Let the Tao Help You Find the Job You Were Born to Do

At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together."Through selfless service you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires", this is the promise of your Creator.
Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita

How do you feel about your work?  Why do you work?  Do you work to make a living, or do work to express yourself? Do you work to prove yourself or do you work to join the world and share your unique gift with others?

We have found that your attitude towards your work already decides the outcome. If you work just to make a living, your attitude is more like work is something you need to tolerate so naturally you won’t enjoy it so much. As a matter of fact, you won't expect much and consequently will find little enjoyment in your occupation. You probably will not invest much of yourself into it and into the relationships at work and will quickly run out of patience when things don't work your way.

 If your attitude is to express yourself at work instead and use this opportunity to join the world and connect with people, you will transform your work and you find that your work and the people you connect with transform you in return. You are willing to learn, you devote yourself to your environment and the people, so you will open up to the whole process and your work will literally become a special place that way. That's how energy works, where your attention and your energy flows, magic happens.  You will succeed because your attitude manifests success. Your energy creates reality.

 Many people work just to make money.  They use money to measure how successful they are.  That is fine too if it is meaningful to you. Money is a proxy of success and status in our society and it helps you explore what exactly it is that you want to get out of life. But in the end understand that this stage in your life is just there to help you guide to the occupation that is truly meaningful to you. When you have truly found yourself, when you have finally embraced that occupation that shares your unique gift with the world, money will be the last thing you think about. It will flow naturally to you and just as your presence enriches the lives of others, you will have everything that matters to you in your life.

If you want to work to express yourself, you must know who you are and what you want. When you are split in your actions and your cravings - the stuff that you want to get out of your job and others - your effort and attention will only be half-hearted. It is ok to accept that stage but keep on realigning yourself and exploring what you can do differently. Know that the Tao works hard in the background to align your unique gift with your underlying desires. When you are on the top of your game, you get exactly the recognition you want just as your customers and your colleagues get exactly the service from you that they need. Align yourself completely with your environment and find that suddenly " work" becomes your life instead.  You express yourself through your work.

Getting to this point is not easy. Unfortunately our expectations, our conflicts with money, our conjectures of what others might think of us often come in the way. Sometimes we also don't trust that we have a gift that is special. The trick is to understand that the Tao has a plan for you already. Everything you do right now is a stepping stone towards sharing your gift with the world. Even if you have to work on something that you do not love wholeheartedly in the beginning stay with it until you find that open door for the occupation of your dreams. Colleagues and customers who annoy you may in fact have a learning opportunity in store for you that brings the gem out of hiding. "No master has ever fallen from the sky", a German proverb says. Step after step everything will become  clear to you. The love of your life is waiting for you patiently and when you have finally connected, you will feel fulfilled just as all the people are who are helped by you. Let the Tao help you find the job you were born to do.

By Christian and Su Zhen