Work from the Inside Out: Seven Steps to Loving What You Do - Softcover

O'Hara, Nancy

 
9780609805923: Work from the Inside Out: Seven Steps to Loving What You Do
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0609805924 ISBN 13: 9780609805923
Verlag: Three Rivers Pr, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

Integrating spirituality with business, the author of Find a Quiet Corner explains how to apply Zen Buddhist principles to the daily challenges, problems, and decisions of one's professional life, offering seven simple steps--from Understanding and Accepting to As Things Are--that can make work more meaningful. Original. 15,000 first printing.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

NANCY O’HARA is the author of Find a Quiet Corner and Just Listen. A former executive in the publishing industry, she has been a student of Zen Buddhism for thirteen years and conducts corporate seminars and retreats on mindfulness at work. She lives in New York City.

Aus dem Klappentext

es for a rewarding and fulfilling career, but the day-to-day reality can be just the opposite. The routine of our jobs, office politics, and problematic projects can often be the cause of frustration, worry, and disappointment. The quest to find personal satisfaction, much less pride in our work, can be daunting.

It doesn t have to be that way. According to Nancy O Hara, we can find meaning in our jobs but the first thing we have to do is look within ourselves. Grounded in principles of Zen Buddhism and full of real-life stories, Work from the Inside Out presents a simple plan to reclaim your job and your life and ultimately find the ability to truly love what you do.

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Discovery

What do most of us long for? A happy, healthy life? Certainly. And if you feel that you're not yet living that, then it must follow that you are unhappy in some way. Once you acknowledge this, you usually make the connection that liberation from your suffering will bring the desired contentment, and so you long for that. It can become a vicious cycle: dissatisfaction Æ desire Æ happiness Æ longing Æ dissatisfaction. But liberation is possible, and here in the first three steps of this process you will learn about your cycle of frustration and what has prevented you from living happily, especially with the work you do.

Although it may be hard to look at the how and why, you cannot extract yourself from the pervasive dissatisfaction of your life until you do. Here in "Discovery" you will come to understand how you have been looking all your life for something that doesn't exist. What you thought was solid is constantly changing and moving--you along with it. But rather than being frightening, this truth can be reassuring. As you continue to make your way through these first three steps, as you confront the truth, you will slowly (or in some instances very quickly) realize that this truth will set you free. You are not a cliché, but sometimes your life is. This is neither bad nor good--it simply is.

Approach the work suggested here as you would a job that you love to do. Put everything you have into this work. Practice and see it as an opportunity to express your beliefs, your ideals, your inner truth. And then take this same approach to your life's work. What you learn here can be immediately transferred to your everyday work life. This is a practical, usable process, not a theoretical one.

Some of what you uncover may be difficult for your ego to accept. Do not judge or criticize what you discover. Instead, use it for your own benefit. Don't let it rule you. Know that you are in charge here and that it is for you (and not your ego) that you do this work.

By the time you get to "The Path" you will have a clearer picture of who you are, where you've come from and where you want to go. You will be ready to accept the challenges of this process, and your day-to-day work experience will begin to improve. You will spend more time in the events of the day rather than in yesterday or tomorrow. This alone, in a very concrete, experiential way, will usher in a new sense of peace and contentment. In "Discovery" you will learn how to be in harmony with the changing circumstances of your life and be comfortable with nothing permanent to hold on to. Your spirit will then be able to soar, and your work life will mirror this newfound strength and happiness.

But don't take my word for it. Discover this for yourself. Do these first three steps with thoroughness and see for yourself. What can be better than that?

The First Step

Understanding and Acceptance

Have you ever noticed how people (perhaps even you) seem to hate change and yet always wish for it? This mood of dissatisfaction expresses itself in our lives and most especially in our work. How many people do you know who are satisfied with their work? How many people do you know who like what they do but hate their boss? Or vice versa? How about those who complain no matter what they're doing? We seem to always want things to change, yet when they do we don't handle it very well. Perhaps we direct our dissatisfaction toward our work because for us work doesn't have a human face; it is impersonal. There is no one person responsible. There is no one person capable of making the changes we want. There is no one person who can assure us that nothing will ever change. Perhaps we complain about our work because others do or because we always have or because it's safer to attack work than it is to look at the issues that really upset us.

And why do company mergers create such tremendous anxiety among all levels of employees? Because such an event is a loud, roaring signal that things are about to change. It brings us face-to-face with the fundamental reality that was simply dwelling beneath the surface prior to the announced merger: change happens. And when we dwell in the unknown--what will happen to us? will we lose our job? will our benefits be reduced? will we be asked to move?--we let our fears take control. We indulge our runaway anxiety. After all, we are merely pawns in the company's hands. But what we don't realize is that nothing has really changed except our awareness. Even prior to the merger announcement our work situation was precarious--there were no guarantees, no stability, no security in any position. Whatever the situation, we need to find stability within ourselves and go there each time the fear of losing something we have, or not getting something we want, arises. We must find our inner strength and know that whatever happens, we will remain intact--able to support our families and ourselves. The whims of our bosses, the fluctuations in the economy and the shifts in the demand for the product or service we offer are all out of our control. So we must firmly plant ourselves in the soil of spiritual groundedness and sway gently with the changing winds of time, knowing that none is strong enough to uproot us. We will survive, we will prosper, we will be happy so long as our roots are firmly imbedded in the solid rock of acceptance and understanding.

On a hot day many people walk around complaining about the heat, miserable and cranky because the weather doesn't suit them. These same people also complain when it's rainy and cold or simply not a picture-perfect day. What these people lack is an acceptance of what is and an understanding that they are not in control. There's an old Zen saying that you might want to write on a piece of paper and tack up over your desk or work station, or carry around with you, to remind you that you are not in charge:

When it's cold, shiver. When it's hot, sweat.

And not only are you not in charge of the weather, but you are also not in charge of company policy or how it gets executed or who your coworkers are. (Even if you are the boss who sets the company policy, you cannot control every little aspect of a dynamic organization.) So . . .

When it's cold, shiver. When it's hot, sweat.

Each time you look at it, and each time you hear yourself complaining about the weather or your job or your boss, let this saying remind you that the only way the weather, or anything else, will change is if you move to a different climate or when time takes its course. But before you make any drastic changes, consider that staying put and sweating or shivering might be the best answer. Moving away will not guarantee that the new situation will be more to your liking. Let this saying also remind you that while you may not be in charge of the weather, you are in charge of your reaction to it. And this is where you must look to understand why you are dissatisfied and what you can do about it. You must look to yourself.

You must first pay closer attention to the actual circumstances and come to an understanding of how and why things are the way they are. And sometimes you must learn to accept what is, without expecting any deeper understanding. This may sound obvious and simplistic, but the truth of your life may surprise you once you take a closer look.

So as you begin to look at yourself and your work life, keep in mind the following questions: Is your work nature different and separate from your nature outside work? Is your job, your work, the cause of your dissatisfaction, or does the source lie elsewhere? Write for a few minutes addressing these two questions. Then sit for a few minutes and reflect on what you've discovered about yourself. Perhaps nothing new will reveal...

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Verlag
Three Rivers Pr
Erscheinungsdatum
2001
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0609805924
ISBN 13 
9780609805923
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
251
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
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