When I was young, arrogant and ignorant (and got away with murder, because I was somewhat handsome and charming), I regarded work as something I suffered through to make money, which I then spent in my "real life" of creative and intellectual pursuits, and social interactions.
It's taken years of hard knocks, a bit of acquired wisdom, and internalized Rosicrucian teachings to transform my attitude toward work. Now I realize that it is every bit as important as (if not more important than) other sides of one's life. Here in Budapest, Hungary, I work in a large multinational consulting firm (one of the Big Four), as a document Editor. In large multinational corporations, the language of communication is English, and there have to be native English speakers who make sure that documents and correspondence adhere to certain standards. It is a job that one could easily become cynical about, on the one hand, and it is also one that could do major harm to one's mental and spiritual health, not to mentions one's family, if one didn't harmonize with the pressure.
When I started this job two months ago, I began meditating at my desk in the middle of the afternoon every day. That got me through the initial "trial by fire" of the new job quite well. Recently, as an expression of my new attitude toward work, which has evolved over a number of years, I have begun a daily ritual before I start working.
I sit down at my desk and start my computer. Once I'm all booted up, I do a few aikido wrist stretches and yoga arm stretches to limber up for a day at the keyboard, all the while breathing as slowly and deeply as I can. Once I've done this, I silently intone an invocation I created for the purpose, which goes:
God of my heart!
May the still, small voice within guide me in my actions as I work.
May it point out every opportunity to learn new lessons from the situations I encounter.
May it show me every chance to serve that comes my way.
May it help me to engage myself in my work with interest and enthusiasm,
and may it help me guard against laxity and apathy.
May I be inspired to do my work with dignity and honor.
So mote it be!
Then I close my eyes and do a visualization that opens me to my inner self.
After this, I open my eyes, and begin working, calmly and with a sense of purpose.
yeah yeah only one more day of school to go! The kids are already lining up job interviews. I have been called up to attend "pep talks" by the recruiters before filling out the questionairs and taking an appointment to be interviewed.
Except I will not and can naught but sit at the side lines.
I won't be living here much longer and where I go is very uncertain as regards job opportunities in my chosen field. I wont take a job for a few months and quit as is guaranteed to happen right now. I may be throwing all my education down the drain if I can't stand the areas where industry wants to be.
It is easy to be cynical. OF COURSE there are lots of jobs if you are willing to risk your life in a place not fit to live. I must always remember: the final choice is mine. I have tried to rededicate my life to grace dignity and above all else loyalty.
I still wonder .....and wonder .......how much it will cost me and why I am so obsessed with fleeing.
I read and copied your prayer and it will help me greatly as I perform my nursing duties careing for Americas Veterans in the State Nursing Home . I bring mysticism to work all the time as the dying transition to another life I had the honor of being with a veteran about 56 years old as he died in my arms in front of his family It was unsettling and I saw the fear in his eyes as he struggled to hold on to this life by instinct and as I spoke softly in his ear Dont be afraid you are loved let it go I love you I felt his fight and watched as he went on to a better place I noticed I was crying ,I then turned my attention to his grieving family and I felt truly blessed to minister to them and be empathic to thier loss.I was not even his nurse that day I was covering his hall as the other nurse was covering the dinning room. It happened in the half hour she was gone.Alot of nurses grow lax and get hard and almost uncareing; its a job .I never want to stop careing I feel so much love for these men and women who have seen the worst of times and experienced first hand the horrors af war. thank you for sharing your prayer it will inspire me to never stop being the nurse I need to be.
I'm very happy the "prayer" means something to you. (I call it an invocation, but I guess it's all the same.) Somehow I suspected that of all the people on this forum, you'd relate.
I almost envy you because you work in a place where the opportunities to "serve" are more obvious. Though, as you point out, if a person doesn't have a depth of inner resources, the demands you are exposed to in the midst of suffering patients can lead to hardening and/or the much-talked-about contemporary phenomenon of "burnout". Where I work - a high-powered multinational corporation, populated by lawyers, accountants and business consultants - it's not so easy to know how to serve. I suppose it's all the same in the end. I endeavor to regard all the people I work with as fellow souls. I work at being patient, no matter how harried and impatient the people around me get. I also try to make sure that the way I perform my job doesn't place unnecessary burdens on anyone else.
Sometimes I succeed. There's one young woman here who I suspect doesn't really like her job, and isn't really a happy person. I take time to put a little extra personal touch on the e-mails I send to her. Yesterday I got a reply to one that read "THANK YOU!!!!" I didn't really know why. I ran into her in the hall and asked what the thank you was for. She looked at me quizzically, as if she was surprised that I didn't know what I'd done, then said, "Why, for everything, of course." I guess I touched her in a special way.
It also makes me happy to know that you will use the invocation. For many years of my life - until recently - I put a lot of energy into seeing myself as a writer. I did various writing and editing jobs on the low end of the journalism world, and even published some short stories. But I never "made it". Writing is a rough world. Finally, I had to throw in the towel, so to speak, and take a job that paid more money, despite the fact that it wasn't my dream job, because I have a wife and three kids to support. My writing life went from the back burner to the deep freeze, waiting to be thawed out and warmed up at a later date. I don't regret taking this job. It is actually through a series of events (dream messages, "coincidences", inspirations from the Celestial Sanctum) that I got here. I know I'm on the right path. But I also know there is a reason I was given the talent to express things well in words. It has something to do with my life's mission. So it pleased me when Frater Lemos posted my Hermes poem. And it pleases me that I expressed a noble sentiment about the true meaning of work in such a way that it resonated with you. Someday I will know what it is that I am meant to write in this lifetime.
In the meantime, if anyone here is interested, I wrote a "mystical" short story that got published on the internet last summer. I think y'all will like it. You can read it here. And If anyone is interested in any of my other writing, the URL is at the top of this post.
Theo, You are also in a position to serve and lead ,I would imagine in your field there is opportunity to cheat lie steal etc etc and you are a positive force in a dog eat dog world.It is encouraging to me to know we as mystics are well placed according to a higher design almost like a chess game in different positions in life, maybe we dont always like our position on the board but I truly believe that no matter where we are it is for the purpose to serve someone in need. As for your love of writing and obvious talent I envy that. I have been told a million times to write my story, But I lack the know how to formulate and bring it all together. I think everyone has a story and am confused as to what would make mine stand out.Maybe someday I will figure it out I have this gnawing gut feeling it would bring me success and that scares me so I have been at a standoff with myself for years over the issue. I truly enjoyed your story adout pandy I saved it and will read it again to my children thanks Maggie