The aim of life is to live, and live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
~Henry Miller

Cooking is a spiritual process. In fact, the traditional method of food preparation involved only intuition, not written instruction. Those who derive true delight and fulfillment from the act of cooking have made a conscious and passionate commitment to exploring their creativity – to embracing their uniquely brilliant ideas instead of blindly following the advice of authority figures. By entering into this process of self-discovery, you’ll connect with your creativity not only in the kitchen, but in all realms of day-to-day life.

Today, we’ll explore how to transcend the expectations of society, and to turn obstacles into opportunities so you can tap into unlimited creativity.

Preparing food with a deep connection to the Earth helps to open the body and soul to a higher level of happiness and awareness. When you bring this truth and balance into the kitchen, which is the heart of the home, it ripples throughout all you do, feel, and think. You learn to free yourself from the inside out by fueling your body, mind, and soul with the love you infuse into every dish.

Here are 3 amazing secrets to accessing your creative side in the kitchen. Once you learn and implement them, you’ll embrace a simpler, less-stress life.

1. Treat the kitchen as a sacred space.

The kitchen is a sacred place to tap into your intuition through the process of “allowing.” You were born with an inner guidance system for preparing life-enriching foods. The world’s best chefs already know this. Instead of poring over lists of ingredients and instructions, just go with the flow and allow the process to unfold naturally. At first, it can be rather scary, but eventually, you’ll find that your timing and intuition get better with every dish. Instead of using measurements, your inner guidance system will tell you the right amount of spices and herbs and seasonings to add. Soon, everything will fall into place.

2. Expand beyond recipes.

Relying solely on recipes can eventualy become sort of a crutch, keeping you from trusting your intuition. When you use recipes, you’re not using all of your assets. As you become more comfortable in the kitchen and trust that everything will turn out okay, you will develop an all-encompassing confidence that you can take with you out into the real world—your job, your relationships, and anything else that requires truth and intuition.

3. Create your masterpiece.

As you make mistakes along the way, you learn to balance ingredients in a meal and how to make substitutions. This is an empowering process, and it allows you to make more informed decisions instead of following someone else’s advice or instructions. You might prefer the dish to be more spicy, less spicy, or seasoned differently. When you cook without a recipe, you can adjust the seasonings and ingredients to make it your own. You can infuse a meal with your unique flair by trusting your energy and intuition and create a masterpiece.

Cooking is about so much more than just following recipes. It’s a process of growth that takes practice. The more you do it, the better you’ll get, and eventually it will become second nature. By not limiting yourself, you’re taking an opportunity to grow, to expand your potential, and to live life to the fullest.