Is Your Work Soul Serving or Soul Sucking?
We came into this world not only with a unique set of fingerprints, but also with a unique soul destiny that we are constantly being pulled toward. When someone is in alignment with that destiny, they feel like their life is on purpose, what they do has value, and most importantly, that they matter.
Its not that every step of your life is laid out. There is a blueprint you came encoded with based on when, where, and from whom, you were born in this body. Your choices in the journey of your life either flow with or tug against that energy matrix.
There isn’t a book you can look up you’re supposed to be an engineer or a corporate manager in the tech industry at age 35. Rather, there are streams of energy that make up your highest possible destiny, or potential. Combine that possibility, with the skills and abilities you have gained, and it forms a pool of ideal focuses for you. From that pool you choose what you want to do at any point in your life.
We encourage our children to go to school so they can get a good job. Hopefully its one they like, but that tends not to be the primarily criteria. Economic, cultural, and social pressures push people into spending most of their time working in jobs that aren’t fulfilling in order to achieve money, approval, or status. The pandemic of the past couple of years has highlighted that issue clearly. According to research by McKinsey & Company, up to 54% of people are leaving their jobs citing lack of belonging or lack of feeling valued by the company or their manager as the main reason.
People are feeling so depleted both at a mental and soul level, they are finally saying:
This isn’t working anymore.
My life doesn’t feel rewarding.
There must be something more.
But do you need to leave your job to find fulfillment? Not necessarily.
I spent 14 years working in the corporate foreign exchange industry. I wasn’t passionate about economics, money markets, foreign currency, or had a particularly keen mathematical mind like some of colleagues. What drew me in and kept me was the function of the roles I worked while employed there. I leveraged my sales & management skills to teach, manage, inspire, support, lead, coach and mentor. I put systems and processes in place to help us gain clarity and more success. Helping others succeed was a way of being in service to my soul.
The job wasn’t my ultimate soul’s calling, but it was an important leg of my journey to place me where I am now – consciously creating a life in alignment to my soul’s purpose as I know it today.
In order to justify time spent in our places of work, many people try to strike what’s been coined as work/life balance. But is that worthy goal? The hours that you spend at your work IS part of your life. By seeing them as separate, it implies you can somehow make up for the unfulfilling hours spent at work by doing something satisfying in your personal time to balance it out. But, if you’re scoring a minus 50 on the rewarding scale at work and you’re plus 50 on the rewarding scale in your personal (life) time, then you’ve only hit a neutral 0. Therefore work/life balance nets you nothing. Not very gratifying and yet so many people settle for this because it’s considered the norm.
Imagine if your work aligns with your soul purpose and your personal time is also aligned with your soul purpose, then you’re really flowing with life. No longer at net 0. You are now experiencing fulfillment whether working or playing. This should be the goal over a work/life balance measure.
Of course, being in alignment with your purpose doesn’t mean life won’t be hard sometimes. There will be ups and downs and bumps in the road along the way. But it will be more rewarding than if you aren’t following your soul’s calling. Have you ever tried to swim upstream? It’s a lot of work! That’s what you’re doing when ignoring the whispers at the depths of your heart.
Have the courage to live your dreams now. Make each day one of value and purpose. Your future isn’t promised
Written by Robin Harris