Aspects of life

Building Cathedrals, the Secret of Meaningful Work!

Building Cathedrals, the Secret of Meaningful Work!

 

There is no difference between important and less important work –work needs to be meaningful for you and aligned with what you want to create in your life!

One day in 1671, Christopher Wren observed three bricklayers on a scaffold. He asked all of them the same question, “What are you doing?” to which the first bricklayer replied, “I’m working.” The second bricklayer, responded, “I’m building a wall.” But the third bricklayer, when asked the question, “What are you doing?” replied with a gleam in his eye, “I’m building a cathedral to The Almighty.” Christopher Wren is one of the world’s most famous architects, who was commissioned to rebuild St Paul’s Cathedral after the great fire which leveled London in 1666.

Are you a cathedral builder?

 

Is there important and less important work?

Let us imagine a reality story. I am hungry and I open my fridge. This fridge has been made and ended up in my kitchen through the efforts of countless hands, many of which do so-called not important work. Work many of us don’t want our children or the children we care for to end up doing if they are to succeed in life.

And this is only the fridge; what about the food, the kitchen, the table and the chairs, the plate and cutlery. It is endless—so many people are involved and needed in the process of feeding me when I am hungry.

We can explore this a bit further.

Is important work what you would still do regardless of payment, approval and recognition?

Our joy is directly related to how meaningful our work is to us, not to the outside world. What growth does our soul accomplish? How alive are we through our work?

Maybe what we want most for our children is that they are alive and connected to their souls.

Meaningful work may result in the highest good for all. Meaningful work may affect our environment and our children, and it is in itself not the purpose of meaningful work.

 

How do we become cathedral builders?

We are back to our beginning statement.

How do we become a cathedral builder?

We first need to identify what is meaningful for us. We need to discover thoroughly what we desire to create in our lives. Not what anybody else expects us to create, or what society or our culture expects us to create, not what we so far thought we desired. This process of identifying what we truly deeply desire in this moment is not easy.

The next step is to support internally what we desire. This step requires self-love. Self-love is allowing us to be alive through supporting our deepest desire.

When we have achieved these two internal steps, we are ready to externally redirect our resources in order to manifest what we desire and what makes us feel alive. These resources consist of different amounts of money, attention, energy and time.

We learn to become cathedral builders by tending to our State of Being.

 

The story of the three masons

Let us come back to Christopher Wren’s story and fill it with some more imagination and clarity.

A man at St. Paul’s cathedral comes across three masons who are working at chipping chunks of granite from large blocks.

 

The first mason seems unhappy at his job, chipping away and frequently looking at his watch. When this man is asked what he is doing, he responds rather shortly: “I’m hammering this stupid rock and I can’t wait ‘til 5 when I can go home and watch TV.”

He created a job that clearly does not give him joy. The invitation for him is to first start by finding out what his dream is, what he actually desires most now in this moment to create. Find out what makes him feel alive.

Do you recognize yourself in this first mason? I sometimes do. I try to be done as soon as possible with the work at hand and be able to continue what really makes me feel alive and inspired. I admit that my results are not always as I wish them to be, I often stumble on the road.

 

A second mason, seemingly is more interested in his work, he is hammering diligently, and when asked what it is that he is doing, answers: “Well, I’m molding this block of rock. I construct a wall together with other masons. It is our task at hand so that others in the chain can fulfill their job. It’s not bad work, and I’ll sure be glad when it is done.”

This man has joy in his work and sees his job as a chain in a bigger whole. Often this is how we divert our resources from what gives us energy to what will support others. When we find out what makes us feel alive, our next task is to support this, and in order to do this we need to have self-love. And not be ashamed to love ourselves. What we desire to create might become the highest good of others though it is not our aim.

Are you like this second mason? More aligned with what you are supposed to do, should do in order to fit into society? For a big part of my life, I have been like this second mason, doing what I was supposed to do and being rather satisfied by this.

 

A third mason is hammering at his block fervently, taking time to stand back and admire his work. He chips off small pieces until he is satisfied that it is the best he can do. When he is questioned about his work he stops, gazes skyward and proudly proclaims: “I am building a cathedral!”

This man does meaningful work. What he does and where he directs his resources, his time, money, attention and energy is giving him joy and fulfillment; he is alive and inspiring.

When are you like this third mason?

dancing the cowpea harvestThe girl on the photo is beautifully showing us a representation of a third mason. She is engaged in a community building process in Kufunda village, Zimbabwe. Her task is to free the cowpeas from the husks. She dances on the cowpea harvest.

 

Using ourselves as a laboratory

Holacracy is a real-world-tested social technology for agile and purposeful organization. Its creators know that your soul has to shine through in the roles you fulfill. One of their ideas is to set up a company-wide Role Market Place, where they invite the employees to rate the roles they fulfill in an organization. This tool is also useful to rate any role you fulfill in your life.

The scale assists you to rate your different roles from -3 to +3. You use the following questions:

  • If you find the role energizing (+) or draining (-)
  • If you find their talents aligned (+) or not (-) with this role
  • If you find your current skills and knowledge conducive to (+) or limiting in (-) this role

 

What makes me a cathedral builder when I am cooking? I am not a chef and yet I love to play, combine and create dishes with fresh ingredients with an abundance of different flavors and colours. I can rate myself +3, and sometimes when I have the feeling I have to prepare dinner, this can sink as low as a -3.

What makes me a cathedral builder when I clean up? The ability to feel where the energy is stuck and create order where there is more flow and harmony in our house. Then I have +3 on the rating scale.

The easiest way for me to feel like a cathedral builder is when I am writing and playing with the insights I receive.

Crafting this article makes me feel alive and happy. I write, edit, and experience in my body what is unfolding in this present moment. I am fully present with what is happening now, all of me is available. I am energized, my talents are aligned with this role, and my current skills and knowledge are conducive to this writing.

When I add this to my experience of cooking and cleaning up, it makes sense that my work is meaningful when I am as fully present as possible in the moment. With all of me present, any work is meaningful and playful.

I discover how tending to the life pulse is a major assistance for being fully present. You can read more in the article The Life Pulse Mystery. The life pulse is the cosmic principle that governs all life in the Universe, the magic pulse in the Zero Point Field that lies at the base of any manifestation. Awareness of the life pulse is a premise in order to be able to build cathedrals. This can go from a simple moment of silence, a stasis to gather momentum for a new wave of expansion, or a moment of silence in connectedness to honor all that outgoing moment has offered you. Building cathedrals is also taking time for introspection and reflection. This is the contraction, the inward movement of your life pulse.

 

 

Conclusion

What work will be meaningful and which work will nobody want to do anymore when there is no payment of any kind?

What do you want to do with your resources?

How do you want to spend your precious time, energy, attention and money?

Your State of Being is the most important task to tend to, and only that which sustains your State of Being is worth doing.

You can rate your presence in each of your current roles through these simple questions:

  • Does this role energize you?
  • Are your talents aligned with this role?
  • Are your current skills and knowledge fully contributing to this role?

                                                             Magnificent!

Three times yes, and you are a cathedral builder in this role!

If you liked this article, please share with your friends and leave a comment.

Veerle

 

image

VEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, and since 2007 has been leading many other trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’, that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

 

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/hosting for your organisation at:
http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

 

 

 

Aspects of life

Easy Ways You Can Turn Play and Work into a Sacred Marriage!

Easy Ways You Can Turn Play and Work into a Sacred Marriage! 

Even if you cannot change your outer circumstances, YOU are always available and are an astonishing tool to make your work feel like play!

 

The recent World Cup Football in Brazil intrigues me and prompts me to wonder if we as human beings might be ready to consider the possibility to see work and play as equal. Millions of people worldwide watched the football games, spoke about it, and engaged in it. We all were looking at how a group of selected people played together as a team and gained a great deal of money and attention by doing so.

Does your work feel like play?

Imagine what the consequences could be if we equalize work and play.

 

Watching a Football game

We will use the metaphor of football as a story to clarify the relationship between play and work.

Imagine you are in front of a big screen and you are watching a football play between Argentina and the Netherlands. You feel the joy of the players; they greet each other with respect and dignity. The game starts, you are at the edge of your seat, so exciting, and you seem to have to look at different sides at the same time, so much is happening. You feel the energy of the players. It is full of joy and excitement. The energy is contagious. This is so beautiful—the two teams respect each other and give each other space to play. You like it, what a pleasure to watch. The first half of the game is gone before you have even checked the time. The goalkeepers have done amazing work, no ball entered their goals. You feel fulfilled and happy.

 

A football match is worth seeing when there is space for playing, when the football players have fun and engage with the ball. Sometimes they visibly work hard in order not to let the ball enter their goal or to make a goal, and mostly that generates less excitement and inspiration in the spectators.

 

We know they play with a set of rules in their minds and it seems as if the difference is made when players are able to transcend the box of rules and catch the attention of the public. They do something more than what you expect; they create the circumstances for play, for enjoyment, for creativity.

 

What is needed for a football team to establish this?

Underneath all of this, from my perspective, are again the Harmonizer Souls who hold the space for this to be possible. Michael Newton, the regression hypnotherapist, reminds us of this amazing specific group of souls that are able to transform negative energy. His information arises from his far-reaching research into the afterlife.

A coach can be an amazing Harmonizer Soul, not doing anything the moment of the play itself, though holding space, transmuting negativity, and trusting the strength and courage of the players. And there are many more Harmonizer Souls at work, mostly invisible, who make the play worth looking at and prepare the right conditions. The more playfulness those Harmonizer Souls have, the easier their tasks.

The outer circumstances are important to create space for work to become play, and I am curious what the inner circumstances are.

 

Dismantling Shame and Self-Judgment

Where are you on the work­­­­­-play continuum?

I truly believe work and play are equal, and for a while I really thought I was walking my talk. Then recently I discovered how much shame is attached to this experience of work as play, of life as easy and pleasurable, of accomplishments as effortless. Does that resonate with you?

 

This short story exemplifies my undercover shame and self-judgment.

We are on vacation. I am crafting on a blog article and feeling really happy and excited. I feel how a great deal of inspiration flows through me. It is effortless and joyful. At a certain moment my friend asks me if I want an ice-cream. I get completely confused, I look at her, I don’t answer her question and continue my work. In the moment I perceive how I feel more constricted, there is less energy flow.

A few hours after this incident, my friend gently inquires what happened with me and why I did not answer her when she asked if I wanted an ice cream.

I have no idea, and it takes me hours to realize that what I perceived was shame. Excruciating shame about who I am surfaces. This shame is related to my work, that what I am doing is not okay when it is easy and pleasurable. My work is not worth speaking about when I am not tired and when I experience my work as play.

 

Brené Brown is one of the TED talks’ darlings, and she provides us with a great deal of research around shame. Work is definitely an area where we are susceptible to shame. Shame appears when we do not fit in, when we do not obey the collective beliefs.

I tap into underlying beliefs, beliefs that are rooted deep into my system. Work is not play, and if your work is play, it will not be serious enough to even mention. Yet I am really questioning this belief. Is that really true?

As I sit with this question, I begin to realize that this belief covers unmet needs. We all have unmet needs, this is inherent to the body-mind we choose to partner with. My needs seem to be about appreciation and recognition. Will I invalidate the approval I so strongly need by playing my work and creating my play?

 

Let’s go back to the football play. We have the most fun when the players really enjoy and play on the field. We approve of them more when they play than when it feels like hard work for them. So maybe we will get more approval when it seems that we don’t need it anymore, when we play and enjoy ourselves.

 

We can continue.

Have you ever judged an artist who is completely embodying a certain scene and playing with great pleasure?

Have you ever judged a builder who sings an aria and joyfully puts one stone on another?

Have you ever judged a teacher who skillfully uses stories in order to transmit geography and clearly has a lot of pleasure in what she is doing?

Those people are inspiring, we almost automatically feel joyful when we meet them.

 

We need pleasure and joy, we need to see and be seen in our happiness.

And the way in which our soul wants this partnership to happen is really through play. Through play the soul can look through the eyes of the body-mind. Through play there is a dance happening between your soul and this sacred body-mind, and you learn how your hearts can beat as one. Through play there is space created in this body-mind, spaciousness feels like pleasure. Play stimulates the production of joy molecules like endorphins that chemically create bliss in our bodies.

Dismantling our shame and self-judgment are a foundation on which we can apply simple steps to affect our outer circumstances.

 

Five easy tips: S.M.I.L.E. 

One word and five easy tips to offer you more play in your daily work. Let us start at the beginning. You are the only one who is with you all the time when you are working. You are in any moment able to make simple new choices to include more play in your work.

S = Smile

M= Move your sacred body

I= Inspire and Expire, breath

L= Listen to your needs

E= Eye contact, eyes are the doorway to the soul

smile

Smile is the key word and our first tip. You can try it in this very moment. Experience how it feels when you smile, your belly opens up instantaneously. Let go of the smile and feel the difference. Your energy field feels more contained, there is less spaciousness.

 

Move on a regular basis, each time you remember. These movements can be very subtle, and still your physical body will love it and cherish you with pleasure.

 

Inspire and expire—we so often forget to deeply breathe in and out. The air is free and available in abundance for each of us. Consciously breathing nourishes your physical body and charges your energy field. There is more playfulness. There is another meaning of inspire, which will effortlessly accompany your breathing. You inspire, you become inspirational.

 

Listen to your needs. Everybody has needs, and whatever we do is to meet those needs. When you learn to listen to your needs, you create the ability to find new strategies to fulfill them and add play to your current work situation.

 

Eye contact, as eyes are the doorway to the soul. Do you remember the last time you looked someone in the eyes and how that filled you with pleasure? We often are scared to look someone in the eyes, and maybe we can give it a try and see if that brings more play in our work.

 

 

CONCLUSION

The sacred marriage between play and work is an invitation for you to access more of your potential through this amazing partnership between your soul and this body-mind, which is at your disposal to experience life in this human reality. The ‘I’—that is really ‘you’—dances and radiates.

The foundation you need to explore this play-work continuum is time to carefully examine your beliefs around the meeting of play and work. Discover the shame that often accompanies these beliefs. Dare to become shame resilient and question these beliefs.

 

Your outer circumstances might not yet be ideal to experience joy at work, yet there is always the presence of YOU and a great deal you can do through this amazing simple tool S.M.I.L.E.

After all, play is contagious and inspiring.

How do you add more play into your work?

Simply S.M.I.L.E. !

The next article will be about how to build Cathedrals and change the perspective of our work. You can subscribe to the website and become part of our laboratory for new structures and navigation into the unknown.

Love,

Veerle

August 25th, 2014

 

GHF V outside 1VEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, and since 2007 has been leading many other trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’, that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

 

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:
http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging