Life, Work and Spirituality—Changing your Job Situation

The beginning of knowledge is asking why,
The beginning of wisdom in understanding how—Kendall Roninnn Much of our life consists of working. Most of us spend at least forty hours a week working for someone else. Many of us spend more time than that either working for ourselves or perhaps having two jobs. It is very important, because of this, to have job satisfaction. If we don’t like what we are doing for such long periods of time, we are basically throwing away more than one third of our lives, for food, closing and shelter. With that time, the time we sleep, and work related things like commute time and unwinding from the effects of the job, how much time do we really have?

As creative human beings we can’t just let our life shoot by. Who wants to live an unsatisfying life, only to die a couple of years after they retire--after they have only done what they really wanted to do for about five or six years with much less energy and stamina? No one. The good news is that we have the power to enjoy our lives at all times, even while at work, and even if we don’t like what we are doing. We don’t have to just bear our work until we retire.

The first step in this process is to discover what you like and what you don’t like about your job. Make a list, if you need to—maybe you can remember all of the tasks and interactions you have on the job. To consider these things in depth may take some time, but we have lot of that. When you have completed the list, look at it and pick out the things that you don’t like. Pretty simple so far, eh? Now think about them for a few moments.

What kind of skills would you need to do the least enjoyable—the horrible parts of that job (the ones that suck in other words) and maybe even enjoy them? What type of person would like the job that you have or to do the things that you don’t like on the job? How would you feel about that type of person? Are the skills that you need some that you never developed because they were difficult, or because you weren’t interested in them? Maybe you didn’t want to be the type of person who would like that job. The person who would like the job might be part of your shadow. They could be the person that you would have been if you hadn’t pressed down the very attitudes and behaviors that you need to enjoy your job. You can shake off all of the fear and discomfort and reclaim these parts of yourself, by developing the skills that you thought were worthless. When you do, all the energy that you are using to hold down all of these attitudes and behaviors will be released for you to use to enjoy life. You will not disappear as a person, your personhood will simply expand.

At your job, you can learn to reclaim old skills while you’re using your job as a testing ground to master them and any other skills that you feel are necessary. Furthermore, you will be getting paid while you do it. What can be better than that? It’s like being paid to go to school, when you think about it.
Let me say it one more time. You can do your life work at the job you are in now and get paid for it! That is excellent!

Dr. John Gilmore is a writer. Dr. Gilmore has a D. Min. in Integrating Work and Spirituality. Dr. Gilmore is a Martial Arts instructor, a certified Reiki Master Teacher, Reflexologist and Massage therapist. His degrees are in Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality. For more articles like these or information about some of Dr. Gilmore’s books or Cyber Circle visit www.dswellness.com.