Dish it Up: Are Your Gifts Aligned with Your Purpose?

By Nathaniel Thomas, founder of Terra Haven 

(6 minute read)

I'm a dreamer, a visionary, a big-picture thinker, a long term planner, an artist, and yes, even a foodie. I thrive on ideas—it’s part of my personality type. The benefit for me is that I’ve spent a LOT of time thinking about & defining what’s important to me and why. I’d Iike to start putting my experience to use by helping others like you. Let’s get in the kitchen for a minute here to make an analogy. 

We start by embracing the process. Uncovering your gifts and your purpose to make something great with them is like cooking without a recipe. You get to make it up as you go, using what you have to create an incredible meal. You start with your tools and ingredients and then take stock of what’s on hand. No need to panic about being short on ingredients. Often you use what you have ready at the moment, and other times you patiently wait for the herbs to sprout or your favorite vegetables to ripen before adding them at the right time. You can highlight your own flavors. And don’t stress about having the meal completed at a certain time, because the proverbial feast won’t be ready until it is ready. 

How is that so? The way I see it, aligning your gifts with your purpose is more about the possibilities than the absolutes. I have my vision set but I like to keep my plan open and flexible, leaving space for new information or even more possibilities. I recognize it’s impossible to know every detail about everything before putting a plan into action. You just start where you are. And as you make new discoveries, you get to adjust the flavor or seasoning of what you’re doing. It’s all a work in progress! 

I believe there’s a few necessary ingredients to make a dish (aka applying your gifts with your purpose) come together. Just about everybody wants to make more money, be happy, healthier, and live their best life, but what are you making? What are you trying to cook up in your life? To stay focused on your vision, you need to know your “Why.” 

Your Why is your purpose. When all is said and done on your life adventure, what story do you want to share? What impact do you want to make on others? It might be hard to measure or quantify, and that’s ideal. You get to dream big and let go of the outcome versus worrying about how it’s going to happen or whether it’s realistic or any other internalized judgments or fears that would stop you from even doing it. 

Remember, the sky's the limit right now. We aren’t designating a specific goal, we are vision planning. Let’s uncover what’s in your heart. How do you want to feel about your life? What feeling do you want to instill in those around you, or in the people you want to impact? 

Ask yourself these questions and spend some time daydreaming. Journal about it, imagine what would feel fulfilling or list out “alternate lives” you wish you could live. Tend the garden of your heart so you have a place to harvest from to make the tastiest meal. 

Now that you have some ideas, before we can start cooking take careful time to reflect on your values and assess your current tools. I like making lists or using a large blank sheet of paper or a whiteboard with different colored markers to brainstorm and write down everything that is most important to me. Look back at the previous reflections. You might start to see different connections or patterns emerge. For me, it seemed to always came back to three things: health, spirituality, and nature. 

Make sure to figure out what you're doing and why, and check all the possibilities before proceeding. In order to start mixing in the right ingredients at the right times, you need to know what you’re able to cook. This is your “What.”

Sometimes our true gifts are the ones we underestimate hiding in plain sight. Or it’s that thing we always dreamed of doing but only if we are talented enough, brave enough, etc. Maybe the dream itself is the mission worth pursuing if it ties into your purpose. Several of these things for me revolved around inspriring others through creative arts, or making an impact through coaching. 

Start by writing down those hobbies and activities that make you feel alive. Or think of things that others compliment you on, but comes naturally to you or almost seems mundane. A friend of mine said all she wants to do is make people feel loved and almost overlooked the power of that sense of purpose. Again, reflect back on the previous exercises and look for patterns or connections. Maybe you’re starting to see a few possibilities. 

Let this ignite a spark inside you. Seek your passion. Pursue one or more of these activities from your brainstorming with a little more intentionality to see if it will get you in touch with your purpose. 

A true purpose involves serving others at the feast you’re preparing. This ties back to how you want to make others feel, or how you want to help people. But for now, just play around with the flavors and ingredients you have at hand. Maybe you don’t know what to do with them yet, and that’s ok. This is the exciting part of cooking without a recipe. You get to learn through experimentation and have fun. 

I’m sure we’ll touch back on all this later. Now that you’re sizzling, I can’t wait to hear about what you’re cooking up!

Be well