Honour that Work is Sacred

I recently launched my new website, a beautiful co-creation between myself, Big Bold Brand and The Storytelling Specialist. Plus, of course, all the fab people who have guided and championed me* as Transforming Ventures came into the world to support the inclusion of the sacred in our work and workplace.

Part of creating this work and this business was defining the four values, or pillars, that are the supporting architecture of the company. This post dives into the first one, which states:

Honour that work is sacred. We believe every business, including ours, has a soul and divine purpose. When we recognize that things are out of alignment, we adjust course.

This is such a succinct summary of how I want my business, and all organizations, to show up in the world. And it is also fun to pull apart and dive into each concept.

Honour that work is sacred.

Every moment of your life is sacred, so of course our work and our time in the workplace is sacred, although it certainly doesn’t always feel like that. And at the same time, work feels like a particular kind of sacred to me, as it is such fertile soil to reap the lessons we are here on this earth to learn. Through our work we are thrown into situations that are challenging and often unknown, with people we may or may not have chosen to spend the day with, to make a living and support ourselves and our families. It can push all our buttons around purpose, value, actualization and so much more.

Work is also a perfect place to remember and practice the sacred teachings, ancient wisdom, and immutable truths of nature that guide to aligning with our highest selves including:

• The most important lesson is the one right in front of you. (That manager driving you crazy? Yup, that is exactly where you are suppose to be, to learn what you are suppose to learn.)

• You are always being guided for your highest good. Seriously. Always. Including at work.

• In every moment you choose to act from fear or to act from love. And you can always choose and choose again.

• We are at our best when we work with, instead of against, seasonality and the rhythms of nature; for example, when can align our work processes to match the growing cycle of planting, tending, harvesting, and lying fallow. Nothing is more effective over time for our work and workplaces.

Your business has a soul.

Your business, and mine, is a separate entity that exists outside of any of the humans operating the organization, even if it is a sole proprietorship. This entity has a soul — not the same as a human soul, but a kind of resonance that expresses the divine intelligence of nature. The soul of your business speaks with you through energy and images and emotions. And also numbers; that profit & loss statement you are looking at (or avoiding looking at) is the business telling you an important story of its health, sustainability, and the direction it is heading. Listen well.

Oh and I’ll give you a little tip I’ve been passing along lately to entrepreneurial clients and people in my network during these challenging times; the soul of your business never, not ever, wants you to burn out or become exhausted or drive yourself to the ground. Your business wants to co-create with you in harmony and peace and fun and joy. If you feel like your work is beating you down, look inward for the answers, not to your business.

Your business has a divine purpose.

At its highest level, we are all here for the same purpose: this is earth school and the lesson we are here to learn is to remember who we are, beings of love and extensions of Source. However, we also each have our own singular purpose here in this time and space, with specifics lessons that help us fully understand the higher purpose.

The entity you work in, whether your own business, a company where you are an employee, a non-profit, or any other organizational structure, also has a sacred purpose. It has work to do in this world and naturally wants to keep moving towards more fully expressing that purpose.

When we are out of alignment, we adjust course

So your work and workplace is sacred, you have a purpose, and your organization has a purpose. And guess what? It is super fuckin’ tricky to line all those things up.

What we can do, is learn with ever-more clarity how to recognize when actions, behaviours, and beliefs are not in alignment with either our own purpose or the purpose of the business. As an individual, this shows up through emotions such as frustration, anger, victimhood, apathy, grandiosity, etc., etc.

As an organization, (which is space Transforming Ventures works in) we can recognize when the systems and actions of the business are out of alignment with its purpose when there is repetitive and unresolved challenges and issues, when their is friction in the flow of work or communications, when the organization is not in right relationship with profitability, or when there is low engagement or high turnover. (I’m so curious about all the confusion over the “great resignation.” This is happening because of misalignment, at least for the people who are leaving to “get away” as opposed to “moving towards”.)

Start where you are

It is important for me to say here that doing this work of remembering, discovering, and living into the sacredness of works looks very different for each of us. I’m a privileged person here in this world (white, cis gendered, financially stable, living in a relatively safe country, loved by friends and family, able bodied, and on and on), so I have the resources and internal capacity to dive deeply into this journey. If you are heading out to your third job of the week in order to barely make enough money to pay the rent, or if you are in the thick of healing from generational trauma, remembering that you are a beautiful sacred being loved beyond measure is powerful, and may not feel accessible. Or even safe.

Or if you have had the principles of capitalism etched into your being for generations, the thought of practicing something other than grinding hard work and chasing the most profitable path regardless of cost may seem wildly foreign to you.

And still, I stand by the truth that you, and your work, and your workplace, are sacred. One exercise to experience what Transforming Ventures does in the world is to think of a process that you do often. (Bonus if you think of a process that isn’t the favourite part of your workday.) It could be answering the phone, providing feedback to a team member, updating the project management system, completing a report. Take a look at the steps you do regularly and ask if there is one thing you can tweak to add kindness into the process. What would make this work feel even a tiny bit more kind to yourself, your co-workers, your manager, or employee? Give it a try. My guess is you will find a shift, even if only slightly, towards peace. And maybe even uncover some love and joy. It is there to be found, in your sacred work, in your sacred self.

* I love giving shoutouts to those who have supported me on the way. Here are just a few: Practical Feet Advisors; The Leader Path by PowHERhouse; Voice Matters; Revolutionary Women’s Dojo; Emerging Women