Discovering Your Ikigai: Finding Purpose at the Intersection of Passion and Meaning

Have you ever found yourself wondering what your true purpose is?

What gets you out of bed in the morning feeling energized, fulfilled, and aligned?

In Japan, there is a beautiful concept that helps people uncover this sense of meaning. It’s called Ikigai.

Ikigai is more than a trendy self-development tool ... it’s a powerful framework for living with clarity, intention, and purpose.

What Is Ikigai?

Ikigai is a Japanese term that translates loosely to “a reason for being.”
It represents the deep sense of purpose that makes life feel meaningful and worth waking up for.

At its core, Ikigai is the intersection of four essential parts of life:

• What you love

• What you are good at

• What the world needs

• What you can be paid for

When these areas overlap, they reveal the sweet spot where passion, talent, service, and sustainability come together.

Why Ikigai Is So Powerful

Ikigai is powerful because it helps people move beyond simply “getting through life” and toward truly living with intention.

Many people feel stuck because they are disconnected from one or more of these areas:

• They may be successful, but not fulfilled

• They may be passionate, but unsure how to turn it into a career

• They may serve others, but feel burned out

• They may have talent, but no clear direction

Ikigai provides clarity by showing that fulfillment isn’t found in just one thing — it’s found in alignment.

My Ikigai: A Personal Example

One of the most meaningful parts of the Ikigai process is seeing how your own experiences, strengths, and passions come together.

Here is my personal Ikigai:

In my diagram, the themes are clear:

• I love helping people feel grounded, supported, and seen

• I’m good at coaching, listening deeply, and guiding transformation

• The world needs more emotional wellness and compassionate leadership

• I can be paid for coaching, teaching, writing, and consulting

At the center of it all is my purpose:

I help people feel grounded, supported, and empowered to create meaningful lives through compassionate coaching and emotional wellness work.

Ikigai as a Compass for Growth

Ikigai isn’t something you find once and never revisit.

It’s a lifelong practice ... a way of checking in with yourself and asking:

• Am I living in alignment with what matters most?

• Am I using my gifts in service of something meaningful?

• Am I creating a life that feels fulfilling and sustainable?

When you discover your Ikigai, you begin to make decisions with greater confidence, direction, and peace.

Your Turn: What Might Your Ikigai Be?

If you’re feeling called to explore your own Ikigai, start by reflecting on these four questions:

• What do I love?

• What am I good at?

• What does the world need?

• What can I be paid for?

Your answers may hold the key to a life that feels deeply aligned.

Ready to Discover Yours?

If you’d like support uncovering your own Ikigai and building a life around your purpose, I’d love to help.

Coaching is a powerful space for clarity, growth, and transformation.

Happy Thursday all,

-srt

#ReaCoachingandConsulting #Ikigai #Love #worldneedsyou

Start Messy. Start Scared. Start Now.

We spend so much time waiting for the right moment.

When things feel clearer.
When confidence shows up.
When the plan feels airtight.
When fear finally quiets down.

But here is the truth most people do not want to hear.

That moment rarely comes.

Growth does not begin with certainty. It begins with courage.

So many dreams stall out not because they are impossible, but because we believe we need to feel ready before we begin. We tell ourselves we will start when we know all the steps, feel confident instead of nervous, have the perfect tools or timing, or are sure it will work.

But readiness is a moving target. The more you wait for it, the further away it seems.

Clarity does not come before action.
Clarity comes from action.

Starting messy means giving yourself permission to be imperfect. It means accepting that the first draft will be rough, the first attempt may wobble, and the first version will not be your best.

And that is not a flaw.
It is the process.

Messy beginnings teach you faster than overthinking ever will. They build momentum instead of fear and replace self doubt with real experience. Every expert you admire once stood exactly where you are now.

Starting scared does not mean you are doing it wrong.

Fear is not a stop sign. It is a signal. It often shows up when something matters, when you are stretching beyond what is familiar, when growth is actually happening.

Confidence is not the absence of fear.
Confidence is choosing to move forward with fear present.

You do not need to eliminate fear to begin. You only need to stop letting it make the decisions.

Someday feels safe.
Now feels uncomfortable.

But now is where change lives.

Starting now might look like sending the email you keep rewriting, sharing the idea even though it feels unfinished, having the honest conversation you have been avoiding, or taking one small step toward the goal that keeps calling you.

You do not need the whole staircase.
You only need the next step.

So just start.

Not perfectly.
Not confidently.
Not with every answer.

Just start.

Because the version of you who learns along the way is far more powerful than the version who stays stuck waiting.

Start messy.
Start scared.
Start now.

Everything changes when you do.

Happy Monday lovelies,

-srt

#MondayMotivation #GetoutofBed #ReaCoachingandConsulting

DEI Through the Lens of Law and Faith

 …it all started with a comment from a student who had heard that DEI puts unqualified people in jobs while taking jobs away from white people.

I did not hear that comment as anger. I heard it as fear. And confusion. And a question many people are quietly carrying but do not know how to ask out loud.

This is not a rebuttal. It is not a takedown. It is a hug. And an invitation to slow down, breathe, be curious and look at what DEI actually is through the lens of the law and through the lens of faith.

Let us start with the law.

In the United States, it is illegal to hire someone simply because of their race, gender, or identity. That has been true for decades.

To tighten it up further, let me qualify the above as this:

U.S. law has long prohibited hiring someone solely because of race, sex, or identity, with narrow, well-defined exceptions such as bona fide occupational qualifications, religious roles, and limited remedial programs.  Those exceptions are narrow, role-specific, and do not permit blanket or automatic preferences.

Equal Employment Opportunity laws such as the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act do not allow employers to replace job-related qualifications with identity-based preferences. Instead, they require that qualified people are not excluded because of bias.

DEI does not mean hiring unqualified people.
It does not mean lowering standards.
It does not mean taking jobs away from one group to give them to another.

What the law requires is that employment decisions are based on qualifications related to the job and not on stereotypes, assumptions, or past patterns of exclusion.

When DEI is done correctly and legally, it expands access to opportunity. It does not remove protection from anyone. White applicants are still protected by the same laws. Fairness is not something that runs out.

Equity is not favoritism.

One of the biggest misunderstandings centers on the word equity.

Equity does not mean everyone gets the same outcome.
It means everyone gets a fair chance to compete.

If two people are equally qualified, the law does not say one must be chosen because of their background. It says that background cannot be the reason someone is ignored or dismissed.

That is not punishment. That is integrity.

Now let us talk about something deeper.

Because even if the law did not require fairness, faith would still call us to it.

The Bible is clear about how we are meant to treat one another.

“My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?"  James 2:1

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"  Micah 6:8 

Justice. Mercy. Humility.

DEI at its heart is not about politics or labels. It is about asking honest questions. 

• Are we seeing people clearly? 
• Are we judging character and ability instead of assumptions? 
• Are we creating spaces where people can use the gifts God gave them?

Scripture repeatedly reminds us to care for those who have been overlooked or pushed aside. Not because they are better. But because they are human.

“The body does not consist of one member but of many.”  1 Corinthians 12:14

A body works best when every part is valued, respected, and allowed to function fully.

A softer truth we do not say often enough.

When people fear that DEI means they will lose something, that fear deserves compassion. Not dismissal.

Fear often comes from not being seen and that matters.

But fairness for others is not loss for you.

A just system does not remove your seat at the table. It makes sure the table was built to hold everyone.

The heart of it.

DEI is not about replacing merit.
It is about removing barriers that never should have existed.

It is not about guilt.
It is about responsibility.

It is not about division.
It is about dignity.

Whether you approach this conversation through the law or through faith, the message is strikingly similar.

See people clearly.
Judge fairly.
Act with love.

That is not radical.
That is human.
And for many of us, it is deeply biblical.

If we can approach this conversation with curiosity instead of defensiveness, and compassion instead of fear, we may find that DEI is not something to resist. It is something that helps us become who we are called to be.

Thanks for digging in today,

-srt 

P.S. If this raised questions for you or stirred something you are still sorting through, that is okay. These conversations matter, and they are better when we have them together. I welcome your thoughts and your questions.