Spirituality in Career and Life Design
What’s up your chakra today?
Let me tell you what is up mine. False gurus messing with women in their most vulnerable time of life, that’s what!
Spirituality and new age wisdom has certainly come into its own in recent years, and for good reason. Spirituality helps us connect with something greater than ourselves, it encourages us to look for the good in the word and it asks us to be the best version of ourselves. What could possibly go wrong?
Ladies, please stop using a tarot deck or psychic to tell you your next career move.
Spiritual ‘gurus’ generally fail to recognise your unique context, most don’t have any professional training around career development or theory, counselling training or trauma informed practice. All important considerations. They may be insightful, they may talk you up, you might even feel good for a little while. They may even have insights that are genuinely psychic, but that does not mean they are the right people for this job.
Most of all don’t get seduced by the feeling that you can arrive at a place of peace with all the answers about what next without taking time to pause and reflect. You are your own guru, and you do have the answers. They just might be buried in a pile of amethyst chips.
I want to talk a little about the dark side of spirituality, because like everything is has light and dark and without knowing both sides of that coin and truly understanding it you are only ever getting half of the picture. And often times this leads to an abdication of responsibility to spirit, and not only is that unhealthy it gives makes spirituality the butt of many jokes when it shouldn’t be.
Here’s my top thoughts on spirituality in the context of career support and life design:
Spirit will never insist you have promiscuous s-x to get to some tantric heavenly place and connect with your yoni from 4 lifetimes ago to tell you what job you should do next. If you want to have s-x, have it, if you don’t say no. It is that simple. Own the choice, enjoy it!
Spirit will not ask you to give your power away to it; this is simply an easy way out for those who want to avoid responsibility. Spirit has its own power, it really wants you to learn about yours, not take it from you. No more abdicating your throne, or crown Queen… it’s your career and life, own it!
Spirit does not tell you or create for you your life path or career. It is not responsible for dictating your purpose. Sitting on a hill in the Tibetan Alps may lead you to a place within your own mind and soul where you find those answers but you might have just as easily gotten them meditating in your living room too, or calling a careers practitioner. Try the simple stuff first; you’d be surprised how often it works!
It is ok to want to look good. You don’t need to get around in Stevie Nicks (read: purple crushed velvet and black lace) dresses with dreadlock hair and hairy armpits, unless you really want to. Spiritual people also go to the hairdresser and buy clothes in regular stores. And wearing clothes is a good thing, so you don’t get arrested. It also helps boost your confidence and that helps everything including job interview performance.
It is OK to feel good. Spirit will not insist you feel badly or like you are not enough and then measure your worthiness against that. Persecution is not the way to enlightenment or godliness. If you feel good, then you are a clearer vessel for your own soul to speak to you and inform life decisions in the right way.
You are in charge of you, not spirit! By all means listen and look for spiritual signs – they are sometimes useful, truly. But, and here is the big but…You get to decide what you do with them, if anything at all, and that decision is on you. Not spirit. Own it, sometimes it might even feel great when you get it right, and you deserve that too. Celebrate your wins!
Spirituality should never be an excuse to avoid other humans. Convening with spirit is a beautiful thing but so is convening with other people. Spirit, or a genuinely spiritual person will never ask you to give your people up and nor should you, you are after all human.
Spirit will never tell you to harm yourself or degrade your body. If you have chosen to do that, it is on you. Please get help from a professional who understands your needs and perhaps a little of spirit so they can guide you out of the woods.
And the bonus point, number 9 – Spiritual people don’t judge, bahahahahaha. Yes they do.
And in reality discernment and judgement about what is right for us is critical. So if going to woo camp in the middle of a croc infested tropical island where you are likely to get malaria on the path to god you need to make a judgement about that, right? (The correct answer is to leave that to the Croc Hunter)
Is it good or right for you, or not? That is judgement in action, and that is healthy.
Many claimants of spiritual wisdom are also highly judgmental in not so good ways, beware these false gurus, they are probably trying to fleece you.
What I know from years of working in ‘alternative’ spaces is this: middle aged women flock to all things spiritual and new age in search of answers when they hit the messy midlife. It makes sense that as women we try to make sense and meaning of our experience, and the blindsiding we often get when our hormones start to sell us out, and our minds can’t quite fire on enough cylinders. Careers, relationships and our changing capacity all have huge impacts on our life, and the hits are often completely unexpected. Be gentle with yourself, spiritual growth and learning is not bad at all, provided it takes its right place in your life and not the other way around.
My biggest learning about spirit is how helpful spirit can be at helping us realise our dreams, but only when we take responsibility for setting the agenda. Without our own wisdom and soul being part of the creative process then whatever we do is not really ours, and we operate without real purpose.
That gets very boring very fast, is tiring AF, and often expensive. So use energy, candles crystals or whatever floats your boat; but take control of the process.
The Invitation…
Convene with yourself and your own soul and work out what you want, and then task spirit with helping you get there, that is truly a partnership in which you can trust.
Ask yourself about what you enjoy doing that feels purposeful?
Consider your capacity, are you simply running on empty and need to re-jig some things rather than get that tarot reading?
Intuitively what do you feel is right for you in this season? Try keep your head out of this answer or at least sideline any negative brain feedback. Your brain might be right, but it is also halting the creative process by shutting your ideas down.
If you are stuck get in touch with your trusty and qualified career development practitioner, this is our wheelhouse!