“Balance and Business: Integrating spiritual ideas with your professional life”

"Balance and Business: Integrating spiritual ideas with your professional life" was the title of a workshop I gave last week with Elana Rozenman's Professional Women's Networking group SuccessWorks. It was a fabulous group of professional working women in a variety of fields who shared experiences and ideas about maintaining our own spiritual balance in our professional identities. Elana Rozenman has been a leader in the field of women's professional empowerment in Israel, and it was a privilege for me to be invited to address this group and talk about these important issues.

Miriam Simon was kind enough to take some notes, and Sharon Altschul took photos, so I'm sharing some of those here. 

What throws us off balance?

• Trust
• Safety
• Dignity
• Personal Power
• Abuse/Attacking/ Violence – screaming, shaming
• Fairness/Justice
• Fear of Security, Self Worth, Money, Respect
• Basic Needs Not Being Met
• Supporting Self
• Toxic Environment
• Fear of Mistakes

These fears flash through our brain all the time, even just for seconds. There are fears that should call us to action, like when you see someone being shamed. There are fears that can turn into opportunities, like leaving a toxic work environment to find a better job.

When we have events throw us off balance, not only look at it from a lens of fears but from what it does from our whole world view – what is my life and how I want to live my life – to quit, become freelance, to sue, to stop a meeting.

Working as a spiritual quest. Five spiritual principles.

 1. Dignity. Create working lives that value our and others dignity so the environment is one we can trust. Trust can build a dignified environment.

2. Diversity/complexity. We're diverse people within ourselves. Welcome that we wear lots of hats. It's ok to be more than one thing. Making space for our own complexities and in an environment where it's not expected that everyone is the same.

 3. Balance between give and take. Give service/time and receive payment but suddenly it's off. In our culture women are trained to give and men are trained to take which is why women find it hard to ask for what they are worth. Balance between give and take is important.

 4. Alighment. What we're doing fits in to our sense of purpose in this world. Does your work feel like work that matches what you believe in – a sense of alignment.

 5. Joy. We should be happy in our work environment. If you really hate wehre you are – reason enough to work for a change.

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