Do you suffer from any of these symptoms:
- your experience of work is being leeched of its meaning;
- your personal authenticity is cloaked;
- you are pained by integrity challenges; loss of caring and connection;
- you feel purposelessness and adrift.
- you experience a deadening malaise?
- and, are you aware that this malady is infectiousness and that we can easily spread it to others both inside and outside of work?
Let me be straight forward. If you are expecting your organization, a new job, a new client, or a challenging project to be the source of a lasting antidote to workplace influenza, I think you will be waiting for a long time, if ever, for a cure.
YOU ARE THE CURE
You already possess the cure. Inside you resides the antidote to lifeless work. But you must be willing to take the journey to re-claim your life. Are you ready for the journey to meaning?
Consider what it takes to be ready:
· It usually starts when your heart is telling you that it is hurting, or closed, or frightened and even so, finding the courage to ready yourself to face the unknown and keep on moving.
· A willingness to consider new thoughts, new ways of being, the options of others.
· Trying on new behaviors, fighting old beliefs, doing your homework, being uncomfortable and feeling "stupid" or awkward.
· Failing, coming up short, frustration and anger, yet coming back for more.
· Keeping your eyes firmly fixed on your vision of what you want in your life at work like a north star to guide you home.
This is not a journey of self-recrimination or self-flagellation. Those thoughts are self defeating and actually serve as defenses against taking meaningful action and claiming responsibility. In other words, wearing the hair-shirt and uttering mea culpa or embracing victim hood is a substitute for change, rather than a catalyst of change.
This is a journey to changing life for the better from within. As you become more of the person you wish to be you will discover the success and happiness you seek. And, you will contribute to the good of "all" at the very same time.
When we think about creating what our heart yearns for, we often say to ourselves and others, "That will never happen. I am dreaming. Stop making yourself more miserable,. Get back to reality".
In some ways, changing our experience of "reality" is a dream and it's also a miracle.
We have forgotten that human beings can have transcendent experiences. That our brains can create our realities and that our attitudes, beliefs and habits all impose a filter on what we call reality. Change your way of approaching life and the way you habitually think about things and, presto, your reality changes!
It has been scientifically confirmed that what we think about expands. And, in the world of quantum physics the mere act of observing changes that which is observed! In other words, everything is connected to everything and we have the power to create the equivalent of miracles in our lives – every day.
I recently read a fascinating interview posted on the web by Celeste Adams, Spirit of Ma'at, with Dr. Michael Abrams called, The Twelve Conditions of a Miracle. It is founded on an analysis of religious text found in the Gospel according to St. Matthew about the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes. Yet, it is truly a treasure map which can lead to miraculous things in your life, and as Dr. Abrams says, "…beyond your wildest dreams."
He studied the original Greek text of the Gospel and he discovered that the word "logos" that was translated in the New Testament as simply "the word", actually had much more in depth translations and meanings in the original text. In the Greek account, according to Abrams, Jesus was teaching mankind that we each have the ability to create miracles in our lives. Abrams postulates twelve conditions and without knowing it, I have taught and worked with others about these conditions, in different ways, for a very long time.
I believe that they are the foundation for creating More to Life in relationship to anything we wish to transform in our lives. Here they are, within my context, see what you think.
The Twelve Conditions
1. Emptiness. Working to establishing stillness; to quiet the mind and work towards being open. That's what practices such as meditation, yoga, mantras, even music and art create within us. To create emptiness is to create an opening, a void and into that new space creativity, aliveness, and new realizations rush in. As Abrams notes, vacuums are like magnets, they create a force that attracts. The emptier the vacuum the greater power of a force it exerts "on the surrounding work".
2. Alignment. This means assessing your values, essence, and desires with the intent of being "in flow", moving with and not against the current of the universe. Let's say you are craving work that is meaningful and authentic. Evaluate what you are doing now and honestly assess whether your actions or thoughts are moving towards or away from what you say you desire. Adjust your actions, work on changing your thoughts, set new goals that will move you towards the fulfillment of your desired outcomes.
3. Asking. When we hide what we really dream of or desire, when we don't ask, out loud in word and deed for what we really want, the universe will keep giving us what we have already. This isn't any weird new age babble, this is the truth. By asking, imagining, visualizing, sharing our dreams we put ourselves in the flow towards their accomplishment. State what you desire, be as specific as possible, imagine it in every fiber of your being and you will begin to attract the conditions, people, and opportunities to turn dreams into reality. Now, that is miraculous.
4. Maximizing. As Deepak Chopra has said, "The universe has no spare parts". Everything we need is here already. When we learn to use the energy of the universe with gratitude and care, we reap the rewards. And, as Abrams so rightly states, "…if you don't use your gifts, you can expect to lose them."
5. Giving. Giving creates more for everyone and upholds abundance and love. Hording and greed create fear, scarcity, and the conditions where only some "win" and all the others "lose". Your gifts are meant to be shared.
6. Grounding. We need to find ways of being both firmly planted in the world and in the universe. Haven't you met people and thought or even told them, "You are so grounded". We can feel it, we know that it has power, and it roots us deeply so that we can flourish magnificently. The more you build your belief that you can become the change you want, the more power will flow towards you.
7. Seeing. This directly involves visualizing – seeing with great clarity and detail what you want in your life, world, relationships. Our culture, media, politicians and other forces in contemporary life flood us and try to magnetize us towards the negative and towards fear. People in fear are much easier to control than people who learn how to see what is in their highest interest and the highest good of all concerned. When we "see" what we hate, fear, and don't understand we shrink and become less. Those who "see" as did Martin Luther King – become transcendent, inspirational, and empower others to great heights. Which would you prefer?
8. Gratitude. Meister Echardt said, "If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that will suffice." Jack Canfield, the co-author of The Chicken Soup series says in the movie, The Secret that he begins each morning with gratitude. The universe responds to true appreciation and gratitude for what we have. Even in the worst of situations there is always something to be grateful for – a smile from a stranger, the laughter of children, a flower pushing itself through a crack in the pavement. When we are negative or take things for granted, we often don't receive what we dream about.
9. Acting As If. Here's something that is very difficult for most of us. To act, think and feel as if that which we desire has already arrived. As Jesus did. "He didn't wait for the bread and fish to multiply – he began to feed people with what he had." When we help ourselves we receive unimagined support. When we think about famous people from history to the current times - Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, Henry Ford, Maya Angelou, and Oprah. They act(ed) from a place of "acting as if". They began their journey – even accompanied by their doubts and fears – as if the end that they envisioned was already present.
10. Engaging the Cycle. Native American wisemen knew that everything in life is in a circle. Everything we give, how we act towards others, and our belief in our destiny works in cycles like the seasons. Whatever goes around comes around – sometimes in highly unexpected ways. Life and energy are not linear – rather they flow in circularity and in cycles. Once we embrace that truth, we can create great things. As we sow, so we shall reap. And loss and death are part of that cycle as well. Lose a job, lose status, a business, a marriage, each is a "little death". But from death, as from winter, arises new growth and the cycle continues.
11. Receiving. Being in a place of receiving is actually an act of great faith. We get what we expect. If we develop our ability to be open, ready and willing to accept the flow of what comes towards us, to learn its lessons and to remain engaged we can experience significant and positive changes, when before we only expected more of the same – the same dissatisfaction, the same anxiety, the same stress. And here we return again to emptiness. Find ways to still your mind – through exercise, meditation, art or looking at nature and that's when the best ideas arise, the clearest awareness, and often the plan of where to go next.
12. Recycling. We tend to be a throw-away society. We crave an iPod and quickly dispose of it when the next new thing emerges. We magically believe that what we consume be it food, things and even people's spirits, that it is inexhaustible. It's not. Everything needs to be gathered and recycled. Nothing should be wasted or discarded – particularly your life. Once you have achieved one thing – don't freeze and stop, keep the flow ongoing.
Are you going to create a miracle today?
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