(read time: 3 minutes)
I used to work in Corporate America as an engineer and businessman. I worked a ton, frequently clocking in 60+ hour weeks and sometimes traveling over 100,000 miles a year. It was awful and took a real toll on my physical and emotional health. No joke – I almost died a couple times because my immune system was so compromised. I eventually calmed down and stopped working like a maniac, but I found that I wasn’t that much happier doing what I was doing. After a lot of work in therapy and on the meditation cushion, I found that there were two (very deep) underlying issues at play:
- I didn’t know who I really was, which meant I didn’t really know what I was supposed to be doing here, and by “here,” I mean planet Earth. My purpose, and my career goal, was to produce cash, which was an empty approach to life devoid of meaning and purpose.
- I hadn’t integrated work with the rest of my life. Work was something I “had to do,” and I would experience the “Sunday dreads” and often find myself thinking about Friday even though it was only Monday.
These two issues are closely related, or even causal, given that it’s impossible to integrate an activity into one’s life if that activity is incongruent with one’s true identity, which being a corporate person always was for me – incongruent, and maybe even antithetical. I was put here to crush human suffering, not sit in an isolated cube or office and slave away at a computer to make money.
When you come to understand who or what you really are and what you are doing, all of your various life activities actually become one activity: being the authentic you. Again, the best way to explain this is to use myself as an example. It doesn’t really matter what I’m doing – spending time with my family and friends, working as a therapist, exercising, meditating, or grocery shopping – I’m always doing one thing, being me. And what am I? I am a spark of cosmic consciousness here to enjoy the bliss of Awareness and to eliminate as much suffering as I possibly can along the way. I exercise and meditate to show myself compassion and stay healthy and strong. I greet everyone I meet wherever I am with warmth and genuine interest, because I know they are a suffering being just like myself. I do therapy to help people free themselves from suffering. I spend time with my family to share and enjoy our lives together, which helps keep all our suffering at bay.
There’s no pressure because I’m no longer defined by, or otherwise attached to, outcomes. I try to be real careful about what I choose to do, and I make an effort to continually get better at all of it. I’m not actually trying to achieve anything other than being me. Sure, I still do lots of stuff. Some of it works out well, some of it doesn’t. Oh well, I’m doing what I can, and that is enough. Life is simple, and great.
It took me a lot of work to get to this point, partly because I wasn’t being guided very well through the process. Lots of trial and error ensued, but I eventually figured it out. Maybe it’s time for you to finally figure out who you really are, what you are doing here, and then integrate all of your life into the simple pleasure and peace of mind that comes from being your true, beautiful, authentic, and amazing self.
