The Pageless Book

Photo Above by Richard Rutter. Photo Below by Lee Chisholm.

The Master doesn’t talk, he acts. When his work is done, the people say, “Amazing, we did it all by ourselves!” - Tao Te Ching, verse 17, Mitchell Translation.

At work, I’ve been trying to foster people-management skills within myself to further my career and in preparation to go into ministry. Too often I’ve heard that being a minister for a Unitarian Universalist Congregation is like herding cats, so I figured management-skills would be an important asset. What I’ve found interesting, though, is how much management philosophy has in common with my spiritual philosophy.

A great deal of emphasis is placed on achieving success through indirect means. For example, although managers have power and privilege above that of a normal employee, the point of those benefits is not to enjoy them for yourself, but to use them in accomplishing your job. The training material that I’ve read suggests using that power and privilege to reward employees and ensure they have the tools needed to succeed.

For those who’ve never been in a position of management before, it is quite a paradigm shift. Instead of doing something as a means to accomplishing an end, you are influencing people as a means to accomplish an end. Each manager is given the authority to make demands, force results, and discipline employees, but the power that a manager has isn’t derived from using his authority - rather it is from having the authority yet not using it that he is able to get things done. It is through mutual trust, respect, and communication that a manager achieves results.

What is perhaps even more interesting is how a manager finds job satisfaction in the achievement of others. They are like engine grease; it is their job to make sure all of the parts are running smoothly and aren’t causing friction. A manager knows he has done a good job when he is no longer needed to get the job done. It requires a sense of the larger picture - a manager needs to be able to see how all the parts of the business fit together.

How are these thinks like spirituality? The same panoramic understanding of business, when applied to life, helps us see our place in the grand scheme of things. We know that we are but a small part of a whole, greater than the sum of its parts. Power is not within money or fame, but in the trust and respect of others. People are the ultimate power source; they create authority. The trick is to understand that power and authority is most effective when given back to that source of power and authority. Using the trust people place within you against the better interests of those people results in diminished respect… diminished authority.

The lessons are clear - pay attention, respect and be respected, do good unto each other. Moral teaching of the great religions have found a home within effective management philosophy. Of course, that doesn’t mean that learning how to manage people is easy. Then again, neither is religion.

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written by John \\ tags: Career, Lessons, Life, Religion, Spirituality, Work

Photo Above by Danielle Blue. Photo Below by Wired Protocol.

I come from a lower middle-class family with two blue-collar working parents. When my mother had first met my step-father, he was a union steel worker, which was at the time a secure job you could count on until retirement. Someone forgot to tell the company owners that, because throughout my childhood our family suffered temporary lay-offs which lead to unpaid bills and eventual eviction notices. I don’t blame my parents; they were raised in an industrial society and were unprepared for the shift to a technological white-collar based economy.

In time, the temporary lay-offs stretched from weeks into months, until one day they closed down the plant at which my step-father worked. This event sent my parents into a panic. I remember long nights of listening to them argue about money, bills, and blaming each other for how bad things had gotten. At some point, I became tired of worrying and fearing the next crisis. Had we not survived these issues before? My parents had always seemed to pull their resources and their wits together at the last minute, finding a means for us to survive as a family. I began to see all the arguing and worrying as a waste of time and energy that could have been better spent resolving or even preventing my family’s financial problems. We would always survive; the question became how well we would survive.

In stark contrast to my parents, I had developed hope for the future. Now this wasn’t a naive hope - after all we had been through, I learned that hard times are always a pink slip away. However, times would not always be hard, and every passing moment of in-fighting was another lost opportunity to make the hard times a little less hard. Why waste that energy and time?

So, when my wife came home early from work seven months ago and told me with a stunned look on her face that she had been let go, I didn’t panic. I knew that we would make this work - no stressing needed. I was pretty confident that she would have a new job within the next couple of months. Even though I was wrong, and we have struggled through these last seven months, I knew that we would survive. There was no question in my mind that this was a temporary situation.

On Saturday, my wife visited me on my lunch break at work and told me that she had an interview with a local company. This company she was referring to has a great reputation, and she is looking forward to working for them. After such a long period of shrinking prospects and temporary positions, we may finally be looking at the opportunity for which we’ve been waiting. The hard times are almost over. Do you know what? They weren’t all that hard after all.

What does this have to do with spirituality? It shows that hope does win out in the end. These financial issues that I have witnessed in the past and am living with in the present are a microcosm of the ills in this world. Faith - that which is at the very heart of spirituality - does not need to be blind, deaf, or dumb to our present situation to be maintained. Not once when I expressed hope for the future did I ignore the truth of the present, and I am aware, even now, that this new opportunity isn’t guaranteed. However, it is the message of spirituality that, no matter how horrible things become, we have the capacity to survive, adapt, and even thrive. It is what experience has taught me and what history proves. Even in our worst hour, we have been living off the fruits of Hope.

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written by John \\ tags: Faith, Family, Life, Spirituality, Work

Photo by Lin Bow

I’ve mentioned before that I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder. Because of this condition, I have to pay special attention to my mood and my stress level so that I don’t suffer a panic attack. Meditation has become a form of preventative medicine for me, but as we all know, it is hard sometimes to find the time when at work or during other important social engagements. Just for this reason, I’ve developed a few meditation techniques that help me relax in the toughest situations.

If you have time to use the restroom, you have time to meditate. Now, I won’t claim that a five minute meditation is going to be as therapeutic as a longer or deeper meditation, but that isn’t its purpose. A five minute meditation is like a between-meal snack; it gives you just enough to help you function until you have a moment to take care of yourself properly. Like all quick fixes, this is a temporary solution, so please don’t treat these techniques as anything but temporary.

The first step is finding some privacy. Now, I don’t want you to think that you must find total privacy - often times this can be unrealistic. Privacy can be as little as walking into a back room, the before-mentioned bathroom brake, or a mindless activity that separates you from your source of stress. All you need is enough privacy so you can hear yourself think.

The next step is to take three deep breaths, each one slower then the last. This clears my mind, slows down my heart rate, and prepares me for the rest of the meditation. If you feel you need more then three deep breaths, take your time and give yourself what you need. I sometimes find it helpful to visualize light entering my body with each breath, but this is completely up to you.

This small act might be enough to help you deal with your situation, but if not, you should try recognizing the source of your stress and accepting it. Sometimes recognizing the source of stress can be enough to bring relief. Allowing myself a moment to acknowledge that a situation is stressful and accepting that situation for what it is gives me enough perspective to handle the stress it creates. I need only to say to myself, “I am feeling stressful because…” then state what is making me feel stressful.

After accepting the source of your stress, most often I will need to delve deeper. Attempts to keep your emotions in check can become an added source of stress in addition to your external situation. Say to yourself “This is stressful because it makes me feel…” finishing the sentence with how it is making you feel stressed. Perhaps you are angry that you have to deal with a problem that you didn’t create. For me, sometimes I feel afraid of making a mistake, or guilty that I have already made mistakes. Whatever it is, by recognizing that emotion and no longer avoiding that emotion, you will find the situation easier to handle.

Finally, if you still have not sufficiently calmed down, you should remind yourself why you can handle this stressful situation. Say to yourself “I can handle this because…” and say whatever best helps you face your problem. If it is an ongoing issue, I like to remind yourself that I have handled this successfully before, or if you feel that the source of your stress is somehow your fault, remind yourself that everyone makes mistakes. Whatever it is you need to say to yourself, say it over and over again, until it begins to have a calming affect. I would personally recommend between seven and ten times, but if you feel relaxed after less repetitions, that is fine as well. Once again, I take a few slow deep breaths. Now I would be ready to face whatever obstacle ahead of me.

Most times, a five minute meditation isn’t enough to completely relieve you of your stress. That’s okay. I find that working out even a small bit of that tension from my day can make it more bearable and is usually enough to keep a handle on myself. It should go without saying, however, that the better you take care of yourself when you are not in stressful situations, the easier it will become to maintain a low level of stress in those situations. With this in mind, if you find yourself using this technique more than once per day, you should look into other means of lowering your over all stress level. For me, this meant seeing my doctor, although for you it may mean daily meditation or exercise.

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written by John \\ tags: Career, Information, Meditation, Mental Health, Ritual, Work

I have plans… Oh, yes, I have plans for this little blog. I’m not satisfied being a mere blip in the blogosphere, ladies and gentlemen. You see, I’m planning world domination from my desk top. I’m going to be the new Illuminati, the puppet master behind the scenes, and bend the ear of every world leader! How am I going to accomplish this? Popsicle sticks and Bubble Gum!

Er, yeah… The plan still has a few bugs.

Somewhere between here and world domination, you can expect some changes to this site. The Pageless Book has been up for only three months or so, but already I’ve made progress towards being a great blog. Of course, this is due to my readers, without whom I would not feel motivated to write. In an attempt keep you, my readership, in the loop, I’m letting you know up front what my future plans are.

• Monetization: Yes, I am planning to monetize my blog. The truth of the matter is that seminary costs money and recently money has been getting tight for me. I don’t want you to think this means you’ll be bombarded with grotesquely flashy ads or annoyingly inappropriate suggestions about your weight, the medicine you take, or long distance phone service. This is my promise to you as well as to myself; this blog will never be just about making money.
• Book Reviews: In conjunction with monetization, I plan to doing sponsored book reviews. All of the book reviews I do will concern spirituality in some manner and will give an honest assessment of the book in question. If you buy a book based on my suggestion, I want it to be because you trust my judgment and not because I am getting paid.
• Minister Interviews: I’m interested in interviewing the Unitarian Universalist Ministers who are bouncing around in this crazy blogosphere. Soon, I’ll begin seeking them out, work on getting their attention and trust, and asking each individually if they are willing to grant me the privilege of an interview. If one such person is currently reading and would like to step forward, please feel free to do so. I really do want to hear from you!
• Daily Posting Schedule: My life is still in flux, so I cannot promise a post every day, but I am doing my best. As things settle down with my job, school, and personal life, I hope to be able to give you a detailed posting schedule. I want to continue to provide great content to you, my reader, in a more consistent way - it just isn’t realistic at this moment. Please know that I am trying.

You can help me make this blog grow, just by doing what you’ve always been doing. Visit and comment often, subscribe to my RSS feed, submit posts that you enjoy to Stumble, Digg, and Technorati, and, most important of all, act in loving kindness in your daily life, being the wonderful people I know you to be. Thank you for all that you do.

Namaste.

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written by John \\ tags: Blogging, Career, Humor, Information, Interviews, Review, Spirituality, Work

Today I learned something fairly shocking; my employer is holding the annual Christmas Party at a church. Just about every co-worker I’ve spoken to has regarded this as a bad move on our employer’s part - and not just the non-Christians. Many of my peers say that they will not be attending this year, in part due to its location. This situation has me seriously thinking about the role spirituality plays in the workplace.

It should be obvious what is and isn’t acceptable in regards to religion in the workplace. Any employer sponsored events or causes should be sensitive to the spiritual beliefs of their employees. Holding your yearly holiday party at a church is just one example of what isn’t acceptable. Nor are donations to religious organizations being made in the company’s name, management led prayer, or office nativity scenes acceptable. Unfortunately, an employee has little recourse besides resignation, which isn’t always practical.

We cannot rely on our employers to be sensitive to our spiritual beliefs, but we can at least be sensitive to the spiritual beliefs of others. Eight hours a day, about half of the time we are awake, we spend at work. It’s unrealistic to expect employees to check their spirituality at the office door, but it is fair to expect that their religion should not interfere with their ability to work. Spiritual practices can be a great form of stress reduction, which is sorely needed in the work environment, yet can be a source of conflict if not handled appropriately. How do we go about striking a balance? Is adding a spiritual element to your work day even worth the risk?

Personally, I think spirituality in the work place is fine, as long as you keep your fellow co-workers in mind. It’s very easy to tell you what not to do, like so many other articles on this subject, but I find its more important to give you ideas of what you can do. This list is by no mean comprehensive, but it should give you a good basis from which to develop your own ideas on how to integrate your spiritual life with your work.

• Spiritual Quotes: Displaying inspirational quotes at your desk or your locker. You should focus on quotes that can be accepted by just about anyone, or quotes that focus on your relationship with the Divine. A good example of an appropriate quote. is Corinthians I 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” The quote does not have to be a religious quote, either. For example, a good number of my favorite inspirational quotes are from the written works of Albert Einstein.
• Jewelry: Christians tend not to think that wearing a holy symbol to work is that big of a deal, in western culture. Jews, Muslims, and Neo-Pagans, however, would beg to differ. While few people think twice about wearing a cross necklace, wearing any other holy symbol is a sure way to draw uncomfortable attention and questions to yourself. Wearing a holy symbol underneath your clothing is a perfectly acceptable option, but is not a perfect solution. Each person will have to decide for themselves if wearing a visible holy symbol is appropriate for their circumstance. Personally, I have found that most folks are more understanding than what you would first assume.
• Knickknacks: Worry stones, small sculptures, and other small reminders of your faith and spirituality. Sometimes, it’s the small things that wordlessly offer a pick-me-up in the middle of the day that make all the difference.
• Holy Texts: This can, in some circumstances, be difficult. As with Jewelery, this has to be decided on a case by case basis. I have found, however, that most people avoid bothering anyone else about what they are reading.
• Prayer/Meditation: While praying aloud or chanting a mantra may not be appropriate in an office setting, silent prayer or meditation often can provide much needed stress relief in the middle of the day. No one needs to know that you are in silent prayer or meditation, just be willing to put up with occasional interruptions; inevitably, they will occur.
• Blessings: If you work in customer service, you know that occasionally you will come across a customer who closes every conversation with “God Bless You.” There is nothing that anyone can say about you returning in kind. Otherwise, taking a moment to intentionally and sincerely thank your customer isn’t just a good spiritual practice, but good customer service.
• Discussion: As with several of the ideas I present here, open discussion concerning your religion or spiritual practice requires some judgment on your part. However, if you can be genuinely open to hearing about another person’s spiritual life, discussing religion can open you to a new level of camaraderie with your co-workers.

I hope this article has been informative. If you should have any other ideas of how to integrate spirituality into your work day or wish to disagree with any of the points I make, I would love to hear from you. Do you have a story regarding your spirituality in your workplace? I’d like to hear about that as well. As always - Namaste.

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written by John \\ tags: Career, Christmas, Faith, Holidays, Inspiration, Prayer, Religion, Religious Tolerance, Spirituality, Work