© Pat McHenry Sullivan - SpiritWorkAndMoney.com
Feb
24
I’ve always loved to watch the Olympics, both winter and summer. Being the empathetic type, I feel the excitement, nervousness, and exhilaration they must feel as they perform, as well as the joy or sadness from winning or not winning.
Feb
17
“There are two main ways that people find meaning through work,” Elizabeth Doty told me in about 2001 while I was researching Work with Meaning, Work with Joy: Bringing Your Spirit to Any Job. “One is giving your gifts to the world through work that comes from some source in you, the kind of work that suits your talents and passions. There is also the process of finding meaning in any work by how you go about the practice of working. The latter idea excites me, because imagine how healthy our society would be if people did all work with a sense of meaning. ….[but] when people think they have to leave the corporate world to find meaning, the corporation becomes hollow.”
Since that interview, Elizabeth has written The Compromise Trap: How to Thrive at Work Without Selling Your Soul. The spirituality and work movements have grown along with a movement towards socially responsible business or conscious capitalism. Still, simple, compelling pictures of what it’s like to do ordinary work with meaning and joy are still fairly rare. That’s why I’m excited by the new TV show, “Undercover Boss,: which puts CEO’s into entry level jobs throughout their company, with a fake identity and a real quest to see what’s really happening. Continue reading this post »
Feb
11
Flow is what happens when we are fully involved in what we are doing. We derive energy from this experience. Our creativity heightens, and we feel a sense of fulfillment.
Flow is the opposite of what happens when get stuck in problems that beget more problems. For me, the opposite of flow is like a downward spiral that can worsen when I respond to problems by getting in a bad mood. This irritates my family or colleagues, which makes me feel worse. My tension and irritability inhibits my ability to solve the original problems, because I can’t think clearly and make good decisions. When I relax and get back into the flow, however, I am actually more productive! Continue reading this post »
Feb
1
According to our inner critics, we are not good enough, not smart enough, not accomplished enough, too old, too fat, etc. Sound familiar? I bet we could each add to this list.
How often have we not spoken up at a meeting because we were afraid our idea or suggestion wasn’t worth it? How often have we delayed turning in a report because we were concerned it wasn’t good enough? Or how often have we not applied for a higher position in our organization or company because we didn’t think we were smart enough or experienced enough? Continue reading this post »
Jan
19
How can reading or hearing the news be as much a part of your spiritual practice as studying sacred scriptures or everyday prayer? How can the news help you clarify your particular service work when the needs and opportunities are so great?
“Reality shows” can be watched as entertainment. Genuine news demands that we be fully present to what is and allow it to affect us, even when there’s nothing we can do about it. That means honoring life as a mystery, not as a problem to be solved, but as a paradox where we are called to go deep into the heart of compassion without agenda or attachment to outcome. Continue reading this post »
Jan
13
As we start a new year, I find myself thinking about creativity – often an overused word, yet not well understood. I really believe that everyone can be creative, and feel sad when others tell me they are not creative. “I don’t paint or play music” they say as to why they don’t feel creative.
Let’s be creative with the word creative. Creativity isn’t just in what we do, but in who we are.
Continue reading this post »
Jan
11
It’s amazing how little things can really fester, whether at work or at home. Someone speaks to us in a less than respectful tone and we jump to conclusion that they are a ‘mean’ person, or they interrupt us and we consider them rude, or they come into our office to ask for something and we think they are pushy or intrusive. Sound familiar? Continue reading this post »
Dec
20
If you want to find the heart and soul of a profession, pay attention to the pain as well as the joys in it. That was the method journalist Steven Keeva followed in writing the very best book I’ve seen — out of hundreds — in the field of spirituality and work.
Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life by Steven Keeva is just as powerful a transformative tool for real estate agents, receptionists, doctors or people in any other profession as it is for lawyers, judges and legal staff. That’s because Steve wrote about how ordinary people, without permission from the powers that be, bring transforming practices (such as meditation) into their work and thus transform whatever is their work. Plus, legal work touches all of us, and if lawyers can work more effectively by working more deeply from their souls, then there’s more hope for all of us. Continue reading this post »
Dec
9
Humanity is our business, says the Ghost of Christmas Present in The Christmas Carol. Putting that in the terms of the spirituality and work movement, taking care of the economic and everyday peace of others is an integral part of taking care of our own business. Also, taking care of business in the outer world is best preceded by taking care of business in the inner, spiritual world.
Without spiritual practice, how can we possibly discern how best to spend our time and money on building peace when the needs are so huge and often contradictory? Without spiritual practice, how can we move from overwhelm and exhaustion, into the state of grace, where peaceful abundance can naturally escalate? Continue reading this post »
Dec
2
I used to pride myself on being an efficient multi-tasker. I occasionally bragged to my family that I could cook, speak on the phone, and listen to the radio at one time. At work, I’ve tried to speak on the phone while I straighten my desk.
I used to think I was being clever in getting things done quickly. But at what cost?
One of the most obvious costs of multi-tasking is the toll it takes on relationships. In earlier conversations, people might say after speaking for a while, “What do you think?” Because I couldn’t really pay attention while trying to do something else, I would blush and not know what to say, other than sheepishly ask, “Would you mind repeating it?” Continue reading this post »