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The Search for Soulful Work

by Robin R. Rathbun

Ever notice how little depth there is to this common ice-breaking question? "I'm an accountant." "I'm a massage therapist." "I'm a software designer." "I'm a student." Is that how you define yourself? Perhaps a better, deeper conversation would revolve around why you do what you do.

When we baby boomers were kids in the 1950s, our fathers went to work, our mothers stayed home. Many of them didn't question what they did or why. Now we're the parents and the breadwinners. Increasingly, we tie our financial well-being to our spiritual and emotional peace. A hospital administrator becomes Hakomi therapist. A highly successful New York publicist moves West to study massage. A corporate engineer give up her computer and slide rule to study painting.

"Authentic occupational success is tied to healthy human development," states author Marsha Sinetar in her latest book, To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love. That development is intricately linked with spiritual growth, which involves using our gifts and talents to give something back to this world. However one defines illusive terms like "right livelihood" and "vocation," more and more of us are finding that following our hearts and aligning it with economic return is undeniably the best "vocation" to pursue.

As Dr. Gay Hendricks writes, "The path to wellbeing and prosperity is a marriage of commerce and soul." Hendricks is founder and director of the Hendricks Institute in Santa Barbara, CA.

Studies concerning "livelihood" at Duke University from 1955 through 1979 showed that out of 788 factors affecting human longevity, the top predictor was work satisfaction. Yet a more recent national survey exploring levels of work satisfaction, by Sinetar, found 95 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with their work.

Ray Wynfield, an area psychotherapist who conducts workshops on meditation and personal growth, says, "People are looking for a career or work that can support them as well as allow them to express themselves. Being unable to put those two things together can create a lot of frustration which affects self-esteem. A person will doubt even who they are." That's undoubtedly one of the reasons people change their careers every 3.6 years, according to author Richard Nelson Bolles, in his famous book, What Color is Your Parachute?

When is it time for a change? Says Katherine Bredemeier, "A feeling that life has become "routine" is the first warning sign that the inherent spark of joy in life is being dangerously threatened." Bredemeier is owner of Career Consultant Services, Inc. in Littleton.

Signs that all is not well with work might also include sleeplessness, irritability at home, feelings of impatience and undefined frustration, body aches, little desire to get up in the mornings or start the day, as well as job angst. As the gap between work fulfillment and personal growth grows into a chasm of unmet spiritual needs, these problems will increase.

"The whole style of work today is killing people unless they can develop a relationship with their own center and connect it to what they are doing on a moment-to-moment basis in the business place," said Hendricks.

"Most crises of meaning and purpose reflect something deeper than just work," said Ron Aarons, a counselor for spiritual and vocational awakening in Boulder. "It comes down to "what am I here for? Who am I?" People are suffering because they're cut-off from their own source, their center. Eventually they will feel empty and as if life isn't satisfying. But crisis is a blessing in disguise. It tells you change is ready to happen but is being resisted. The core of the work crisis is a spiritual crisis."

Because of the pressures in today's workplace, many people have moved into more entrepreneurial businesses and have taken more initiative with their careers, says career counselor Nina Friedman. "People want to have work that will be fulfilling, satisfying and connected to their passion rather than only thinking about the skills they can use. Uncovering that, however, isn't always easy to do."

Wynfield adds, "People are looking for a career or work that can support themselves as well as express themselves. Some may find they are doing what they like but not earning the income they need. Then there's anger at the company or the "systems" because society doesn't give them an opportunity to work at something they like."

With a degree in economics, Wynfield worked within the corporate structure for years. He left his job, though, to create a vocation niche from his interests in meditation, astrology, and psychotherapy. In his psychotherapy practice, Wynfield now helps others with their personal growth and ability to create the right business for themselves. Sometimes the fit is there, but unconscious wounds from the past can sabotage individuals.

The question becomes how to uncover this path. Psychotherapists, life skills coaches, career counselors, outplacement services, and a variety of seminars on the subject may help. Dave Donatiu conducts the Dream Team, a popular three-month seminar developed in Madison, WI, that facilitates uncovering one's purpose in life and then developing the skills to implement that purpose.

"There are lots of hoops people have to jump through to access their potential," Donatiu said. "Usually they simply don't know how to bring their purpose out."

David Chernikoff, a psychotherapist whose current passion is to help other people explore meaningful work options, offers two different short-term seminars: "Work As Meditation In Action," through Lifelong Learning in Boulder, and "Passion, Money, and Meaningful Work," at the Naropa Institute. Both are aimed at inspiring individuals to move their work more closely in line with their true calling.

The Hendricks Institute in California provides three different training programs: training in conscious relationship transformation, training in body-centered transformation, and training in corporate transformation. Each is based upon developing conscious living skills, like drawing on your own wisdom to make choices and visioning to create the life you want.

"If a person only has ten seconds to devote to their well-being, the most simple and effective way to begin uncovering one's purpose is by taking three deep breaths. This is the start of awareness. If a person will spend ten minutes a day, they should sit in a quiet place and center themselves with slow, quiet, deep breathing," says Hendricks.

"And, everyone should start every morning before getting out of bed, getting clear their intentions for the day; not just the to do list, but more what is the purpose of your life and how can that be put into practice today."

He jokingly adds, "And, if you don't know your purpose, then you should stay in bed until you do."

Sam Bull, Director of the Western States Office of the Center for Interim Programs in Ward, says, "Don't worry about the whole path because it can be paralyzing. Take one step and believe that clarity will come to illuminate the next step."

He should know, since he has walked the talk. His father, Cornelius Bull, founded the Center for Interim Programs 16 years ago in Cambridge, Mass., for students who didn't know what to do with their skills learned in traditional academia. The Center connects people "sabaticals" around the world that allow them to try living out their dreams.

These trial life experiences could include working on an organic farm in Ireland, participating in a glacier ecosystem research project, or volunteering at a school on Yap Island in the South Pacific. "People are re-careering many times in their lives," Bull says. "Individuals may be searching for a new occupation, but are unsure of making drastic lifestyle changes. I counsel clients regarding their passion and purpose while presenting an array of over 3,000 experiential life possibilities."

Finding one's mission is "discovering how one is compelled to make their mark on the world," says Friedman. "You will feel enlivened inside as you make things happen that feel near and dear to you."

The goal to remember, Chernikoff says "is to keep a sense of integrity and passion while being realistic about earning the necessary income to maintain a chosen lifestyle." The two really can happen simultaneously.