Q: All my life I’ve had this problem with having a job. It always ends up with me getting very stressed and depressed and in the end I quit. I can’t figure out what the problem is because I would just love to find work that I love to do. Is there anything you can say about that?
John: Your orientation in your job is to your self instead of to your heart. That means that you give importance to everything that you’re thinking and feeling in your self while you’re at work. The way for you to be in your job is not from your self but from your heart. That’s a universal truth. What makes that true for you and for everyone is that the level of the heart matters more than the level of your self.
For you to be in response to that, you need to come from your heart while doing your job. That makes your work not all about what you experience in your self. You use your self to do your work, but what you’re really being is in your heart.
Q: I don’t know if I understand what you’re saying.
John: What matters more than what you experience in your self while you’re at work is your manner within the privacy of your own interior. Otherwise, you’re missing the deeper level and giving the attention where it doesn’t belong.
It doesn’t really matter what kind of work you do. What matters more than your choice of work or your experience at work is what real depth you’re coming from and bringing into your work. When you open, the situation that you’re in draws out what is deeper in you. That takes the energy out of displeasure and puts it into realization. You realize what matters more than what displeases you. If you don’t know what that is, if you don’t know what matters more, then you’re in the invitation to start digging and looking within.
You can always change the situation that brings your self displeasure but then you’ll be developing a pattern of changing something on the outside instead of realizing what’s deeper on the inside. If you’re not sure where to start, you can ask your self: “What is there for me to learn in this?”
Q: Thank you very much. You’ve given me a lot of things to think about.
