I’m back in the United States after 3 months in Ulverston (England) and Paris.
Oh, and, also that incredible 1-week retreat in Saint-Mars-d’Outillé, as my dear teacher, Kadam Morten, described as a French fairytale pure land. I couldn’t agree with him more.
Take a peek here if you’d love to learn more about this Meditation Center in France.
Kadam Morten is an amazing teacher.
(For those of you in NYC, you’re lucky because he’s teaching right here in Chelsea).
His aim is to help his students turn into joyful meditators. Not to be pushers.
Which inspires me to be joyful in whatever I do.
Especially something I struggled with a lot – being a joyful worker.
In the past, my colleagues would have said I’m positive and engaged, willing and excited to take new things on.
Sounds close to joyful…but actually way off.
The truth is it was straight up attachment to my job. Overexcitement.
All kinds of unbalanced minds going on.
Because the reality is, if you truly enjoy something, you feel happy no matter what comes your way.
You celebrate everything.
A great new project. A missed promotion. A challenging situation with a team member.
If it’s a so-called positive event, you celebrate and let go (you don’t cling).
If it’s a so-called negative event, you celebrate your practice of patience.
Isn’t now a a great time to throw some ordinary ways of thinking out the window. Here are a 5 ways how so you can enjoy your work more.
5 Ways to Enjoy Your Work More
1. Don’t Accept Hurtful Thinking
How often are you in your head?
I use to live there ruminating on all kinds of things. Making up stories. One day it dawned on me that I didn’t have to believe all those stories. They were totally in my imagination.
Next time you feel stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, take a look at what you were thinking before you started feeling that way. Seriously, get clear on what it was you were saying to yourself and put it on paper and investigate it.
Thoughts aren’t innocent and you can check. How do you feel when you believe those thoughts? And, how do you feel if you didn’t have those thoughts.
2. Be a Pro with Uncertainty
Uncertainty is 100% certain. Yet, it’s easy to try and control everything thinking we can (isn’t it).
Rather than be unprepared, make a pact with yourself. Attempt to face everything that comes your way with joy. This means to celebrate and hold whatever happened lightly.
If it’s a perceived good thing, don’t absorb into it. If it’s a perceived bad thing, accept and don’t fight with reality. You can celebrate you’re developing an invaluable skill – patience.
So, you have every opportunity to experience joy. It doesn’t matter what happens.
3. Give, Give, Give (with Wisdom)
There’s an interesting thing that happens with your energy. If things seems to be falling apart, it’s like your energy is being sucked inside. Like you’re literally crawling up inside yourself.
You can simply make a physical adjustment to correct this uncomfortable flow. Concentrate on your energy at your heart. Feel it and comfortably give it out to the close circle around you. Your family, your team, your client. Anyone.
Just imagine you’re in a so-called fire drill situation and you’re there sending positive energy out of your heart to the people involved. How beautiful is that. You’re really feeling what it’s like to be in there shoes. What’s their day been like, what pressure are they under, do they feel like they’re falling behind too?
There’s a lot to enjoy about connecting with people, understanding the tough situations they’re in, and wishing them peace in their day. If done deeply from the heart, it’ll beat meeting any deadline, getting any promotion, receiving that big bonus. And, you can feel this anytime.
4. Stop Pushing
We know where pushing gets us don’t we. Frustrated, disappointed, anxious, and stressed.
Any time you notice pushing, S-T-O-P.
You’re moving in the wrong direction. And, likely, using your logical mind to control everything. It really needs a break.
There’s a joyful flow that comes when you let the pushing go and trust that something positive will happen. This may seem hard to do – just trust – and it works. Do it with little things and see the results. Convince yourself.
This means you’ve got to try or you’ll continue down the same pushing path.
5. Let Go of Your Ordinary Self
Speaking of stories.
We’ve got the biggest stories about ourself. Our limitations. And, how we can’t have this or shouldn’t do that.
It’s incredible isn’t it because we can cling so hard onto these thoughts and limit ourselves big time.
As a dear friend taught me, write down what you wish for. Create a new story of YOU. The beautiful leader that goes about her day calmly and wisely. The one that connects deeply with others and really enjoys her work. The one you’re proud to be.
And, when your ordinary self shows up, call it out. Say hello to your ordinary self. Notice what she’s coming to tell you. Over time, you’ll find she fades away and the new version of YOU will arise. All it takes is familiarity.
Your daily life is meant to be joyful.
How do I know?
Well, when it’s not, you don’t feel very good do you.
So why doesn’t everyone live that way?
It’s simple. Lack of familiarity.
And, you can gain familiarity with enjoying your work with focus and concentration. Experiment with one of these 5 ways. Make a commitment to practice. Review the results.
Inspire yourself.
What way speaks to you the most right now?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments or you can write me back directly.
And, I give a big thanks to Kadam Morten for teaching me to be a joyful meditator because it’s positively affecting every area of my life.
No to pushing!
Peace.
Jennifer
