CATALYST NEWS

Eva Dahm, CPCC, MA

November, 2005

Dedicated to your growth and exploration.

FEELING INVIGORATION?

Do you feel you're operating from survival, just getting by day to day? Living as a victim of a job, a boss, children, a partner or a parent?

Many of my clients are living focused on short term priorities and never moving closer to their dreams. One younger client said, "I want to be in business for myself. But after a day of work and a long commute, I barely have energy for relaxation."

This client's motivation returned in all areas once she began taking steps toward her dream. After a few months of working together, she has made huge life changes very quickly: a new job with a raise, a new home, and working consistently on a plan toward being a small business owner. And in fact, two other individuals appeared who are going to join her in a business venture which gives even more energy to her goal.

In the last newsletter we discussed The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz. This book focuses living fully engaged or totally plugged in every day as we work and live. They describe how creating our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energies at maximum will invigorate your life in all areas.

SPIRITUAL ENERGY

Spiritual energy is your motivation to spend time and energy on a task or project. Spiritual is your connection to deeply held values and a purpose beyond your own self-interest. Not necessarily about religion, spiritual energy is the deeper motivation you have to move ahead each day.

"The key muscle that fuels spiritual energy is character-the courage and conviction to live by our values. Supportive spiritual muscles are passion, commitment, integrity and honesty."

The authors are clear that spiritual energy is sustained by balancing a commitment to others with adequate self-care."

I have another client who works in the city at a technology firm requiring long hours and a long commute as well as frequent travel. When she has a focus on her own self-care in the form of exercise, healthy diet, and activities she loves, she is happier and has much more energy for work (even when it gets long and stress-filled). On the other hand, when she allows work to overtake her time, she feels in control at work and nowhere else.

Working with another professional recently, we discussed how he is extremely drained when the day ends. We brainstormed ways to re-energize during the day and came up with a brief time out alone in his office to relax and reflect or catch up on paperwork. I've even encouraged him to take a real mental break by reading something totally outside his profession.

As a professional who has a preference for Introversion-time alone to reflect and re-energize (Myers Briggs Type Indicator), his busy day of patients was not giving him the time he needed to refuel.

Now that he consistently finds time behind closed door, his staff can already see the difference. And further adding self-care to his daily routine will create even more energy for him during each day.

INTEGRITY & HONESTY

The Power of Full Engagement also says "a key ingredient in character and a primary spiritual muscle is integrity." Another young professional came to me very unhappy in her current job. As we worked on what might be the next career move for her, it became clear that her current company does not match her level of integrity.

She is a person who wants to keep the promises made to customers and to employees. She sees her company consistently NOT keeping the promises made to either group, and she is upset at a very deep level. She can't help but be vocal about her concerns because they are such deeply-held beliefs. And she feels out of place at a deep level because her values are being disregarded.

Another key ingredient in spiritual energy is honesty. Years ago I felt a growing dissonance when I was asked to lie in order to uncover potential recruiting candidates for executive searches. I was not at all comfortable approaching companies with untruths and half-truths. Finally, I realized the problem and made the moves toward change.

Many times the original dishonesty is to us. The biggest lie is when we tell ourselves we are happy and allowed to be honest in our work. Years ago I had an employee who told me he had done portions of his job which I discovered he had not. I think in retrospect that he actually believed he was doing the work that was required. Or perhaps he thought he knew a better method of working towards our goals.

SELF-ASSESSMENT

So how's your spiritual energy around your work? Are you passionate about it?
How committed are you to the job? What can you change to create more passion for the work? Are you excited about a portion of the job only? Perhaps you can increase this portion and decrease the part of your day you'd like to forget.

What are your deepest values and life purpose? When you know this, it can inform your life path. Working with a young mother of three, she created a vision of her holistic health business integrated with her love of group art and her interest in helping others. This integrated vision has propelled her forward in a new and unique way.

So pick up the book (click here to order from Amazon) or CD and try it out. And if you want to a figure out your values and life purpose and create a mission, give me a call.

The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, 2003.

Complimentary Coaching Session, Email Eva

If you want to change something in your life and find yourself frustrated, I use a wonderful healing method that easily and gently finds beliefs and changes them so you can proceed with your goals. Call me to experience PSYCH-K TM today!