FEATURE -  May 2016 - Kansas City

Live Your Spirituality by Transcending the Workplace

By Stephanie Forcier, CT/CAP

 

Many of you spend 40+ hours of your week in demanding, fast-pace, and often stressful work environments that take your focus away from what matters most. You may be working the jobs of more than one person and lacking the proper compensation. Some of you are self-employed and face similar demands as you work with a diverse clientele and the additional stress of fluctuating business. Even others of you work more than one job. Whatever your situation, please join me as I share the journey of three individuals, Charisa, Alura, and Richard, as they utilize unique approaches and tools in challenging work situations. Each discovers a way to highlight his/her natural gifts and talents, walk in truth, and honor their spirituality…every day.

 

After much reflection, Charisa made the decision to leave her career in social services and enter the corporate world. She took care to weigh the pluses and minuses to both environments. Her move to the corporate world came with a deep reflection upon personal boundaries. Though suited for management, she knew that it was no longer her path. Charisa has found comfort in this decision as her integrity is never compromised with making leadership decisions for the interest of the company over what’s best for the people. This allows her to conserve her energy for what matters most.

 

From this foundation, Charisa is able to apply her spiritual tools, using them in variation depending upon the situation. She begins each day by taking inventory on how she feels. This requires Charisa to be very honest with herself. She questions her heart by reflecting: am I feeling vulnerable, sad, anxious, rested, joyful, etc.? This is her compass to determine which tool to pull from her toolkit. Charisa lives in deep connection with the Earth and nature, and so a stone, medicine bag, flower essence, or picture may be her companion for the day.

 

Charisa has a sacred medicine hand drum that will often accompany her in the car before and after work. Whether just sitting with the drum, or being gifted a song, she finds this brings her into her heart-soul essence. When the weather is nice, she takes her lunchtime in solitude, sitting on a flat stone nearby a tree, or allowing the presence of birds to draw her to a relaxing outdoor space, blending her energy with that of the Earth. Refreshing!

 

Alura made it her life’s mission to be in awe of life through her unique expression of the Divine. With this as her anchor, she embraces a divine feminine expression in her workplace by being open and receptive, inclusive, creative, and trusting her intuition. Alura knows that her corporate work environment isn’t concerned with her divine expression, so she accepts this responsibility—to “in” corporate her true and sovereign self. Each day, she briefly meditates on being aligned with her Divine, allowing it to flow through her, setting her intention to operate from her place of truth.

 

There are days that Alura maintains this alignment and days that she feels off within an hour of arriving at work. When out of alignment, Alura tends to go internally to a place of self-blame and self-judgment which then results in a “false” effort of trying to please others and gain their approval, circumventing her own self-respect. When she finds herself in this space, she knows it is time to turn to her spiritual toolkit for help. Alura’s first step is to never deny her feelings. She has learned how valuable her emotional feelings are and how they serve as a compass, pointing her back into alignment.

 

For Alura, pulling a card from her Angel or Law of Attraction deck can bring a welcome message to get her back on track. She decorates her work area with uplifting images and pictures, full of color, wonder, and vibrancy. Taking a moment with these pictures takes her out of her head and brings her into her heart where she can navigate her emotions clearly. She leaves her work desk for breaks and lunch, taking her Lavender/Sage smudging spray for a quick dowse. Alura carries her journal along which includes enlightening quotes as well as space she has dedicated to write about why she has gratitude for her job. How divine!

 

Richard is a self-employed artist, specializing in graphic design. He is highly creative, social, well-trained, and very gifted. Richard enjoys his career but faces a competitive environment where many of his peers have gone to work for big companies. This doesn’t work for Richard as he highly values his creative freedom. He enjoys making his own schedule and having control over what he creates and when he creates it. While this approach works well for Richard, he has had to make sacrifices in other areas such as marketing for business, grass roots referrals, and dealing with fluctuating business income. His spiritual toolkit is just as valuable as someone’s in an office environment.

 

Richard will sometimes work seven days a week. Due to this demand, he makes sure to do two things each day: take at least a 30 min lunch away from his computer (preferably outside) and build in 1 hour of workout time. He notices a marked decrease in his energy levels and mood when he doesn’t honor these two commitments. He also makes sure that every other weekend he has at least one full day off–no work, no computer, no calls, etc.  Richard greatly appreciates being able to listen to music as he works. Being home, he can play whatever he wants as loud as he wants and has been known to have power dance breaks. Fun and carefree!

 

Each individual has discovered a way to transcend his/her work environment, be true to himself and live his or her spirituality. I hope that some of these tools will inspire each of you to take inventory on your own toolkits and take the necessary steps to live your spirituality…every day!

Click to Read the Full

Santa Fe Edition!