Tell me, do you like your job? Do you like the work you do? If you had to rate your feelings about your job would it be ‘Like’, ‘So-So’, or ‘Don’t Like’. Do check in with yourself about your satisfaction with your job? This is a worthwhile exercise to engage in because it can help you learn more about yourself and what are the causes for suffering.
Taking an inventory of feelings about your job and the work you do will help you explore whether or not you want to make changes and also help to understand what changes need to be made. Perhaps you like the type of work you do but don’t agree with the way the company is being managed. Or you might find that you are doing work, which doesn’t really line up with your values engaging in business practices that are at odds with some core beliefs. Or perhaps you have found yourself in a field of work you never intended and you really enjoy it but find yourself ill prepared for the future.
The number of times people have come to me saying things such as I hate my job, or I want to quit what I am doing, or any other similar statements. One thing most of them have in common is the person has no real understanding about what it is they are trying to change, why they are trying to change, and what will be different on the new job.
If you are fleeing your company because you don’t like someone and that is fundamentally the only reason for leaving the odds are great you won’t find long lasting satisfaction at your new job. Nothing has changed fundamentally about the individual self and so the core problem still exists.
I think most people run into problems when they are making changes to the wrong cause, or when they do not adequately prepare for the future. We can talk more about jobs later, especially around the area of Right Livelihood.
When I asked about your feelings about the work you do I would like for you to get a clear feeling, a general feeling about the total picture of your job. Perhaps you might want to turn this into part three of Money Meditation.
Your job and the work you do at your job consume a large portion of your time both directly and indirectly. First think about that block of time you spent yesterday. Was yesterday a good day at work for you? Was it a hell-day? What caused it to be a good day, or a bad day? Now step back a little further so that individual details become less pronounced. Thinking back to last week, what is your residual memory of last week. Remember this is a fairly large chunk of time so something should come to your mind.
I wonder if this is a struggle for you. I know people who struggle with not just specific events from a week ago, but really can not admit to or claim any sense of lasting feeling about a week ago as being good, bad, or indifferent.
For some people the details are very clear but are also very raw causing difficulty taking a general inventory of feelings. If this is the case with you, step back further.
Now how about everyone stepping back a whole year. What feelings do you have about your job? Can you imagine spending another year of your life doing what you are doing? Are your values in line with the work you do? Continue to ask yourself questions such as these as you meditate on your job.
The final question I offer you to consider, though you may have more percolating in you, is why do you go to work? What is the reason you continue doing what you are doing? Is it because you love it? Is it because you are in it for the money? Is it because you have no other choices?
Depending upon your discovery you might need to consider different causes for the future. For now though go back to the idea of money. I am not sure, perhaps you may already see where this is heading. If money is the thing we use to replace or stand in for your effort and time, your labors and you expect money to provide you with happiness then if how you earn money isn’t causing you happiness then money never will, and nor will how you spend it improve things.
Money has taken on a life and identity of its own. Many of us relate to money as some independent entity, forgetting what it actually is. Money is the sum total of your labor, your effort and your time doing that labor, and it is a value that all of society has placed upon your work because the value of the currency denominations are mutually agreed upon by all of society. Your paycheck represents not only the value your boss has assigned to you, it is also the value society has of your labor. Now this value is not to be confused with your overall worth or even the quality of your work or the value of your skill.
We all know you could be the most skillful craftsman and not be compensated for your skill. So worth and value are not at all related in the real world to amount of money a person is paid. And the reverse is also true, the amount of money received is also not an indication of worth or value to society. You might be receiving a fantastic wage but contributing very little of value to your fellows in society.
Our value to others and our worth to society is removed and distorted because we have allowed ourselves to be deceived into thinking that the greater the amount of money a person receives the greater their worth or value.
When folks live closer to their food supply and are more strongly connected with their environment they are more likely to be tuned into an awareness that on a fundamental level we are all interrelated so our worth or value to society is determined by our just showing up and doing what we are best suited to do, but we can’t do that anymore.
I offer all of this for your consideration not with the expectation that things will change. Merely I hope that you can begin to form a different relationship with money, because fundamentally until that happens there will always be a part of you that is unhappy or dissatisfied or suffering. The change has to start from within your own life first. It is possible to be liberated and free even within the structure of a consumer oriented society. But unless you know what is going on inside yourself you will not be able to begin to make changes.
This week in addition to the exercises I have given you, I would like to give you something else to work on. Please keep using the time/money exercise when you make purchases. The value of doing this exercise is in gaining a greater understanding of the true cost of things and helping to determine if the purchase is really worth to you what you will pay.
Adding to your growth in understanding money and how you relate to it and what function it fills in your life I suggest the following exercise. You can do this for your whole house or for just one room, though the more you do it I believe the more benefit it will have for you.
Decide on which room you want to work with. With a sheet of paper and pen or pencil choose a quiet time and enter the room and sit in your regular spot. Now begin writing down everything you can see in the room. As you take an inventory, really look at the item. Try to recall, if you are able, the occasion or motivation for acquiring the thing. I don’t think you need to write down all of that, though you might if you want to. Something else would be to begin a photo album with the photo and as many memories about the item stored with it.
For this exercise though just sitting quietly and writing down each item is I feel satisfactory. Now alongside the name of the item write whether you need this item or want it. The criteria for need in this case is that it supports, sustains, or contributes to your continuation of life, and would be an item that you would need to carry on your back if for some reason you were required to evacuate on foot.
With those limitations there isn’t much room for feel good items because your basic survival is what is important. This can be a brutal evaluation of the accumulation of things that you have acquired in your life. It also might open your eyes to a reassessment of what you have spent your money, or as you have learned your time on.
Please let me stress that the intent here is not to cause regrets or sadness or any negative emotions. In Buddhism we learn that the only moment is right now and this moment is where change can occur. The past is gone and there is no bad past there are however opportunities for change if you wish.
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I would be interested to hear your comments. How has doing these exercises affected you? Is anything you might consider changing from this point forward? Now it is your turn.
