How to Make Your Search for Work Sacred: LISTEN

Have you heard the way you talk to yourself?  Stephen Levine says if we were sitting next to someone talking to another person the way we talk to ourselves sometimes, we’d get up and move.

When you’re looking for a job or creating your own–your self-talk is apt to be lousy at times.  This is a tough society to be out of work in.  Our expertise is in getting you out of the way of your abundance.  Step 1 is getting you out of the way of your negative self-talk. Listen to Love.  That’s what this post is about.

Listen to Love

Every spiritual tradition affirms that love is higher than hatred.  Many affirm that God is Love. The voice of Love is the one to listen to–at all times, especially this one.  How do you hear it?  Like anything else, you practice.  Regularly.

Get Regular

This could mean “eat prunes” but we are talking about spiritual constipation so in this case, “get regular” means discipline yourself to create a regular time to listen to Love each day, or two or three times a day.  If you pray, pray.  If you meditate, meditate.  If you look at your shoes, look at your shoes with love.  Feel gratitude for your shoes.  If you look at a tree, know that tree and you are inter-breathing, sharing breath, and feel how integral a part of the Earth you are.  If you look at a blank wall and it usually makes you depressed, laugh! because a lot of people travel huge distances to look at a blank wall,* myself included.

Spiritual constipation is relieved by getting regular.  Regularly tuning in to Love means never having to worry you’re doing it wrong.  Love doesn’t mean never having to say you’re sorry in my book (pace Love Story) but it does mean that if you do it regularly, you can stop worrying about doing it right.  As your skeptical mind knows, you will inevitably do it right some of the time.  And to Love, that’s way good enough.

Be Surprised

If you are doing it right (regularly is all we mean), you will often be surprised by what you hear.  Go with it: Listen to Love already!  Notice when you stop being surprised.  When you stop being surprised by what you hear, you have strayed from the voice of Love and into the territory of your same old same old self-talk.  Stop listening to that.  Return to Love.  Know you are doing your Love listening practice exactly right: this returning over and over again is what marks you as a pro.  This is what pro meditators do.  Trust us.

The voice of Love is fresh!  What you hear will surprise you.  What you read right now will surprise you first: you are Love.  What you are hearing is your Self talk.  Enjoy Yourself!

*To Zen Buddhist centers, to sit in what are called “zendos.”  And it’s worth it.  Here’s one to try–subscribe to their free newsletter while you’re at it, you won’t be sorry.

If you liked this post, try the others in this category.  You might also like others in the category Time-Sculpting.

Please comment.  On any aspect of this series.  (This is part I.)  And feel free to write and ask us about our coaching for people in your position.  Because it’s our position, too.