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trouble with work.

edited May 2006 in Buddhism Today
I'm feeling disgruntled with my job.
what are some ways to remember to be happy with your work?

one i know is "when sifting through the sand remember to look for the rice."

so what do you do to keep going?

Comments

  • edited April 2006
    Steps I take to bring me back to an inner state of peace when I start to view MY jobs (I have two), or MY relationships, or MY life, or MY spiritual development in a negative way:

    1. Breathe. Take note, or be mindful of how I am feeling and 'see' the unhappiness as something seperate.

    2. Get distance. The job is not me. It is just work, and it does not matter what the work is (it could be shoveling dirt, stocking a shelf, working a cash register, cooking a burger, etc.).

    3. What DOES matter is that I focus on the present moment with gratitude. 'This is what I am doing now, and this is what I am doing now, and this is what I am doing now...' In every 'this moment'.

    When I start feeling the 'me' I know I need to get myself to a mountaintop for a larger view. On a mountain, there is space and a different perspective....my problems seem smaller and managable. I then remember that work is actually good for me....a honing of my character...an opportunity in every moment 'to be'. And I find myself coming in a circle...where I reinvest myself in my job, with gratitude, not because it is a great job...but because it is a great opportunity.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited April 2006
    That's a great post, Harlan.

    Brigid
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Craig wrote:
    I'm feeling disgruntled with my job.
    what are some ways to remember to be happy with your work?

    one i know is "when sifting through the sand remember to look for the rice."

    so what do you do to keep going?


    Perhaps your work cannot be a source of happiness to you. There are situations where there cannot be even the mirage of 'happiness from without'.

    Falling to our deaths from a very high place, it is a pity not to enjoy the view.

    I had a plant on my desk when forced into an office. The green leaves were wonderful 'anchors' back into the reality beyond the durance vile of that work.
  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Craig wrote:
    I'm feeling disgruntled with my job.
    what are some ways to remember to be happy with your work?

    one i know is "when sifting through the sand remember to look for the rice."

    so what do you do to keep going?

    It's an agreement you made with another person.

    Nothing is holding you to this job - it's your decision.

    Just think of how crappy it would feel if your employer became disgruntled with having to do payroll. :)

    I think "mindfulness" also infers a level of responsibility.

    But - work sucks sometimes. Life sucks sometimes. Relationships suck sometimes. Newbuddhist sucks sometimes.

    Sometimes everything sucks like a HUGE sucking thing.

    -bf
  • edited April 2006
    thank you all very much for your insight, its given me a new feeling of, even though I dont like this job, its a necesarry learning thing for both my dharma practice and moving my life forward.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited April 2006
    buddhafoot wrote:
    It's an agreement you made with another person.

    Nothing is holding you to this job - it's your decision.

    Just think of how crappy it would feel if your employer became disgruntled with having to do payroll. :)

    I think "mindfulness" also infers a level of responsibility.

    But - work sucks sometimes. Life sucks sometimes. Relationships suck sometimes. Newbuddhist sucks sometimes.

    Sometimes everything sucks like a HUGE sucking thing.

    -bf

    LMAO!!

    Craig,

    I agree with what Harlan was saying. Our approach to work, our perspective on it, plays the crucial role. No matter what that work entails, we can find glory and dharma practice in it. And on the days in which we can't find such loft things we can at least be grateful that it's not worse. It's all about attitude and perspective. It's a choice. If you insist on finding something worthwhile and satisfying in your work, you'll find it.

    Brigid
  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Oh my dears, how innocent you are - and how clear it is that we live in affluence.

    There are "jobs" which are so repellent that only slavery can get them done. It is the language of the slave-owner (thank you, Matthew Fox, for the insight) to encourage the enslaved to enjoy their lot. In our slave-freeing democracies, we still enjoy the benefits of the work of slaves without the direct opprobrium or trouble of owning them. And our governments do too little to stop the horrific traffic in human beings into prostitution. Can you tell them about finding joy in their work?

    How many of us, here, "owe our souls to the company store"? Banks, building societies, employers paying the minimum wage, e tutti quanti?
  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited April 2006
    You make a good point, Simon. I just wasn't looking at it in that way.

    I was viewing this statement more in the regards of "entering an agreement with someone and being responsible".

    There are plenty of jobs that only a slave would do. There are very unpleasant jobs that, thankfully, someone does.

    But, I found myself thinking more of "putting your hands to a task and seeing it through". Once we engage in something, we should be mindful of it. Any type of work. Whether it's cleaning the house, taking care of your yard, taking care of family members, making tea, helping those who cannot help themselves, doing your 8 to 5 job, etc.

    I believe mindfulness would teach us that whatever we do, we should be focused upon it and do it well.

    -bf
  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited April 2006
    But - after re-reading Simon post... he does make a good point.

    I was just thinking about how the US finds countries where we can dump all of our old "technology". And the people who have to live in it.

    How we rid ourselves of our filth - that pollutes the entire world.

    How we purchase goods at wonderfully low prices because it has been made under slave labor conditions in other countries.

    I'm still appalled this morning at the Chornobyl post that was put up yesterday.

    But, I still stand by my comments regarding what I thought the heart of this thread meant.

    -bf
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Yes, I was responding to Craig's original post about being disgruntled at his work. I was thinking more along the lines of being bored or annoyed or sick of one's job. I wasn't thinking that he had become enslaved. If someone had posted a question about how to be happy in the sex slavery trade my response would have been quite different.

    Brigid
  • edited April 2006
    Knowing full well that the world is full of true suffering, and other beings are in a truly wretched state, my answer was for myself.
  • questZENerquestZENer Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Has anybody here seen the film "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray? Besides being an interesting film, for me the premise of the film has a lot to say about this thread. Every day of our lives we are trapped in a loop-loops of habit, loops of thought, loops of behavior. We either do everything with mindfulness or we do nothing. There is no in between.

    We are all slaves. Like it or not, Buddhism is about ridding ourselves of "preferences", our egos. Eating foul, rotting garbage is the same as eating a fancy couisine nouvelle meal. It's our perception that makes it different. I could take this a bit further but I don't want to offend.

    Everyday is the same day. There ain't no breaks from reality.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Quest,

    Your post has me really thinking. I did see that movie and I think I understand what you're saying. I am starting to see the habitual loops I've created for myself throughout my life, my likes and dislikes that I have created for no real reasons, the things I do on a daily basis without fresh thought behind them and so on. I'm starting to see and slowly break out of the little prison cell of habitual thought and behavior I've been in ever since I mistakenly built it for myself, brick by brick. Rousseau was so right; man is born free but everywhere is in chains, or something to that effect. Self imposed imprisonment. Self imposed suffering. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have to live this way, that I can do what I really want to do, be what I really want to be. I have to keep reminding myself that freedom is actually possible and within my capabilities. Funny how we weigh ourselves down like this. I'm starting to get an inkling into just how deeply deluded I really am.

    Brigid
  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Now you're actually sounding more like "The Matrix" than you are Groundhog Day :)

    -bf
  • edited April 2006
    thank you all for your responses and Quest, that has me looking on my day with a different point of view.
  • XraymanXrayman Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Brigid wrote:
    Yes, I was responding to Craig's original post about being disgruntled at his work. I was thinking more along the lines of being bored or annoyed or sick of one's job. I wasn't thinking that he had become enslaved. If someone had posted a question about how to be happy in the sex slavery trade my response would have been quite different.

    Brigid

    Dear Brigid,

    I have a question for you and the rest of the NewBuddhist fold, I'm currently experiencing a feeling of dischord and unhappiness with my job, I'm a Sex Slave.

    Do you have any ideas??

    concerned sex worker (slave).:smilec:
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited April 2006
    Make an appointment with a specialist and tell them you want a career-change as a eunuch.

    Job done.
    New career.

    Simple.
  • XraymanXrayman Veteran
    edited April 2006
    I don't think I'd have the balls to be a eunuch.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited April 2006
    You'd know, dearie..... ;)
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Xrayman wrote:
    I don't think I'd have the balls to be a eunuch.

    Now THAT'S a good one!!



    Brigid
  • buddhafootbuddhafoot Veteran
    edited April 2006
    Xrayman wrote:
    I don't think I'd have the balls to be a eunuch.

    Who is this guy?

    He's hilarious!

    -bf
  • edited April 2006
    LOL, xrayman!
  • edited May 2006
    bump :)

    I just picked up a nice book on the subject:

    Awake at Work - by Michael Carroll

    '35 practical Buddhist principles for discovering clarity and balance in the midst of work's chaos'
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