MY JOB
QUESTION: How would you describe your work? Do you like it, etc.
Throughout my career, I was asked frequently, “Do you like your job?’ almost as frequently others have declared in my hearing, “I don’t like my job.” My response to the question and the declarative statement were similar. “I like the benefits of my job – the by products of being gainfully employed. It is not necessary for me to like my work to do the work well.” My response to “don’t like my job,” was “Do you like the life that the job is helping you to live? You should google the definition of job.”
My clarity around work, job, profession, etc. was an evolving revelation. A job is what we do to complete the assignment given to us by the one who is paying us a wage. Requirements are provided – we do what is required – we get paid. To like/love what we are paid to do is a huge bonus, but like/love is usually not a requirement. I didn’t loathe my job, or I would have separated myself from it. There were aspects of it that I liked. I loved the freedom that it gave me to explore the natural creative me. I didn’t love the job that I did for many years, but I was good at it.
I am blessed to have a yoga instructor who loves being a teacher and loves yoga. Teaching yoga is not his job. He is an amazing independent professional house painter. House painting is his job, and he meets and exceeds the requirements for each job. I know this because he has painted every room in my house. Does he love painting? I don’t know but he is good at it. I would imagine that painting houses affords him the freedom to do what he loves which is teach Iyengar yoga (https://youtube.com/@theyogashow5010?si=TlFf-ZcNlHtxc50I) to slow learners like me. I have listened to his instructions and watched him demonstrate poses weekly for more than ten years. Every week his commitment to help his students do more than master poses is demonstrated. Every week he invites his students “to surrender the ego of the mind to the wisdom of the heart” at the beginning of class and reminds us at the end to be grateful for a body that is strong enough to do the work. He makes a difference in the lives of others.
Embedded in my job were opportunities to create and execute projects that motivated me and my peers to meet the requirements of the job. These opportunities engaged my creative juices. For me, being creative is a heart meet head thing. The heart conceives and the head brings it to full expression. I loved this aspect of the job, and it was not a requirement, but it allowed me to make a difference in the lives of others.
As a result of things like this and so much other valuable training and exposure while working a job that I didn’t love but I didn’t hate either, I morphed into a creative being that surprises myself at times… just one more piece of evidence that nothing we experience in life is wasted.
PONDER THIS THOUGHT — Kabir, “work is a part of my identity, but it is not my essence.”
Yorumlar