Renew Your Mind? Renew Your Work
by Eric Klein
For most people life and work move along a well-worn path. Based on the
momentum of the past - what we thought and did yesterday, we tend to think
and do today. Caught in the momentum of emotionally ingrained habits, we
build up a pattern that carries us automatically through life.
Think about your friends, family, and colleagues. How many of us know
people who have left an unhappy work situation, only to find themselves
(after a short time) in the very same type of situation ? albeit at a new
company or with a new title?
The wisdom traditions compared our situation to that of a person in a
rowboat who having thrown their anchor into the sand of a nearby island is
now pulling intensely hand over hand on the rope. In this metaphor the
anchor stands for the habitual thought that dominates our self-image. That
thought might be "I am creative". It might be "I am non-creative".
Tossing our anchor onto the nearest island unleashes the power of our
thoughts. The anchor of "creativity" always lands on the island of
creativity - which is where all the creative jobs and people are. Whichever
self-image we hold determines the island we are anchored to and once we
step out onto that shore, the people and situations we find around us.
We may look around our workplace and wonder, "How did I get here?" The
metaphor of the rowboat, the anchor, and the island tells us how. We pulled
ourselves to the shore of that island (workplace) which corresponded to our
habitual self-image. The island does not draw itself to our boat. We draw
ourselves to the island that our habitual self-image anchors us to.
The liberating point to remember is that, we are drawn to different
emotional environments by our inner thoughts, particularly our habitual
self-image. The source of our self-image is not other people. Our parents
did not create our self-image. Rather, it is self-generated and therefore
can be self re-generated.
The wisdom traditions suggest that we can change the direction of our work
not by moving on but by turning within. Lifting ourselves out of the
limits of our habitual patterns, we can view our life from a new dimension.
We can see how our thoughts of the past perpetuate themselves. We can see
where sticking with our self-defined limitations will lead.
So we let go. And in letting go we enter a state of balanced awareness
where the emotional pull of our habitual thoughts are neutralized. In this
state we remember what matters most and touch our deepest self.
This does not mean that rush hour traffic will part before us like the Red
Sea or that amazing job offers will pour in. It means, in the words of
Gandhi, starting to "be the change you want to see in the world."
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