INSERT LOVE IN THE WORK YOU DO

I know people who literally hate their work, in fact I have been in that position a time or two in my own life.  The reasons for doing work that you do not love are many and varied, but generally we endure the situation for purely financial reasons -- we have mortgages, we have families to feed and we feel compelled to keep up with the Joneses.

As idealistic as it may seem, it is not always possible for some of us to be involved in employment that we truly love or which gives us complete fulfillment.  We have to do a great many unpleasant things in life as a means to an end, but I have found that if we do them in the spirit of good intentions and with a kind heart, they are really not that bad after all.  We can avoid dwelling on how much we hate the work by thinking instead about the things we earn as a result of doing that work.  It's all about rationalization and positive reinforcement.

It is crucial to understand, too, that you cannot get anything without giving something.  With that age-old truth foremost in our minds we can simply give ourselves over to the work that we either choose, or are required, to do.  Don't hate it -- love it!  Love, after all, is the most important ingredient in life and in our work.

Liberate your love.  Spread it out and keep giving it away -- to the product or service you are contributing to, to your fellow workers, to your family, and mankind in general.  It is contagious and it will come back to you, that much has been proven time and time again.  Liberated love expands our soul, gives us energy and strengthens us physically...It helps us stay the course under less than ideal circumstances.

Love is the salt that savors the whole and drives away the mists so that the sun may eternally shine though in everything we do.

I've tried my hand at a lot of things

I have had many jobs in my life, none of which paid a lot of money, and I always found it necessary to have an extra iron or two in the fire in order to make financial ends meet. Sadly, it was not something I loved to do, rather I opted to do it because I thought supplementing my income was an economic necessity.  In hindsight, that may be the reason I did not totally succeed at some things...Often I found myself working more and loving it less.

I may have set a record for part-time jobs in one lifetime.  Looking back now, the effort I gave to part-time, extra curricular activities, certainly detracted from my full-time employment.  Simply stated, I came dangerously close at times to over-extending my energies and in the process spread myself a little too thin.  Consider for instance:

-- For several years I worked part-time in a clothing store, evenings and weekends.
-- Operated a janitorial/cleaning service, evenings.
-- Undertook freelance writing assignments.
-- Sold cemetery plots on part-time basis.
-- Serviced a Kids' Korner toy distributorship.
-- Sold nutritional products on two separate occasions.
-- Served as security guard in numerous venues for a number of years.
-- Worked in landscaping one summer, simultaneously attempting to establish an in-home public relations consultancy.
-- Was a licenced chauffeur, driving limousines.
-- Shuttled rental cars at Pearson Int'l. Airport.
-- As a sub-contractor, read hard to access gas meters on weekends for Consumers Gas.
-- Paid statistician for a number of sports leagues.
-- Umpired baseball for two seasons (made $900.00 in my peak year).
-- Delivered the Globe & Mail newspaper, early a.m.
-- In retirement, was a lay preacher for recent two-year period (two Sundays a month).

And those are just a few of the part-time jobs that I remember.  There are several short-lived efforts that I choose to forget.

What did I gain by doing all of this on top of my regular employment as a newspaper editor and public relations practitioner?  Absolutely nothing in the end.  It certainly would not enhance a resume, if I needed one now at my advanced stage of life.  My bank account does not reflect all the time and effort, although I guess I did pay a few bills along the way. 

I must have had nervous energy, and a degree of restlessness, particularly 20 years ago when experiencing that man thing known as the mid-life crisis.  I can't believe the amount of sleep that I lost at one time and still do, for that matter.  In retrospect, I am hard-pressed to explain why I found it necessary to do some of the things that I did. 

One thing that I can say is that I have tried my hand at just about every job imaginable...And learned a lot, especially about attitude and the importance of love in all vocational undertakings.  Just ask the folks at Revenue Canada about how they used to LOVE me every year in April.

Wonderful, isn't it, how we can spread love and share the wealth?