Your Life’s Work

The Simple Living Theory of Work

1. Find something you love to do and get paid for it.

2. Live under your means. Spend less then you take home and sock away the rest.

- The Simple Living Guide, Janet Luhrs

We are a lucky generation. In our parent’s days, it was a luxury to have a job and a secure monthly income. Now, work has become more then an income stream. It has become a creative means of expression. Now, we understand that work is a huge part of our lives. We spend most of our waking hours and thoughts on work.

“Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life.”

- Wilhelm Reich, Austrian Psychoanalyst and colleague of Freud

“Caring about our work, liking it, even loving it, seems strange when we see work only as a way to make a living. But when we see work as a way to deepen and enrich all of our experience, each one of us can find this caring within our hearts, and awaken it in those around us, using every aspect of work to learn and grow.”

- Tarthang Tulku, Tibetan Buddhist and Teacher

I have always loved words and art. They are powerful elements of communication. I also love solving the mysteries of how and why things are. One means of work expression for my inquisitive mind and my love for beauty and communication lies in the field of advertising.

Advertising was filled with creativity and brilliant minds trying to understand why things are and how people think. In order to tune in and communicate with others, first you have to know and understand their language and mind frequency.

The field of advertising and marketing filled me with wonder and amazement. But as time progressed, something in me became less full. Soon enough, that part of me was screaming for attention and nourishment. I had forgotten the humanitarian side of me.

When I was a kid, I cried for no apparent reason. My parents thought I was just a deeply disturbed child. Seeing someone in pain, something sad that happened, I would wish for the power to heal and provide. Seeing bald and barren land and I would wish for the power to grow and flourish. This was the time I knew I was connected with everything around me. Now I know, we are all in fact, very much connected with everything around us.

Understanding this side of me I started to seek new means of expression in work.

I seek to fill the part of me that has been left depleting for a little too long.

In life and at work, when we tap into ourselves and understand where we belong, we flow with our inner currents, and therein lies the peace and joy we seek.

“Peace is not about non-action when yet it is about dynamic action. Nature which we call peaceful is dynamic and not still.”

- David Anttony

Work was created to serve man and mankind, not to trap or enslave us.

Work is our means of expression and personal growth.

Work acts as a guide and connects us to others.

Work helps us focus ourselves to be mindful of what we do and build awareness.

Work is a way for us to reconnect and give.

And when everyone focuses on giving, receiving is but the side effect of a life that is filled with compassionate givers.

Imagine a world filled with caring givers, where their whole purpose is to spread as much joy and peace as possible. Life is a cycle and the givers themselves have to be the receivers of giving.

What you focus on expands.

If the world focuses on competition, on taking, on winning – it will expand.

If the world focuses on creating, on giving, on sharing – this will expand also.

Your work is what you choose it to be – work to create or compete, to give or take, to share or fight for the winning position.

Your life’s work is you.

Whether you are an executive, a manager, a business owner, you could be a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, an accountant or financial planner - your past decisions brought you to your present day and your present day decisions will take you to your future.

It is in your decision that makes the world creative, loving, giving and joy filled or otherwise.

Your life’s work decides for everyone where we will be tomorrow.

Officiating My Sabbatical

I want my instincts back.

As primal as that may sound, it is something I want to unleash.

I’ve had enough of my head and the many conflicted details it absorbs.

It has been an amazing 5 months giving my 5 senses a chance to tell me directly what it wants without having to pass through a confusing mind filtration process.

I’ll be backpacking in April from Bangkok to Laos, and resting in a little fishing village called Siraya in Ko Lanta Yai, Thailand. I’m planning to rent a place in Siraya for a couple of weeks. If funds permit, longer still.

Here is a little of what my cousin wrote to me about Siraya,

“We lived in a little fishing village called Siraya in Ko Lanta Yai. It is also called "old town". It is beautiful there! The people there are lovely and so are the children. If you want to be there, it is a good idea. You will have time to reflect and relax and disconnect from negative energies. Heal before proceeding. Heal so you may once feel and think about yourself again. When you arrive there, you can look up our friends and ask them where you can rent a house or room to live in. There are some foreigners there already, not many, a few, mainly from the US and Canada.”

Life in Siraya is very simple but beautiful. Only the basic necessities but good for the soul. Like a kampung in Malaysia but a bit gentler, I think. Once you are there, you can rent a boat to go out to the islands beyond which as not touristy at all. There is Ko Po right across which is still completely virgin although 85% of the island has been sold for resorts. Better see it before it goes. There is a boatman called Sunny who drives the children from Ko Po to Siraya for school – he is like the bus driver, well boat driver. He has an organization to try and preserve Ko Po. Ask him to give you a tour of Ko Po before it vanishes.”

If such a trip resonates with you, do give me a call or email me. We’ll meet and explore the details.

Please feel free to join me at any point – the backpacking in Laos, the relaxing couple of weeks at Siraya, or both.

Sabbatical - Definition from Various Website Sources.

“Sabbatical – A holiday, a vacation, or otherwise known as time off.”

“Sabbatical – a period of reflection, rest, and renewal.”

“A sabbatical is an extended period of time for reflection, rest, and renewal. They frequently become a path to understanding one’s vocation in new ways or as a vehicle for a transformed sense of identity. Some travel, experience different cultures, learn new skills, or spend time reading during a sabbatical. It is also possible to think of even doing something like a semi-monastic retreat. This is a time to experience “being” in addition to “doing”; it should be a time of freedom and authenticity. One of the goals of a sabbatical is to return renewed and refreshed.

Being away provides both the space and the time for renewal, rest, and reflection.

In some countries sabbatical is a system whereby they allow their employees to take an extended period of leave above their usual holiday allowance - with the guarantee that their job will be held open for them when they return.

The usual length of a sabbatical is a year.

If a sabbatical is paid it's likely that the employer will expect the employee to use the sabbatical to develop their career in some way - by gaining relevant work experience abroad.

The concept of offering a sabbatical has become increasingly popular amongst companies and employers because of the fact that such a high percentage of people these days opt for a career break at some point. By allowing their staff to take a sabbatical for their career break companies benefit because they are not losing valuable employees in the long term.”