Finding Your Purpose: Ikigai, Plan de Vida, and Everyday Meaning

What makes you look forward to the day ahead?

Maybe it’s your morning walk, time with your grandchildren, or watching something grow in your garden. Perhaps it’s helping someone understand something new or making space for something you love.

These everyday experiences can offer clues to what gives your life meaning.

In Blue Zones discussions of Okinawa, Japan, ikigai is often described as a reason for being. In Nicoya, Costa Rica, plan de vida—literally a “life plan”—expresses a sense of purpose or reason to live.

These ideas invite us to reflect on a simple question: What gives us a reason to greet each day?

What purpose looks like for me

I love teaching and providing education. I love lifting another’s crown and encouraging growth.

For me, there is fulfillment in helping someone understand something new, recognize a strength, or feel more confident taking their next step. Watching someone begin to see what they’re capable of is one of the things I find most meaningful.

That sense of purpose connects my work in nursing education with my vision for Elaria Sol Wellness Boutique. I want to create opportunities for people to learn, feel encouraged, and explore what caring for themselves can look like in their own lives.

As I reflect on these ideas, I keep coming back to this: to educate, lift others up, and encourage growth.

Your purpose can grow with you

Purpose can sound like something we’re supposed to figure out once and carry forever. Yet meaning can come from many parts of our lives, and those sources can shift as we grow.

Some seasons are filled with raising a family or building a career. Others invite us to explore, create, care for someone, or reconnect with ourselves. Even during uncertain seasons, small moments of connection and contribution can matter.

You may already be expressing your purpose through things you do naturally—the encouragement you offer, the care you give, or the experiences you make time for.

A moment to reflect

Give yourself a quiet moment with these questions:

• When do I feel most like myself?

• What do I look forward to?

• What feels meaningful, even when no one else notices?

• What would I like to make more room for?

Choose one small action this week that connects you with an answer. Call someone you care about. Plant something. Pick up a creative project. Share a skill.

At Elaria Sol, wellness includes making room for the people, experiences, and everyday moments that give life meaning.

What brings meaning to your life in this season?

Grace with every step.

Wellness Is More Than What’s on Your Plate

While attending a recent Health and Wellness coaching conference in San Deigo, one idea stayed with me: wellness is more than what’s on our plate.

When we think about wellness, we often think about eating nutritious foods, exercising, or drinking enough water. Those are meaningful ways to care for ourselves. But wellness can also include the things that bring us a sense of goodness, serenity, or joy.

It can be listening to music that lifts your spirits—or letting a favorite song inspire you to dance in the kitchen. It can be painting, tending a garden, laughing with a friend, or sitting quietly in the sunshine. Sometimes, it is giving yourself a few peaceful minutes with no task to complete.

During my trip, I had planned to visit places I already knew and loved. But I also found new places that brought me peace and joy. I kept it simple, leaving room to explore, pause, and enjoy where I was.

That experience reminded me that caring for ourselves doesn’t always require an elaborate plan. Sometimes, it means noticing what feels good and giving ourselves permission to enjoy it.

Being near the ocean. Listening to music. Spending time with people who understand and encourage me. Having space to reflect and create. These experiences help me feel well, too.

Your list may look different. Perhaps you find serenity while baking, working with your hands, or walking outside. Perhaps joy comes from singing, playing with your grandchildren, or returning to a hobby you once loved.

Part of caring for yourself is noticing what leaves you feeling refreshed, connected, peaceful, or more like yourself—and making a little room for it.

As you consider your own wellness, ask yourself:

What brings me a feeling of serenity or joy, and how could I make space for it moving forward?

You might begin with one song, a few brushstrokes, or ten quiet minutes outdoors. Small moments of care count, too.

Grace with every step.

Karen

And Then There Were Rainbows

Even Hard days hold beauty

Yesterday, I was crabby.

It had already been a long week. I worked early in the morning, and I had a plan for the rest of my day. Nothing exciting—I just wanted to get a few things done, have some time to myself, and decompress.

I was tired, and I needed that time more than I realized.

Then the plan changed.

A family member needed me to pick him up—three hours away.

So, I got in the car.

It was a long drive, and by the time I arrived, I was exhausted. My patience was gone, and unfortunately, it showed. I wasn't the person I wanted to be in that moment.

And yet, somewhere along that long ride, there were rainbows.

Not just one. We saw several.

For a moment, they made me look up and notice something beautiful in the middle of a day that hadn't gone anything like I had planned.

The rainbows didn't make me less tired. They didn't give me back the day I thought I was going to have. And they certainly didn't excuse the way I behaved.

But they were beautiful.

Today looked different.

I got some sleep. I had most of the day to myself. I had time to slow down, decompress, and think about yesterday.

And I apologized.

Sometimes what comes out as irritability has very little to do with the person standing in front of us. Sometimes we've simply reached the end of our reserves. We're tired. Overextended. We've been giving and doing for so long that we don't realize how depleted we are until something else is asked of us.

That doesn't mean we get a free pass when we hurt someone. We still need to recognize it, own it, and make it right.

But I think we can do that while also extending a little compassion toward ourselves.

Yesterday reminded me that rest isn't something we should wait to need desperately. Time to ourselves isn't selfish. Decompressing isn't wasted time. Sometimes those quiet hours are exactly what allow us to show up for the people we love as the people we want to be.

And sometimes, despite our best intentions, we won't get it right.

We may be impatient. We may be crabby. We may wish we could redo a moment.

So we apologize.

We rest.

We learn.

And we try again.

And maybe, somewhere along the way, we remember to look up.

There just might be a rainbow waiting for us.

Grace with Every Step

Why Grace Matters More Than Perfection

One of the reasons I chose the phrase Grace with Every Step is because it reflects something I deeply believe.

We spend so much of our lives wondering if we're doing things the "right" way—whether we're grieving correctly, healing quickly enough, eating perfectly, exercising enough, making the best decisions, or somehow measuring up to expectations that often aren't even our own.

But life doesn't come with a perfect roadmap.

There is no single correct way to navigate change. No universal timeline for healing. No perfect formula for becoming the person you hope to be.

What we can do is offer ourselves grace.

Grace allows us to learn without shame, begin again without guilt, and recognize that growth isn't measured by perfection but by our willingness to keep showing up. Sometimes our steps are confident and steady. Other times they're hesitant, uncertain, or incredibly small. Each one still carries us forward.

To me, Grace with Every Step is an invitation to meet yourself with kindness exactly where you are today. To replace self-criticism with self-compassion. To trust that progress isn't about doing everything perfectly—it's about continuing to move forward in a way that honors your own journey.

Because the goal isn't perfection.

The goal is living well, caring for ourselves with intention, and finding the courage to take the next step, whatever that step may be.

Grace with Every Step

Karen

What We Choose to Save

This past winter, I saved seeds from a spaghetti squash.

I washed them, dried them, and tucked them away. At the time, they were simply seeds. Small, ordinary, and easy to overlook.  But I didn't overlook them, I babied them.

Months later, I planted them in my garden and hoped for the best.

This week, I stood looking at those same seeds, now transformed into thriving plants with broad green leaves stretching toward the summer sun. I couldn't help but smile. What was once something I held in the palm of my hand is now growing before my eyes.

It reminded me how often growth begins long before we can see it.

In our wellness journeys, we plant seeds every day. We choose to take a walk. We prepare a nourishing meal. We reach out to a friend. We spend time in reflection. We make one small choice in support of the life we want to create.

At first, these actions may seem insignificant. Nothing appears to change overnight.

But beneath the surface, something is happening.

Just as a seed develops roots before it sends shoots through the soil, our efforts are often taking hold long before we see the results.

What struck me most about these spaghetti squash plants is that they spent months waiting. They were saved, stored, planted, and nurtured before they ever emerged from the soil. Yet every stage mattered.

Perhaps there is something in your own life that is waiting for its season.

A dream you've carried for years.
A healthier habit you're trying to build.
A relationship you're nurturing.
A vision for what comes next.

Don't underestimate the power of small beginnings.

Today, as I meander through my little but proud garden and admire these plants that started as saved seeds, I'm reminded that growth requires patience, trust, and care.

Sometimes the most beautiful things in our lives begin with something small that we simply chose not to throw away.

What seeds are you nurturing today?

Grace with every step,

Karen