Spiritualizing Work

Less Stress, More Flow (and Buzzards)

Sunset or Earthrise Orcas Island

The human experience certainly involves paradox and contradictions. For me, one of those is being a spiritual workaholic. Now this does not mean that I am a Goody-Two-Shoes always focused on spiritual growth, contemplation, study, etc.. In fact, it’s almost the opposite. I like making lists and I love crossing things off those lists. I always put Spiritual Practices at the top of my daily list, followed by a whole bunch of work items. Over the years, when I’ve had heavy workloads and deadlines, I’d wake up, bang out my meditation, cross it off the list and dive into the work, often immediately taking on stress and a sense of hurriedness, which is basically anti-meditation.

About a decade ago, I wound up in a very intense and prolonged set of challenges. It was the first time in my life I literally was not able to work, or run my business. At first, I railed against the unasked-for time-out and tried to force things forward, but eventually I gave in to the fact that my work was going to be off the rails for quite some time while the situation played out. I explained in When Life Blows Up, that this was the first time in my life I stopped working and allowed myself to be worked on, spiritually, from within. And, much to my surprise, after a while, I began to enjoy it!

Those several years in the liminal phase seasoned me, shifted my priorities. I realized that having an established meditation and spiritual practice prior to the ordeal was one of the few things that had helped me stay sane and gain some control over my frenzied, fearful mind in the heat of the storm. As the crisis cleared and I began resuming working life, I knew I wanted to do different things and go about them with a different approach and energy. My True North had stayed the same – I was still fully committed to doing what I can in this human lifetime to help humanity come into a saner relationship with ourselves and the rest of nature, but how I wanted to go about it had changed dramatically.

These days I still sometimes feel pressurized by work and deadlines and the challenges of being self-employed, meeting expectations, paying bills, etc. I’m sometimes tempted to skip spiritual practices and get right to the work. However, I’m better able to recognize that old pattern and choose a healthier option. And, I’ve learned that my work is greatly benefitted by a more spiritual approach. Often, after a time of being in the silence, contemplation, or study, inspiration will strike and my writing project, or speech, will just flow.

Probably a more important aspect of spiritualizing work is being better able to notice when I’m getting stressed, irritated, or frustrated. I can then remind myself to relax and bring my attention into the present moment, even if just for a moment. I’m better able to notice when I’m choosing stress, choosing to sacrifice peace, and I can pick a different approach. A Course in Miracles teaches of the Holy Instant, which is when we are fully present in the now, not dredging memories from the past or speculating about “what ifs” in the future. It is a wonderful state of consciousness and becomes more readily accessible with practice.

I recently taught a series of classes on metaphysics and my students inspired me with their final assignments. They created Metaphysical Demonstration Plans, which were strategies for reaching their next goals in a spiritualized way. This was about prioritizing the inner work in order to accomplish goals in our outer work. Their presentations were so extraordinary I was motivated to step up my own spiritual action plan including:

·      Remembering, first thing upon waking to ask myself, “What miracles am I going to notice and receive today?” This simple practice prompts a tendency to be looking for beauty, kindness, deeper truths rather than the ugly things. It helps one to choose a lens to view through.

·      More quality meditation, being in the Silence and a state of not-doing rather than the spiritual doing of reading, studying, journaling, in my morning practices.

·      Even on days of a dog agility competition, a brief bit of Silence time before the busyness (Given how much dang fun I have at these events and how eager I am to get going this one is likely to take a bit of intentional discipline).

·      Tuning in to the Holy Instant multiple times throughout the day. I’ve been writing “Holy Instant” at the top of my Do-list. Clearly a Spiritual Workaholic move, but a helpful one.

·      Getting to bed a bit earlier and spending a few moments focusing on gratitude and setting intention as I drift toward sleep.

The very concept of spiritualizing work, and intentionally taking meditation off the mat and into life’s messes is a great tool for choosing a lighter, more peaceful approach, more often throughout the day. Big thanks to the students who inspired and challenged me through their wonderful examples.

P.S. for you trivia wonks, the Little Goody Two-Shoes myth and metaphor originated with a children’s story published in London in 1765. The fable tells of Goody Two-Shoes, the nickname of a poor orphan girl named Margery Meanwell, who goes through life with only one shoe. When a rich gentleman gives her a pair of shoes, she happily tells everyone she has "two shoes". Later, Margery becomes a teacher and marries a rich widower, which is somehow proof that her virtue has been rewarded and her wealth earned. Hmmm, the things we get fed, eh?

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A Celebration of Earth – Happy Birthday Kun-Wac-Shun!

I love buzzards. I love them because they get a bad rap. I love them because on the ground they can be considered ugly and gangly, but in the air they are the most glorious fliers. I love them because they play an essential part in the web of life by cleaning up messes.

A mega-buzzard, the California Condor has a wingspan of nearly ten feet, the largest of any bird in North America, far larger than the Golden Eagle. These magnificent creatures were nearly wiped out by hunting, lead poisoning and other human-caused impacts. By the 1980s there were fewer than California Condors remaining on the planet.

In a desperate measure, in 1987, the last surviving condors were brought into captivity with a goal of establishing a breeding program. The Oregon Zoo has been a key part of this program. And that’s what brings us to an amazing story.

Twenty years ago, the Oregon Zoom was incubating its very first condor egg. A frigid winter ice storm knocked out the electricity and the human condor caretakers were ready to literally huddle with the egg to keep it warm enough to hatch. The chick hatched. It was a boy and the Wasco tribe members named him Kun-Wac-Shun, which means “thunder and lightning”. Healthy and tough, he was released into the wild and has been flying free in central California since 2005. Earlier this year he turned twenty. He’s been a good daddy too and has helped the population of California Condors grow to over 500.

Here's a great, short piece and video about Kun-Wac-Shun from the Oregon Zoo.

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Life with Livvy – A Big Milestone Accomplishment!

Well Holy Smokes! Olive and I are now Preferred Agility Champions!

In order to earn your first really big title in AKC agility you need to, twenty different times, get clean qualifying runs in both the Standard event (which includes the teeter-totter, A-frame, etc.) and the Jumpers with Weaves event on the same day (that’s called a Double Q). Olive and I went into our last trial with 17 Double Qs. It was a three-day event so we needed to get Double Qs on each of the three days to get the big title. We had never done that before and it’s a pretty rare occurrence.

And, son-of-a-gun she pulled it off!

Here is the vid of the Standard event, the first leg of the third Double Q. We were not only clean but took first place!

That left us with the last event, Jumpers with Weaves. She was so tired but went out there with big heart and won the day and a big ribbon. We were both jumping for joy after. Here is the vid.

I am so appreciative of all the support from friends and co-agility addicts. The celebration was super sweet.

I think it’s funny the ribbon is so much bigger than she is.

And here she is pooped out after in her favorite napping spot on the back of the couch right next to me. She is such a wonderful little partner.

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