Work as a spiritual practice

At the end of the work day, do you feel more joyful, more connected to your soul? What are you willing to sacrifice to keep that sensation alive?

My friend Peg Flynn was an all-purpose caregiver during the HIV epidemic in San Francisco in the 90s. She functioned as a massage therapist, medical power of attorney, financial planner and bedside wrangler coping with some very painful family situations.

She didn’t charge anything: instead she put out a “giving bowl.” Clients made a donation, according to their means, or by calculating what they felt her care was worth.

Flynn went on to found The Caregiving Zone and The Good Death Institute, educating people about end of life issues, garnering a prestigious Jefferson Award as well as recognition from the US House of Representatives, yet last year rising rents forced her out of the Bay Area.

Originally from Chicago, she moved back to the Midwest to keep her overhead down and get back to basics. Now when people ask how big her organization is she says, “I’m it.”

This downscaling is often part of Late Blooming and of reinventing work. At a certain point it's no longer about forming organizations and institutions but about finding a way to be of service and to free up your time so you can be available in the moment.

There are advantages to traveling light, Flynn says, noting that it’s easier to respond to her individual clients. “This way of working is really about inhabiting your true self.” The measure of success becomes your ability to grasp the intricate complexities of each person, each situation. To concentrate on authenticity and presence.

“Approach any job as a spiritual practice and you will experience whole new levels of meaning,” Flynn adds. “People around you will open up to new possibilities. This kind of creativity is contagious.”

Flynn is one of those people who sees her labor as a gift not an obligation.

Thirty-five years ago the scholar Lewis Hyde described the nature of the Gift Economy. “Unlike the sale of a commodity,” he wrote, “the giving of a gift tends to establish a relationship between the parties involved.” Indigenous societies held give-aways, distributing their surplus to those in need, and early cultures operated on the principle that resources must be available to all.

First published in 1979 as The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property, Hyde’s inspiring book has been reissued with the subtitle: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.

While The Erotic Life of Property sounds like an X-rated title  it reminds us that our labor is a spiritual offering not just a product to be marketed, an idea to be flogged. The emphasis on creativity and imagination reminds us that our lives are the one true medium and that what we get from work is an opportunity to explore new aspects of ourselves.  The artist's willingness to be transformed is always at the core of his  particular gift. 

Ultimately the Gift Economy applies to anyone who is motivated by the wish to serve and to live from this same well of authenticity.  

What gift have you bestowed today? Who was the beneficiary?What did you gain from the exchange? What are you willing to risk to keep showing up this way?

For more on the spirituality of work, stay tuned.