Something is missing at our place of work, something is very wrong….and we know it.
So many of us are sleepwalking to work each day feeling unmotivated, unfulfilled, unproductive, and un-empowered; work has lost any sense of meaning and enjoyment. Our passion is gone. We have become cynical and disengaged. A job has been reduced to a means of paying bills, something to get through, waiting until Friday…until retirement.
At work, we have let ourselves be reduced to a utility, to be used for the highest level of productivity at the lowest cost, to pump the stock in order to line the pockets of the people controlling the game. We have lost our direction and our purpose, and consequently, a piece of our soul. Our corporations are paying for this loss and so are we.
Becoming conscious around money involves being aware of our relationship with how we spend, invest and earn money. This month’s column is a call-to-action for you to retrieve your soul—your essence, meaning, and purpose—to awaken and once again feel connected to, and part of, something that has meaning and purpose, while earning money beyond the illusion, manipulation, separateness, and destruction of single-minded profit making that drives so many of us and our corporations today.
A Growing Problem
Studies report that:
• 80% of people are dissatisfied with their jobs.
• The average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime.
• There isn’t much job security. On average, Americans hold seven to eight different jobs before age 30.
• More than 13 million working days are lost every year because of stress-related illnesses.
Making Money and Doing Something you Love
Money, as we all know, has a huge affect on our lives. In my practice as a wealth manager, I help people make conscious and purposeful choices about how they earn, spend, and invest their money.
Money is something we have made up, it is just a piece of paper to which we have given power. I have written about it in past columns and talked about how the invention of money has helped us achieve great things by facilitating trade and labor. But many of us have fallen into an addiction to or fear of money. And when it comes to the energy of earning money we are beginning to see the destructive results at home and abroad.
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
– Jimi Hendrix
Those who have a lot of money have an increased potential to control and manipulate and those who have less have the potential to fall into the mindset of a victim. As the divide of wealth continues to increase, it is forcing many of us to find or hold on to a job that pays us enough to ‘get by,’ and is testing the character of those who have a lot of money; will they or won’t they resist the primal trigger to conquer through fear and control.
Passions, Dreams…and Work?
For the majority of middle-class Americans, thinking about following our passions and dreams, doing something we love, and being true to ourselves is a luxury we don’t think we have. We spend more than half of our lives at work, and we still think this way?
Many of us are working for corporations that lack any purpose beyond making a profit. The shamans would say that these corporations have lost a piece of their soul. Many of us find ourselves doing this out of fear or greed; fear that we may not be able to survive, or greed because we are addicted to our lifestyles and money (as I wrote about in my last column, “12 Steps to Money Rehabilitation”). Working without purpose, and the subsequent feeling of despair and hopelessness, is no way to live. This type of personal sacrifice can be admirable in a way, when we are doing it to feed our families, but is it necessary to sell our souls and abandon ourselves for the benefit of others?
In the classic interview about The Hero’s Journey with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell, Campbell referred to the challenge of working with purpose and following our bliss as they talked about a man who would go to work each day on a subway train to a job that didn’t feed his soul, but took care of his family. And although he ‘lost a piece of himself” each day, he was sacrificing himself for his family. This story illustrates the challenge that many of us face. We can either ignore the ideal of working at a job that has a purpose beyond a paycheck, or demand to earn a living with purpose. Maybe we can have both? Maybe we deserve both.
The Cost – A Spiritual Perspective
The shamans will tell you that sleepwalking through life creates a personal and societal hell. When we work for a company that’s only purpose is to make a profit, it eats at our souls, until one day we wake up and ask the question WHY? This form of waking can come in many different flavors but one of the most common arrives in the form of dis- ease of the mind and body.
Guess when most heart attacks happen in our country? Friday night? Wednesday evening? Monday morning?
If you said Monday mornings you were right. Studies show that men are 20% and women 15% more likely to have a heart attack on Monday mornings.
‘Wake ups,’ or ‘initiations,’ give us a gentle tap, or a not so gentle slap, to remind us that there is more to life than the mindless march from A to B with an occasional C thrown in in the form of a vacation.
The shamans and ancient wisdom keepers from all walks of life will tell you that when you awaken you can see your life for what it is, without any self-deception or illusion. From this state of consciousness you can see with clarity.
Honor Your Soul’s Mission
You’re here for a reason. There is a purpose to life. Find the light inside you. Feed it, fire it up, and let it shine with abandon throughout the world; it will reflect upon you in ways unimagined.
Your soul has a special song, a special vibration that is like a snowflake; no two are alike. Your job on this earth is to align your ‘being’ with your ‘doing.’ To a shaman, your soul is as real as your mind and body, and because of that it needs to be cared for. When our soul’s vibration is aligned with our physical existence, we are in authentic power. We are most powerful when we are on the path to recognizing the unique gift we have to share with the world.
When we continue to do things that are not in alignment with who we are we operate out of balance, like a car that bumps down the road because a tire is out of balance, or like a person walking around with a pebble in their shoe. Eventually these things eat at us. When I see a person in this state of unbalance it feels as though they are singing out of tune, and the more people who are living this way the more our world sounds like an entire chorus signing out of tune. The universe is subject to this noise and the ripple effect begins to subconsciously disturb the rest of us. The bees can’t find their way back to the hives and the oceans become dark and murky. When we live out of balance our soul is in a state of constant stress. We get sick and depressed and lose meaning and purpose.
Be sure to pick up next month’s issue to learn more about how soul loss is related to how you earn money and how to find your way back to soulful work.
Connecticut resident Lawrence Ford was dubbed the “Shaman of Wall Street” by the Washington Post – he lives in “both worlds”, the modern world of business and the ancient world of wisdom. Conscious Capital Wealth Management (formerly Ford Financial Group) has helped over 5,000 people with their investment and insurance needs since 1989. Lawrence Ford is a Registered Repre-sentative of INVEST Financial Corporation (INVEST), member FINRA/SIPC. Lawrence can be reached at: Lford@consciouscapitalwm.com or 860-659-8299.
All expressions of opinion in this commentary reflect the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of INVEST. This commentary does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. INVEST does not offer tax and/or legal advice and it is strongly recommended you consult with your legal or tax professional for guidance on your particular situation. INVEST offers securities and is not affiliated with Conscious Capital Wealth Management, LLC. This material was developed and produced by FMG Suite and Lawrence Ford of Conscious Capital Wealth Management, LLC.