Finding your personal higher purpose is often a journey of discovery. It takes time and patience and is seldom linear.
Both individuals and businesses can have a higher purpose. For me, my individual higher purpose was discovered when I began living in a vegetarian housing co-op in my early 20s. I became a vegetarian and began to eat healthy, whole plant foods for the first time in my life. My health and vitality were positively transformed, and I became very passionate about healthy eating and lifestyle. That directly resulted in my co-founding Whole Foods Market just a couple of years later. I was able to actualize my own higher purpose during my 44 years of service for Whole Foods, which focused on providing healthy and nutritious food to nourish people and the planet. Higher purpose is dynamic because it can continually evolve and transform as we learn and grow. I’ve learned that this change is not something to fear, as it can lead to new ideas, interests, and motivations, offering the possibility to make a positive difference in the world in new ways!
Since my retirement from Whole Foods Market on September 1st, 2022, I have decided to pursue some of my other life passions. In doing so, my higher purpose has begun to take new forms. It has expanded on Whole Foods’ higher purpose, taking it not one, but two steps further – uniting the power of nourishing food, holistic medical care, and precision wellness therapies to make optimal, lasting health and vitality possible for people willing to evolve their diets and lifestyles in positive directions.
When thinking about the significant gap in the modern healthcare system regarding how we approach chronic lifestyle disease prevention and reversal, I feel a responsibility to do even more. I am passionate about finding better solutions, and my new business venture, Love.Life, will embody my evolved higher purpose – Nourish. Heal. Thrive. I am excited to see how my purpose continues to grow and change!