Laboring Without Pain...

This is a pencil sketch by Russian Artist Olga Melamory Larionova. 
Look at the picture above. Who could have occupied their days getting this image to perfection but someone who loves her craft?

Those of us without a trust fund to sustain us through life must make a living, and we're trained  to do so from birth. Of the many things we're taught in life, the most critical are those surrounding work and success.

We are told to get good grades in school... to succeed... so we can go out into the world and get the right job to make a life. Throughout this process, we are implicitly being trained about how to transition successfully into retirement with enough money for our Golden Years. (Some GenZers are going to buck the system. Check out this recent Bloomberg Businessweek piece: ("Boy King of The Evil Geniuses" )

Isn't this the crux of what we learn about life and living? But dare I now say that our time on Earth deserves more than a preparation for retirement, and ultimately, our death?

If we are not aware and awake to the purpose of our lives, the societies in which we live would have seduced into believing that life is the process of work: preparing to work, going to work, retiring from work.

Yet, while we're here, we are being offered a chance for so much more!

Each day we awaken to a new opportunity to see life with fresh eyes.

Each day, we're being called to wake up to the truth about life and its promises.Whether we're beginning our career, in mid-career or retired, here are some of the questions we wrestle with daily;

•  Am I saving enough for a good retirement?

• How can I get the next promotion?

• What type of raise am I going to get at my review?

• Did I pick the right career?
• Are others doing better than I in their achievements at work?
• How can I get the next right job?
• Am I Bored?
• Did I retire too early? 

 Few questions focus on what should be fundamental considerations about work:

•  Am I happy with my work?
• Is my work the reason for my happiness or sadness?

Earning a living is at the center of how we live our lives. So, our work is critical to our happiness.

We should begin then to focus on work in the sense of "occupying" our time. 

Each week, a new listing comes out for the Top 10 "best paying jobs," or Top 100 colleges that provide the best paying jobs or best paying college majors. Here are a few samples:
(Highest Paying College Majors),
(America's Top Colleges), (Schools With The Highest Salaries Upon Graduation), and (Top 10 State Universities With Highest Earnings Graduates)


We never will see listed the "Top 10 Most Satisfying College Majors Leading to A Happy Life."

Why?

When we think of a career, we rarely think about whether we will be happy with our occupation for the rest of our lives. The focus is on the money we would earn. For most, this translates into the happiness we can buy with that money: house, clothes, car, life partner, friends, entertainment, travel and other past times.


We assume that happiness will follow where the money goes. But this is not often the case.
There are many, many unhappy people occupying their days in work they try to fit into, though that work is totally wrong for their dispositions and real interests.

"Prosperity is at first a spirit, an attitude of mind, a moral power, a life, which manifests outwardly in the form of plenty, happiness, joy. Just as a man cannot become a genius by writing poems, essays, plays, but must develop and acquire the soul of genius---when the writing will follow as effect to cause---so one cannot become prosperous by hoarding up money, and by gaining property and possessions, but must develop and acquire the soul of virtue---when the material accessories follow as effect to cause--the spirit of virtue is the spirit of joy, and it contains within itself all abundance, all satisfaction, all fullness of life."  - James Allen, "Mind is The Master"

An employer may provide the right types of benefits, give a fair salary, be considerate about the time we need to take off...yet, not all of their employees will be happy. So, they wind up with bad or sloppy performers. This is bad practice for both the companies and the employees.

Employees are a company's greatest assets. Companies should  not suffer because we are doing the wrong type of work. Neither should we.

We may have been conditioned from birth to look for work that pays us the most in terms of salaries and benefits, but we must look within ourselves to know the kind of work that would satisfy our Souls. We must be active participants in our lives to make sure that the work we do leads us to both satisfaction and happiness. (Sometimes, due to economics, we may have to take work that is unsuitable to our desires, talents and skills, but we must make sure that work is only temporary. Do not stay long term in work you have no interest in.)

Even if all our conditioning led us to finding work, we must look for work of the right kind.  We must be active participants in our lives to make sure that what we do to occupy our days leads us to both satisfaction and happiness.

When we think of choosing a career or the work we would like to do, the real question we should be asking is: "How would I like to occupy my days?"


This question speaks to each second, each minute and each hour we spend doing what we do. Then, when we think of our work, we can envision (or not) the seconds, minutes and hours being spent pleasantly, happily and joyously doing what we feel most called to do. Once we can envision our joy in the work, then we can begin to drill down to the company and people with whom we'll be occupying our days: look in terms of the seconds, minutes and hours spent in that "company" in both a figurative and literal sense.

Do the companies practices and policies support our values?
Are the people we'd be working/interacting with on a daily basis pleasant folks?

We don't always get it right the first time. But each time, we get an opportunity to start anew to move unrelentingly towards retirement.

Is that the goal? Should moving unrelenting towards "the safe harbor of retirement" be the goal?
Indeed not.

Again we must get back to the seconds, minutes, hours...then days.

Are we occupying our days in the right way?

The purpose of our life is not to simply get through it.

The purpose of our life is to live through it, making each day one of value...a day that honors our Soul.

When we sell out our Souls, we know that only chaos, unhappiness and a lack of fulfillment can ensue.

This Labor Day weekend, I invite you to begin to focus on how you're occupying your time..
By doing so, excellent work, and all of its concomitant benefits, will follow.

"There is no joy in money, there is no joy in property, there is no joy in material accumulations or in any material thing of itself. These things are dead and lifeless. The spirit of joy must be in the man, or, it is nowhere. "- James Allen

Namaste',
Che'