Soulful Living: A Pre-req to Career Bliss

Your heart knows things that your mind can’t explain.

Kushandwizdom

What would you say if I told you that the new job, boss or higher salary you want will only provide you with a brief jump in the happiness curve?  Then it’s back to the feelings of discontent that drove you to make the change.  This isn’t based upon a pessimistic worldview.  Rather it’s based upon the life learning lesson of a lot of people operating from the notion that when they’re happy in their career, their life is happy.  Been there, done that.  And this, in my opinion, is where we’ve gotten ourselves caught in a vicious cycle.  We overrate the importance of our career and not how we live.  The truth is that when we have a joyous personal life, we then encounter a joyous career life.   Our job, boss or salary cannot make us happy.  We are the ones fully responsible for a happiness that is sustainable.

The approach that happy career = happy life is something that has been engrained in us and has formed our belief system.  As a result, it’s not easy peasy to just say that we’ll add more hobbies into our life and that’ll contribute to living more soulfully to achieve career bliss.  No, what typically happens is that when we focus on improving our personal life we encounter guilt, overwhelm and frustration.  There’s a nagging voice that we can’t seem to shut up.  Here are a few steps I recommend to deal with the inner nag when shifting into a more purposeful and soulful living approach:

• Welcome the nag instead of suppressing it.  You can’t just wave your magic wand and sprinkle positive thoughts over what’s coming up.  Become an observer and actually get to know yourself this way.  Discover what’s coming up for you and see what subconscious beliefs you might have.  Write them down and then ask yourself what you’d like to embrace as your belief as an alternative.
• Carve out time for self-reflection.   You can call this meditation time if that works for you.  However, I find that people put stress on themselves when their mind still chatters away when they’re supposed to “meditate”.  Instead, just try to sit still for 15 minutes a day and think about what is meaningful to you and what your true wishes are.
• Prepare a “What I love most about me…” list.  This is a toughie, but a great tool to counteract the inner nag.  Create a list of positive traits, characteristics, strengths or skills that you value in yourself – even if you can only get to 10.  Carry this list around with you and when you need a positive boost into your heavy thoughts, pull out your list and review it.  Bask in the glow of what’s great about you.
• Get out your head into your body.  When we’re overwhelmed by our thoughts, we’re typically drowning in past hurts or fearful future projections.  To deal with the mind spinning, we need to get back into our body and out of the head.  Take time for deep breaths.  Take off your shoes and purposefully plant your feet on the ground and allow your attention to shift to this action step.  Focus on doing a chore that requires physical effort.
• Connect with someone uplifting.  Get together with someone in person, enjoy good food, have fun and talk about issues that come up with you in your personal or business relationships.  When you’re stuck in your own head with over-analysis paralysis, you won’t get the clarity that you need.   The goal is to be able to release your frustrations and actively seek out positive solutions.

Remember that life is far too short for us to not fully enjoy our lives.  Each and everyone on this planet contributes toward the well-being of the people and Earth.  While we will all have down days, living soulfully the majority of our life is what will help you have the impact you so desire.  So, start living in accordance with your purpose!

Interested in joining our mailing list to get notified of new Chamberlain Leadership news and postings?  Just include your name and e-mail address below.  You’ll also receive our guide to take on the change leadership challenge within your own organization.