When we ask “Does what I do or say, or think elevate your life?”, we are actually opening our own doors to our heart to allow deep transformation in ourselves.
Photo by Scott Szarapka on Unsplash
When we ask ourselves “what is it for”? What is our work for? And why does it matter? It is not always immediately apparent why we do what we do?
Some people say we help reduce labour ( ie reduce manual work…….or automation..), or we reduce costs, or we make a faster machine, or more fancy designs………..but nowadays I find it much more fulfilling when I am sitting across the table looking into the eyes of someone I am seeking to serve, or when I am Skyping with a customer, or when I writing this blog, there is only one question that is really relevant.
“Does what I do or say, or think elevate your life?”
We may be making and selling widgets, or coaching executives, or acting on stage………for a living. We may be having profit metrics, or sales targets, or other numbers as our objectives, but when we unpack our actions, I believe that anyone who wants to live deeper will eventually agree that every single moment of our working life, every action we take, every word we say, or even every thought we have, necessarily creates consequences to someone in the world. Basically, while we are alive in this world, we have an impact.
Since most of us spend most of our waking hours doing “work”, we would do well to examine what impact we are having.
I have started asking this question “Does what I do or say, or think elevate your life?” and I find that it clarifies what I need to do to feel that what I do is the kindest and most generous thing for the recipient of my work.
When I broaden the target of this question to everyone else in the community of the people I seek to serve (my customers and other people related to my work), I find that my decision and choices become clearer.
It also helps me to delight in the good qualities of everyone I come into contact with and even people I don’t “work with”, I am able to make them feel better about what they do, and open more opportunities for them to help others.
Previously I used to ask myself only, “how may I serve?”. Now I ask myself this question, as well as “ how may I elevate your life?”.
I discover that when I ask these questions, the hard part is to patiently listen deeply for what will be of value to the other person, and it could well take a lot more effort and practice than just a Q&A session with someone. In fact, it requires us to be vulnerable and be open to our own transformation.