Are you not satisfied with your job? Ever fantasize about chucking it all for a spiritual life? Not so fast. Many gurus and sages say we have to learn to find the spiritual in our lives exactly as they are--not just in a serene retreat center in a remote locale. Even Gandhi said finding satisfaction in work is our best hope for happiness in life. Tevis Gale, a leading work/life satisfaction advocate and founder of Balance Integration Corporation, gives her thoughts on how to bridge the gap between work and life.1. Work for Something Meaningful
To make work more fulfilling, begin by asking yourself what you'd like to work for. Do you want to work for an idea? Do you want to work for money? Do you want to work for power? Name and claim whatever feels intrinsically meaningful to you. Know that unless you recognize in your work something that holds power, passion, and intrigue for you, you won't be able to perform well over time. Meaning is the necessary transformative ingredient.2. Find Your Passion
What keeps you up at night? What recurring questions do you ask about yourself, life, and the world? It's that burning curiosity that you always end up asking yourself about that's the key to finding your passion.3. Express Yourself
Mystics in any culture say work is a form of self-expression. Work is part of who you are; so why is it that human beings feel such antagonism toward getting up every day and performing a function? Bring your full self to work today and every day. Add elements of self-expression by practicing voicing your ideas, asking questions, suggesting possibilities, and being present to the events every moment. This is how you begin to live while you work.4. Don't Judge Yourself
Be mindful that office environments are loaded with triggers for competitive and self-critical thinking. Negativity is a downward spiral laying to waste any possibility of productivity, contribution, or collaboration. Catch yourself harboring negative thoughts about yourself or others and replace those negatives by repeating the word "acceptance." That's right--repeat it purposefully about yourself, others, and any situation.5. Say 'No' to Victim Thinking
Do you think like a master or a powerless victim? Do you look at the events of your day and think all is lousy in the world or do you view them as a call to evolve and cultivate skillful responses? If you foster a sense of self-mastery at work, everyone wins. The employee wins because she no longer carries around a false assumption of being a victim by going to work every day. She gets a greater sense of engagement, a greater sense of confidence and contribution. The employer wins because she no longer has to contend with many of the ramifications of "victim thinking" and entitlement mentality.6. Recognize Your Human Need to Work
I like pointing to this adage: "Europeans work to live and Americans live to work." Well, in both of those suppositions, work is oppositional to life. Just like a lion has to be a lion to be a lion, and just like a tree has to be a tree to be a tree, we, as human beings, have to work to function. Look at someone who gets fired, what happens to them? They begin to ask themselves, "Why do I exist? Why am I here? What does this mean? What should I do?" Work provides a sense of order and allows us to relate to others and ourselves in ways that simply cannot happen otherwise. Let yourself see work as part of life.7. Inject Mindfulness into Every Day
Sure, you can go to a silent retreat for eight days and meditate with the best guru on the planet and experience great peace and self-awareness. And why not? We all need the rejuvenating power of a nice break. But this is not our everyday reality. Ever leave church or yoga class only to feel angry about traffic, poor service, or cross words with another? The true teachers in our lives are not the gurus--our teachers are the events that throw us off center and circumvent our mindful journey. The next time you find yourself thrown by an event at work, ask yourself, "How is this my teacher? What would be the enlightened or transformative way of viewing this?"8. Take Teeny-Tiny Steps Toward Your Big Goal
Decide what you'd like in your life and how you can break those goals into little, teeny-tiny steps that you can move forward with every single day. Maybe you haven't run a marathon, but you're moving forward with your goal to be more fit by getting off the bus two stops early and walking the rest of the way to work. You must express some mastery of your choices every single day. Think through your top goals in every area of your life and put action behind what you most want for yourself. In doing so you are practicing mastery of your life, moving in the direction you want AND getting the added confidence boost of feeling your power to do both!9. Do Your Inner Work
You can build a great résumé, study at the best university, have references to die for, but until you foster the inner skills of self-mastery in the midst of everyday chaos, you will not be right for any job. Cultivate enjoyment and greatness at work by remembering your true work is the evolution of yourself. Your state of peace, wisdom, and navigation of uncertainty are your true work, no matter the task at hand or title on your business card.10. Adopt a New Attitude
Work is spiritual. What isn't spiritual, really? But we're looking at business, which is normally looked at as a stripped down version of life, and unfortunately it's like, "One! Two! Three! Get it all done! Rush! Stress! Grab coffee on your way to work!" These robotic patterns can be mind-numbing. But if work is spiritual, these moments are the ritual to the practice. Try viewing the moments of your day with ritual awareness, reminding yourself even in Starbucks or the conference room: "Wow, this is another moment in my life that gets to be an expression of who I am." Since we work an average of 9.1 hours per day, you will reclaim half of your life when you see these moments as part of you.11. Bonus: Practice a Pre-Board Room Meditation
It's easy to leave your spiritual practice at home and slog through the days at your job. But I believe work is spiritual. So whether you're about to make a presentation or you're running late for a meeting--use this meditation to restore balance when those inevitable stressors arise at work.
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