Love is the highest frequency on the planet. Our greatest commandment is to love, period. It should be the thread in the very fabric of every interaction, no matter where we are, including the workplace.
While the lower frequencies of competition, envy and complacency can overshadow our higher calling at work, I’m suggesting that we choose to operate from a different place.
Operating from a loving space is productive – it's high-octane fuel for environments that wish to sustain growth. Productive employees are happy, appreciated and appreciative employees.
That energy radiates to customers and partners. I coin Occupational Love as an ideal vibration to reach for. As we evolve as professionals and human beings in the global marketplace, there are hundreds of ways to demonstrate love at work – but for impact, let’s pare down to three!
Love Your Self- How many times have we heard this one? Those of you who have stepped into the nurturing light of self-love, and put in the work to stay there, know how important it is to maintain wellness and healthy interpersonal relationships. While on the job, though, the purest expression of self-love is through first identifying and then honoring the fact that who you are is enough. Next, own and optimize your unique skill-set. No two production operators are the same. In other words, no matter the repetition of the task or how many people are in the same position, the way in which you approach and then execute that job still differs. So, your ability to identify exactly how YOU rock-out within your profession is an act of self-love.
When you express this truth, both in your interactions and performance, you can easily emerge as one of the best in your field - or transition to another. Whether it’s your ability to distill and persuasively communicate information or quickly tease-out the tangles of creative process, LOVE the fact that you really are one of a kind. Your 'skills-package' and how you acquired this packaging is distinct. And since the universe makes no mistakes, how you landed in the position – or your immediate level of satisfaction within this position – is of no immediate consequence, for the purpose of this article. Focus on tapping into your self-love frequency, and just wait for the small and large shifts to happen.
Practical Tip to Increase in Self-Love: Train your subconscious mind by posting occupational self-love affirmations. Place them discretely or boldly broadcast on a mirror at home (in dry-erase). Dig deep to write something personal or Google, like I did to find – “I Am Enough.”
Love Your Neighbor: Cross-Functional Relationships - Now that you're feeling warm and fuzzy, I invite you to love and appreciate the integrity within each symbiotic connection at your place of business. Symbiosis, (for those of us that doodled during high school Biology) means that you need one another to function and survive. The interconnectedness while not always obvious, certainly exists. As a customer, I refuse to use a filthy restroom - especially at a restaurant. I'd rather leave and go gnaw on my own arm.
Do you love your janitorial and maintenance crew, your front line, back-office, higher-ups and the customers you serve? Do you even see them, when you see them? If you do, how do you treat them in close range and once they walk away? Gossip and complaining is one of the lowest and most damaging energies to engage … if this your personal Wi-Fi frequency, gross ... please go back to step one, self-love.
Practical Tip: Send or speak a statement of gratitude to someone you normally don’t speak to from another department. Do this without expecting or even wanting a response. Simply express appreciation for how what they do fortifies what you do! Wait a few months and see what happens in your own life. What goes up, must come down.
Love Your Now- Are you still stewing over an email from yesterday? I have a cousin who used to thrive on telling me to build a bridge and get over it. Now I keep my tool belt on-hand at all times. Author and teacher Eckhart Tolle painstakingly expands on the fact that staying trapped in the past, as well as trying to control the future totally plucks the ability to be in and therefore love the now. This truth seems to totally contradict the idea of strategic planning and every other forecasting activity. While critical to business operations and solvency, the larger picture is to remember that we still have to move through the present either way, to get to the future, the bottom line and the deliverable.
In doing so, it is equally critical to pause and tune out so you can tune-in to the quality and effectiveness of whatever you are trying to produce. That said, I encourage you to frequently acknowledge the Now! Like, right now...
Practical Tip to Love the Now: Push away from the desk, walk around the corner or simply find an empty space where you can briefly spend time alone. With both feet firmly planted on the ground and eyes closed, try this technique from Thich Nhat Hahn and breathe deeply – and say silently or aloud, “I know that I am breathing in (on the in breath) … I know that I am breathing out (on the out breath).” Use this grounding technique for a few seconds to a few minutes to help dissolve stress and minimize mind-chatter.
Stay in Love and Power On.