When I leave work at night, more often than not now, I feel a million feet tall. I feel, in Sir Isaac Newton’s august words, as if I’ve been “standing on the shoulders of giants”. And this is a first for me, or at least, the first in a long while. I love my job. I love my life. The world is good.

I came across a concept yesterday that demonstrated this feeling for me perfectly. It was a beautifully geometric little diagram of four interlocking circles, representing a Japanese idea known as “ikigai”. This roughly translates as “a reason for living”, or in some parts, a “reason to get up in the morning”, and when examined seems to describe my feelings right now to a T.

The four circles are “That which you love”, “That which you are good at”, “That which the world needs”, and “That which you can be paid for”. You could rejig these as “emotionally fulfilling”, “mentally fulfilling”, “useful”, and “profitable”. Where something is merely emotionally and mentally fulfilling, it refers to a passion. Something that is emotionally fulfilling and useful refers to a mission. Profession falls at the crux between mentally fulfilling and profitable, and between useful and profitable, we find a vocation.

That simplifies the ideas sown a great deal. There are also points where the diagram represents crossovers of three points. But in the centre, there is a point where all four circles overlap. this is the point of “ikigai”, where mission, passion, profession and vocation meet and cross, and blend into something better than the sum of its parts – a reason for living.

At the minute, I am in this zone. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m doing something valuable, something useful. I’m doing something I am good at, which I also happen to enjoy. And lastly there, I am getting paid for the pleasure. I am at the point right now, where the lines cross, where X marks the spot.

So, when I walk home, there is a spring in my step. I feel alive, like nothing could go wrong. I walk with music playing in my head, striding forward with my coat billowing out around me. There are moments where I have to stop and give myself a mental thrashing because of a mistake I’ve made. There are moments I feel like I’m just a little bit like a chocolate fireguard, but once I push through it, I am still in the finest place I have ever been.

It may be that somewhere ahead there is an even better place, an even brighter and more impressive “reason to live”. But for now, this is it; this is my reason to get up in the morning. And even when crawling out of bed at half four for an early shift, cursing the morning, snarling at the cold; at the back of my mind, I am alive. I have a truly great reason for living.