Glimpse 24 - In service to what?

"The key to power when it comes to your work life is to remember that you are there in the service of God. Our career is not something that we go out and find. Your perfect career is something that emerges from deep within you. When you are aligned with the truth within yourself then you magnetize people and circumstances which align with that truth. When you are disassociated with the deeper truth about yourself then you create situations in your life which reflect that disassociation." -- Marianne Williamson Meditations for a Miraculous Life

I heard that yesterday morning as I began a new "Monday Musings" time for myself - an hour, rich and rife with fodder and content of meditation lead by someone else's inner to outer dialogue, someone other than my own. And I adored this passage because it hits so deeply to what I've learned in my own life and most especially from coaching countless people and organizations the last 10+ years.

The key to power... it starts... power... not like "I am the King or Queen of" but more like "gas in my tank" is how I took that... an abundant source of energy, to have choices = power. So many people have walked through my life door, tired, exhausted, without power, searching for something they don't seem to be able to grasp - a new job, an enhanced relationship, more productivity from self, sales people or fund raisers, inspiration to be a better teacher, principal, engineer, minister, health care worker, parent, more money, more time, more fun, more purpose -- all of it, right there in the center of their soul... just not connected yet.

If I asked you the information on your driver's license, you'd be able to rattle it off quickly to me. If I asked you what are the five most important belief's you hold and function from daily - I've not been as successful finding anyone able to rattle them off on their first try. What does this say about your own alignment with what Marianne calls the "aligned with the truth within yourself?" And if, by chance, you can rattle them off quickly, can you define them for me and tell me how they show up in your life and choices daily, supported by you and those around you? Yeah, well... there ya have it.

Each of you who have worked with me know about those first few weeks of exploring and learning your value system and what you need or require daily to have the kinds of days you want to live in or the success you want as you define it. So this comes as no surprise to any of you - how completely out of touch most people are with what makes them tick and how completely unaware of it they are. Coaching is about that... it is about discovering what the truth in you is, empowering you (putting gas in your tank) to draw you forward, willingly, not push you forward... and yet......... in service to what?

My sense here is that the successful people I've worked with may or may not call what their life's work or passion is "in service to God" in all cases - yet if you perceive the world around you as a place with living, breathing people that you love, you can call it whatever you want. Without the "in service to" something outside yourself - without that connection to something bigger, greater, more peaceful, cooler, warmer, quieter, whatever-er, people seem to falter, stall and become like the gerbils in the cage on their treadmills. Get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, take a vacation once a year. Ugh.

In working with teens I often hear how much pressure is put upon them (and I also hear this in the 40+ crowd too) to be anything, to go anywhere, to have the world as their oyster, how lucky they are... and I so disagree with the open ended thoughts of "being anything." Their answers aren't out in the big wide world of expansive career skies, their answers are within. Often small and unheard, untended and undernourished... And perhaps, so are yours. You can be anything, anything you want to be, are connected with from the inside out...

If all you want is a job to get ahead, to pay the bills, to go to in the morning - go for it. If what you want seems impossible to get to from where you are - work with a coach - it's not impossible.

I have a client who, for fun, is an incredibly passionate guitar maker and hobby farmer - you ought to hear this person LIGHT UP when they talk about it - and then in the next sentence, they talk about corporate businesses and, the energy goes away and the "shoulda's" show up.

Does this mean this incredibly curious, kind, intelligent person needs to quit their day job and become a luthier and farmer for their living? No. Not necessarily. What these things do tell us is to dig a little deeper in the well of connecting our work and our life to things we enjoy and love. It gives us "power."

This person is a helluva an entrepreneur and biz dev, management/leadership oriented person - what if they applied the skills they love to something in the field of agriculture or hand crafted instruments instead of 'other' ilks? I don't even pretend to know that answer, because it's not my question to answer - it's his, it's yours...... then what?

The what if game is one YOU have to play with yourself, in service to something, a cause, a passion, a love, a deep connection that occurs naturally between you and something else..something that aligns with you, your soul, your interests -- then, and only then will you find this power.. this power of alignment, magnetization and attraction. Then and only then are you really on the road to unlocking the answers to the first of many life riddles awaiting you beyond that door.

You cannot Google your life's work or purpose. Your answers are within. Start working with someone who knows how to get the best from you and or your organization soon... Hire a 'real' coach... (That's a whole nuther story for another day...)

So you work, you live your life... in service to what?

I remain, in service to each of you who come bravely forward to unlocking what's next in your own lives and or organizations.