At different points in our lives, we all have windows of opportunity that we need to see with our senses and feel with our intuition. With both personal relationships and career choices, we best notice these opportunities through our emotional center.
When we see our job as a life calling, things take a different perspective.
For several years, I worked as Career Adviser at a private law school in Dallas, Texas, where I had obtained a graduate degree in international law. I coached international graduate law students from around the world with respect to the American legal job market, internships, job opportunities, resume drafting, and interview skills. I organized and managed mock interview programs with various local law firms and corporations with international presence. I had the opportunity to apply the knowledge and work experience that I had acquired over the years to help students with job search and career development in a new and competitive environment. I applied my multicultural experience, bilingual ability and knowledge of immigration laws. During one-on-one coaching sessions with students, I learned about other cultures and religions and the different points of view and expectations that they have about the United States and the American business culture.
I felt that this job was my calling. It was a job that aligned with my skills, experience, values, interests, and personal history. It was the opportunity that I had been calling into my life and that propelled my career into a different direction. A direction in which I had been wanting to go. It expanded my self-awareness and awareness of others. It brought me closer to the collective consciousness where I was meant to contribute with my unique self and abilities. At different points in our lives, we all have windows of opportunity that we need to see with our senses and feel with our intuition. With both personal relationships and career choices, we best notice these opportunities through our emotional center. This is momentum and it requires us to be in touch with our spirituality.
Do we have a calling when it comes to the right job for us?
Our job or occupation is more than a job; it is what we have been called to do by a higher, older, and wiser knowledge or life force. When we see our job as our life calling, things take a complete different perspective.
When coaching individuals with respect to their career development, a common and useful approach is to see our career as our life. Ideally, we want to occupy our time in activities and occupations that nourish our spirit and align with our inner being. We want a job that aligns with who we truly are. Finding our life job may require searching, exploring and experimenting but this search should always be an enjoyable and fun process of self-discovery. As we develop our spiritual aspect, we become more whole and complete and will want a job that complements our wholeness.
Here are six recommendations that can help you plan and develop your career or deal with career transitions. Although not all individuals have many choices when it comes to work, or may have individual and societal limitations, the following guidelines still apply to everyone.
1. Develop and maintain positive psychological traits like resilience, hope, and optimism.
These traits will accompany you throughout your career to help you overcome personal and professional challenges. They will help you see set-backs as opportunities to grow and challenges as opportunities to learn. Remember that you are what you think. Think positively, never give up hope, and be confident in your future. Everyone has something unique to contribute. There is someone out there that is looking for what you have to offer.
2. Reduce your career development anxiety through mediation and relaxation techniques.
A steady practice of meditation, even if only 10 minutes a day, can help you reach higher levels of consciousness and get in touch with your inner being and life source. Trust your inner wisdom that you have acquired through your unique experiences, knowledge, and understanding of yourself. Allow yourself to trust in your nature.
3. Take career advice from people who care about you, but make your own decisions based on who you are and what you want.
Only you know what you really, really want. You know what to do. Listen to your inner voice, the life force that creates and nurtures everything.
4. Set yourself the goal of looking for work that gives you a sense of flow, of being totally involved in it through alignment with who you truly are.
Try volunteering or part-time work to see how you feel in your emotional center. The right work for you will give you a sense of harmony and purpose. You will feel that it is the work that you were meant to do.
5. Keep in mind that everywhere you go you will be taking your own unresolved issues and resistance patterns with you.
Unreliable co-workers, unpleasant bosses, long hours, and unsatisfactory salaries could be part of any job at any time, even if you find your ideal job. Unexpected and unwanted job conditions are not totally under your control, they are part of the world of work. It is your reaction to these circumstances that, for the most part, determines your job satisfaction and contentment in general. Do not seek new jobs to run away from yourself. Be ready for your ideal job because you are at your best and open to receive it. This process should feel right and easy. A meaningful pursuit doesn't have to be a struggle to be meaningful.
6. Set time aside for fun and let go of any inclination to try to control your career development or force career opportunities.
Leisure activities, like playing sports or spending time with friends, will help you get to know yourself better. Fun activities can also reduce stress, provide challenge, and help you recuperate from mental or physical stagnation. Go with the flow, have fun, enjoy networking, meeting new people, and developing your career.
References Sharf, R. S. (2013). Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling. Buyukgoze-Kavas, A. (2016), Predicting Career Adaptability from Positive Psychological Traits. Career Development Quarterly, 64.