on meaning, health, and renewal