We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth Blake-Thomas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Picasso said “The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away”.
Firstly, I worked really had at trying to understand who I am. I recognized that in order to understand what my purpose was, I needed to understand who I am in detail. What are my wants and needs? What makes me smile, feel joy, what don’t I like or enjoy?
I created several mindful exercises that help me understand what makes me tick, which in turn allows me to work out what I’m good at. This in turn made me look at where these elements all cross over which helps find my purpose.
These are some exercises that can be done to help find clarity when looking for your purpose:
pocket of happiness; pockets are so useful for carrying things around, like things that make you happy. Draw a pocket and write or draw inside it what you would carry around that makes you happy. It doesn’t need to fit. It could be sunshine or a specific person.
Creative cocoon; draw or write what your ideal creative space would look and feel like? What do you need around you to be your best creative self?
Pat yourself on the back: trace your hand on the page. Fill in all the things that make you proud of yourself, it could be something from the past, it could be something from right now.
I only have ………left; think of the phrase “live every day as if it were your last” if you only had one summer left, how would you spend it? Luckily you have many more so how are you going to spend them? This is a bit like a bucket list but much more realistic.
I went through all of the above and started to understand who I am. I realized my purpose is to transform one persons’ life a day.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
January 2024 was a time with big revelations for me. I run a mindfulness company and I am a film and TV director. I felt like I couldn’t do both, I was trying to fit myself into one box. This is how I have felt my whole life, that I didn’t fit, this was supposedly a problem growing up, however I’ve since realized that this is my kryptonite. Being different and not fitting in is exactly where I fit. We don’t need to label ourselves to one thing.
Living in the UK before coming here, I felt like I was always looking for answers about who I was and where I should be. The more self work I did the more I learned about myself. People I didn’t even know would comment on my positivity and joy and so I realized that other people were also looking to find this level of peace. I founded a company that helped me share the methods that had helped me find my purpose.
Being able to help others through a process to find their creativity and share this brings me huge joy. Turning this into a podcast and book both entitled Living with Intention shows me that I’ve found my purpose. Encouraging others to be brave enough to question their lives and make changes fills with me such joy.
I run regular workshops and also private one on one sessions. People can purchase my book and listen to my podcast.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Understanding and accepting fear: we are all going to die, it’s how we get there that matters. If we can accept the biggest fearful thing like death then what else have we got to lose? Nothing. We can truly try whatever because it doesn’t matter what the outcome is. Not trying is the only thing to be scared of. Not being a perfectionist: nothing will ever be perfect, so instead of waiting for perfection work at completing things and putting them out into the world.
Being a minimalist: this way of living affords time and energy to be spent on things that matter and things that you want to do. I sold everything so that I could put my time and energy into personal growth and self enrichment.
I chose to go against societal norms with my lifestyle, I recognized this was ok and life is an ever changing journey.
It’s possible to make changes at any stage of life. Try to imagine what life you want, who do you aspire to be like and then begin making those changes.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
I love reading, in fact I read a new non fiction book every week. One of my favorite books was called Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles about Japanese philosophies. Their way of living inspires me. They even have beautiful words to describe things such as Korembi meaning the pattern created by the way the sunlight comes through the leaves on a tree and hits the ground. They believe in a very simple way of living, it’s all about community, simple exercise, an activity such as gardening and recognizing what we eat. It is also aligned with the minimalist concept, which I’m a huge fan of. Understanding what we really need to exist on this planet.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.medicinewithwords.com
- Instagram: @medicinewithwords
- Linkedin: elizabethblakethomas
- Twitter: elizabeth_b_t
Image Credits
Isabella Blake Thomas for all images
