By: George Marino CPA, CFP
July 1st, 2021
As professionals, we may sometimes feel isolated in the firms with which we are employed, especially due to the nature and structures of most organizations—the need to generate billable hours, competition, tight budgets, and all this with little emotional support. These are moments to connect with your breath as an act of compassion toward yourself and those around you, who are distracted in one way or another from the essence of who they are.
One way of doing this is to create inner space and simply sit with the feeling of what you are missing in the moment. What does it feel like not to have the support you need? Where and how do you experience this yearning in your body? Is there a metaphor that describes this experience? Does it have a color or shape? Can you simply sit in the present, watching yourself in this challenge, and hold yourself with compassion for what you are going through?
Be gentle with yourself, especially if you have experienced trauma. Seek help from a professional counselor, as I did, when you need to talk to someone about your work-related stress.
In mainstream business and culture, we have forgotten that the strategic mind does not automatically possess the ability to determine what’s worth doing in life. This ability belongs to a partnership between soul and spirit. When you are ready, your soul will reveal to you your unique metaphoric and poetic destiny—your personal truth at the center of who you are and how you fit into the more-than-human world.
When this happens, however, we need a clear and focused delivery system to manifest our unique gifts that are meaningful, fulfilling, and life-enhancing. If we miss this merger of soul and spirit, then we will have missed our unique calling to move beyond balancing the books.
Paradoxically, it is a simple noticing from moment to moment of the still voice within you that can bring this forth. The doors are not locked; this essence, which we can call love, already exists within you. A regular practice of compassion at work can convert a debit to a credit and a state to a trait.
As a mindfulness coach, I help people tap into what is most important to them and break free from stress, leading to more a fulfilling and meaningful work and life situation.