🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life... from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸
AI is an ikigai risk.
That’s the sentence this Substack has been working on for 132 weeks and counting. I care about the ikigai risk of AI (i-risk), the danger of AI disconnecting us from purpose rather than helping us find it.
I think feeling a sense of purpose is a hugely important factor for your emotional wellbeing, so I also explore ways to get there and what ikigai really means.
I love AI by the way, I use Claude ALL the time… but I want more people to be taught how to use it responsibly.
If you’ve arrived here for the first time, I’ve made you a reader’s guide >
Welcome, Beautiful Soul - Here’s The Map
🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life... from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸
In it I highlight sixteen essays across five tracks, a map through the archive.
Who’s writing this
🌸 I am Sarah Ennett, seeking ikigai (a reason for being) - exploring purposeful living via the intersection of ikigai, AI & bullet journaling, to make work and life more meaningful - a GenX tech optimist from the Isle of Man who believes in magic 🌸
I started writing because pretty Instagram quotes weren’t cutting it, and because I’d grappled with enough aching, oozing emptiness in my own life to know that when you find something that throws you a lifeline, you want to share that with others.
What to expect
Longish essays. Usually with a personal openings, occasionally with Japanese concepts peppered in because sometimes they say what English doesn’t.
A weekly sign-off with three postscripts: a journal prompt or spread idea, an AI prompt to try and a soundtrack to accompany the essay.
No productivity hacks hustle culture, no “5 killer prompts” vibes… ikigai reminds me that purpose has always been about presence.
What I’ve been trying to do, essay by essay, is squeeze actual magic out of ordinary days… and share how, in case it helps.
Before you go
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Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx
