Quick Spiritual Makeover for Dreadful Jobs (or Lack Thereof)

Raise your hand if you dislike and/or feel overwhelmed by your job. Also lift your hand if your job now is to find a job while dealing with the hard realities of ever-diminishing (or already diminished) financial resources.

Congratulations! You’ve just taken the first step to a spiritual makeover of any problem. By admitting the problem, your attention, at least for a few seconds, is diverted from any 24-hour stress/worry/whatever negative programming that is polluting your right mind, and you’re open for at least a few nanoseconds to the thought, “maybe things don’t have to be this way. Maybe they can be better.”

Hold that thought. Take a deep breath and inspirit yourself with new energy. As you let go that breath, imagine letting go any tension. Take another breath and consider how the word “spirit” comes from the Latin word for “breath.” Another time, you might want to research the connections between breath and spirit in all the world’s religions, but right now just focus on your breath and spirit. Test the possibility that with guidance from spirit, things really can be better.

Spirit: The Makeover Tool You Can Apply to Any Work or Money Issue, Any Time, Anywhere

Spirit is always with you, even when you ignore it or try to repress it. Spirit is much stronger and way more resourceful than any challenge we ever can face. With spirit we can see more clearly what’s essential and what’s not. We gain courage and allies to help us tackle whatever we can and want to change; we find grace to accept what we can’t change and the wisdom to grow from it.

Sometimes, a simple spiritual insight can lead to huge benefits. Compared to the material world’s beauty makeovers, this is the equivalent of washing and trimming dirty, ragged hair into a flattering cut or trading faded, ill-suited clothing for a fresh outfit in colors and design that enhance the wearer.

The results of a spiritual makeover, however, are deeper, broader, and longer lasting. Example: Sally used to wake up each morning exhausted. Reluctant to start another day at a job whose mission she loved but whose challenges she didn’t, she’d put off getting up. Then she’d grit her teeth and rush off to work. Every evening she’d come home exhausted, and she rarely slept well.

Sally’s dramatic spiritual make-over for her job began with setting her alarm five minutes earlier. That gave her time to re-orient herself from the world of sleep to the world of action. For a moment, she stretched luxuriously. Slowly and consciously, she moved to a sitting position. Then, she meditated just a bit on, “In the morning I set my good purpose.” Next, she took a moment to listen to the birds outside and to enjoy her garden.

Sally soon learned that taking time for herself in the morning made her more efficient. Affirming a purpose that included service to self and others helped her center herself in spirit rather than be fragmented by stress. The more she took time to re-connect to spirit throughout the day, the better she could deal with workplace hassles, including a nitpicking and demanding boss. After work, she had a richer and more relaxed life, including better sleep.

Any Job Can Be More Meaningful and Less Stressful, Even if You Now Dislike the Job

Don’t fall for the common myth that the only satisfying jobs are the ones that pay you well for doing tasks you love, among people who appreciate your skills, etc. How you approach any job (paid or unpaid) profoundly impacts your satisfaction and stress or energy level. With spirit, you always have the power to re-frame how you see the job from your equivalent of “I hate this and I dread doing it,” to your equivalent of “I gratefully accept the wisdom of spirit to help me do the best for myself and others right here, right now.”

The results of prayer can at first seem mystifying. Many years ago, I had to type a labor official’s letters on a typewriter that had no correcting function. Since he didn’t want me to correct what I — an English major graduate from one of the best colleges in the country, thank you! — knew were grammar errors, this required a lot of careful attention on my part.

You can imagine how easy it was to write a mental dissertation on the unfairness of a world where brilliant me had to work for an idiot like him. You may also appreciate how easy it was to heap on other feelings and assumptions, like how doomed and unappreciated I was, and how I couldn’t possibly ever develop the typing skills to do what he demanded, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Then I heard that clear, quiet inner voice that has always told me the truth. “Thy will be done applies here, too, Pat.”

Of course I fought the voice. Big time and in ways that could make a long, amusing story. The sound bite version is that when I finally heeded this voice, I realized that even I didn’t like myself when I focused on thinking how much better I was than my boss. I saw that, even with poor grammar, he was doing a great job of communicating with his union constituency.

Instead of feeling doomed or frustrated, I felt grateful and hopeful. I rediscovered how much I wanted a job that better suited my talents and dreams, and I found a bit more clarity about my calling and more courage to go for it. Instead of turning off potential employers with arrogance or low self esteem, I became more attractive to them.

Even today, that job reminds me about the joy of service. As a writer, I’m still aware that when my typing skills go awry, it’s a good idea to re-pray, “Thy will be done applies here, too, Pat.” Usually, “Thy will” begins with a message to come off whatever high horse or delusion I’m riding at the moment and to meet current reality with humility, hope and the willingness to do the best I can with what I have.

What’s your story?

How can you make more time and receptivity to reconnect with spirit, as Sally did?

What’s your inner truth’s equivalent of “Thy will be done applies here, too?”

What happens when you hear your inner truth and heed its message?

As always, many blessings and please add your comments by clicking on the teeny word “comments” below. And come back real soon!

Pat McHenry Sullivan