How do we find meaningful work? What is meaningful work for you? What makes work meaningful? These seem to be questions we all have at some point in our lives.
Answering these questions requires commitment, curiosity, reflection, inquiry, and experiential evidence.
Since leaving the Zen Center 9 months ago, I have been committed to exploring these questions deeply. During this time, I traveled with my partner to 11 states west of Colorado and also to Japan. These nourishing and sometimes trying experiences have led me to making the decision to enter the field of holistic nutrition. More about my journey can be found here: My Path to Holistic Nutrition.
How to Begin the Process of Finding Meaningful Work:
This is a vast topic that can be explored in numerous ways. It’s important to note that finding meaningful work doesn’t necessarily mean changing jobs. Often there are small shifts (Gentle Leaps!) that you can make in your current situation that can make a big impact on your day-to-day experience.
It’s also vital to feel the whole field of your job, not just the actual work. What benefits does your job provide you? It could be a flexible schedule or ability to work from home so you can be present with your family, or it could be ending the day early to be part of a community that you connect with. It’s the entire context.
Equally significant is a phrase that has served as a continual guide on my path: If you want to change your life, you must change your context.
A Practical Guide:
- Dedicate a journal (that you like!) to explore the topic of finding meaningful work. By choosing one journal it can serve as a location for your ideas, and also as a reminder when you see it sitting on your kitchen table.
- Commit to setting aside time each week when you can give your full attention to this inquiry process. Consistency is key – so choosing the same times each week can be supportive. It’s also helpful to feel rested and relaxed, so select a time in your schedule that’s favorable to that.
- Choose a space that is conducive to contemplative thought. This could be outside on a sunny day on your deck or at a park, at your kitchen table with a cup of tea, or at a neighborhood coffee shop.
- Before you begin, try sitting meditation for 5 minutes. Set a timer so you can relax into the simple act of just sitting.
- Posture – sit with an upright spine either on a cushion with both knees on the ground or supported; or on a chair with both feet flat on the floor.
- Try following your breath – noticing your inhale and exhale. Where is your breath going? Try sending your breath from the top of the head, down the spine, into the earth. Reverse the direction.
- What sensations do you notice in your body? Tight shoulders, tender lower back, soft hands, cold toes, relaxed jaw, etc. Notice without judgment or additional thought. How do the sensations feel – pulsing, constriction, relaxed, etc.
- Start with creating a list of what questions you would like to explore. Don’t answer them yet! Get as detailed as you would like. A few ideas:
- What is meaningful work?
- How do I find meaningful work?
- What makes work meaningful?
- How is my work meaningful?
- What is working for me in my current job (be specific)?
- What isn’t working?
- What are my skills?
- What skills would I like to develop?
- What activities do I find nourishing?
- What type of work environment is supportive for me?
- What is my capacity for work?
- How many hours a day am I able to dedicate to my work?
- What does my work/life balance look like?
- What kind of life do I want to live?
- How does my current job support my life vision?
Good job! Take a break! Go for a walk, have a cup of tea, or lie down in the grass.
Formulating Your Larger Vision:
On a new page make a list of elements that are motivating your decisions around your work, life, and work-life. A few ideas:
- Feeling relaxed or energized at the end of most days (not like you need to collapse on the couch), creating your own work schedule, being in charge of your time, having creative freedom, living close to family & friends, providing for a family, living in a safe neighborhood, being mortgage free, living in nature, being near good schools, living close to community, having access to healthy foods, etc.
Time for another break! Good job! Perhaps wait until your next scheduled time to begin the next phase. Gentle Leaps!
- Pause and feel into your larger vision. Review the list of questions you made about finding meaningful work. Anything that you want to add that arose during your break? Now prioritize that list, choosing the top 3-5 questions that you intuitively know you would like to explore.
- Create space and time over the next weeks to explore each of these questions in detail. Feel into your own question, read about the topic, talk to loved ones, just explore!
Taking Care of Body & Mind During this Process:
- Take frequent breaks! It’s important to take time in between each of these activities to let the bodymind process what you are exploring, let new thoughts arise, and assimilate the information you are learning.
- Be open. Try not to have expectations about what you might discover. Being open means to let everything in your life come forward and influence you. It’s these chance encounters and thoughts that might arise on a walk that can define a new path. Be open to letting that happen!
- Become intimately familiar with the space of not-knowing. This is an incredibly uncomfortable place for most of us to hang out in. Yet, it’s a critical skill for us to develop in our lives. We are often not “in control,” although we may not even like to admit that. Knowing this feeling intimately reduces the anxiety and distress that can surface when we are inevitably encounter this feeling in the future.
Time for me to take a break now too! If you are engaged in this process, feeling stuck, or not sure where to begin please comment below! Usually if you have the question or are struggling, likely others are too. Conversely if you’ve had an insight or would like to share what’s working for you, please do! This can be inspiration and support for all of us.
My Path to Holistic Nutrition