If you are one of the millions of Americans who dread the work week, now is a great time to create a new story about work and play. As a matter of fact, I’m here to inspire you to leave “work” out of the new story and replace it with the word “create.” This is just one of the many ideas from a book that I am reading, The Way of Mastery. I am currently on Book II, the Way of Transformation. While I have been using these books for my own awakening, I am simultaneously applying the information to the transformation of the American workplace.
Throughout the first 6 chapters in The Way of Transformation, emphasis is placed on our willingness and desire to end our belief in the separation, and the life that we’ve created as a result of that belief. Willingness to transform, for most of us, is born out of the desire for relief from pain and suffering. Both of the latter are born out of our dissatisfaction with the way we are living our lives; what we’re putting out versus what we are receiving.
Some of us are clinging to a belief that low wages, one of the aspects of workplace misery, for jobs are a result of the economy; and the health and well-being of the economy is the responsibility of the government. This belief holds that whoever is in the White House should be held accountable for the state of the economy. Sooner or later, however, it should become clear that no matter who sits in the Oval Office, the percentage of U.S. employees who are emotionally and actively disengaged at their jobs is increasing. Actually, it is the false belief that working hard and earning a living is synonymous with happiness or financial security that is fueling workplace misery. The bottom line is the six-figured employee is just as miserable as the five-figured one. It’s not about the pay.
This projecting of the problem outwards is what The Way of Transformation calls blame. It is blaming people and conditions outside of us for our lot when in fact, it is we who create the reality that we live each and every day, based on what we think and believe. Blame operates hand in hand with denial. Becoming aware of the blame and denial game are some of the initial steps in the way of transformation. Realizing that our experiences conform to what we believe leads us to the next stage in the way of transformation: forgiveness. It becomes necessary to let everyone “off the hook,” and claim our power to create or mis-create, both our divine right.
Throughout The Way of Transformation there are practical exercises, all of which, of course, are focused on changing the mind, changing what it is we think and examining what it is we believe. All of these practices require a strong desire to shift the life experience and a willingness or commitment to see the transformation through to the end.
There should be no doubt in any of our minds that this transformation will come to pass. The old workplace narrative is on its last breathe. It is here in the transformation that we will witness some of the strongest and most fervent denials of our authorship of workplace misery. These denials will come from disenchanted employees to CEO’s and business leaders. But this denial is linked to the inevitable next stage in the way of transformation: surrender.
