Up to now I’ve done many jobs in my life.
I switched many jobs in different stages of my life depending on life circumstances.
Sometimes I got paid a little more money but I didn’t like the work and I gave up.
Sometimes I got less paid but I liked the work a little bit more and continued for a longer period of time.
At one point, I realized that my work is not something that I just do to make a living.
Sometimes I would feel like this work is actually for me to make a difference in my life as well as in the lives of many others.
What I aspire most about my work at present is how specifically it’s shaped around my experiences, skillset, values, and most importantly, peace of mind.
I believe this is not only my situation, probably, many of you might have been thinking the same way.
Job is a personalized task
Many times, it’s easy to get caught up in thinking that the right job opportunity is mainly based on position, money, and the rule of success by our society.
But only you know what is right for you, nobody else does. Because each one of us is unique species.
At one point, our body and mind come together and give us a big inner voice, what is the next step we need to take?
At the end of the day, that’s the only thing which matters the most.
What makes your job good, only you know, nobody else does.
It is a sense of fulfillment based on your time, expertise, health, and a sense of belonging. It’s all personal and purely personal.
My learned lesson: make the choice that’s right for you, I mean right for your body and mind together, and ignore the noise around you by others due to your decision.
Once we realize this, our working life, job, and career all become totally different things.
This could be the same for some of you but not for the majority. In many cases, a job may not necessarily be a career, but still we have to do.
Most of the time our job is a short direction with a paycheck as the primary motivation for us, that’s what happened to me.
On the other hand, a career is an occupation developed over time based on life long goal and direction.
Life long goal should be a synchronized equipment of our body-mind connection.
I guess I learned this too late in my life.
Few days ago I was reading an article and I found a research finding quite amazing.
“A college degree used to slot you into a forty year career. Now it’s just an entry level point to your first job,” an astounding finding from a renowned economist, Guy Berger.
Now the biggest question is why it’s happening.
There could be multiple reasons for it but few of them I experienced directly and indirectly in today’s fast pacing world.
Few months ago, I was in my doctor’s office.
I met one of my friend’s fathers outside waiting for a doctor.
His son was doing fellowship in neurology after completing his medical degree and residency in Richmond, Virginia.
I used to share an apartment building with him, and we used to run and swim together.
I knew him a little bit through his son so we started chatting. He asked me about what I know about naturopathy during our conversation.
I said I had little knowledge about it but I’ve heard about it.
First he explained to me about his many worries that he had in his life, he had been trapped in a years long, expensive divorce battle with his wife.
He talked about stress, sleeplessness, loneliness, and existential fear.
He had severe heart problems for a very long time, and no doctor was able to cure it completely.
After adopting naturopathy which he learned from his college teacher, his problems were almost gone.
“For many years I was under a lot of stress due to the nature of my job. I was constantly making more money but I was compromising with my body and mind constantly,” he said.
Ultimately he decided to switch the job for obvious reason especially because he realized that the job was not suitable for him.
I asked him how he knew.
He told me his body and mind finally gave him a big single voice at once about this unfit.
Naturopathy and self healing
“Naturopathy is natural because our body is also natural.
We need natural support and stimulation to our mind and body, with the aim of enhancing self healing,” he said.
Eventually, “Know thyself ” became his best two words in life as his continuous progress.
He adopted the fasting cure, and changed his diet gradually.
He used to eat meat everyday, but now, he only eats meat about once every week.
He said, “I strongly recommend to read “The Nature Cure” a book by Andreas Michalsen, MD, PhD, that teaches about the science of natural medicine.”
He has been seeing a therapist regularly for the conflicts in his life, in particular about the question of job, money, health, and relationship.
I learned a quick lesson from him through our conversation.
We can’t solve problems just by talking, but we can certainly learn to examine our priorities in life and reduce the pressure they put on ourselves.
He correlated our body, purpose, health, and natural healing to the life of Nelson Mandela.
He was talking about Nelson Mandela’s unwavering faith and meaningful goal and its connections in his health.
Twenty five years of political imprisonment could not break Nelson Mandela.
During that time he completed a law degree by correspondence course and became politically active immediately following his release.
He had meaningful goals, the end of apartheid and the independence of South Africa.
He lived by singing and dancing at the age of ninety five.
He had convictions without planning and calculations in his life but he had respect, humility, perseverance, and patience for the unknown.
His body and mind totally knew it and accepted it because he practiced it his whole life.
“Eighty percent of my heart problems I eliminated just by eating right, doing frequent exercise, and most importantly, by avoiding my stressful toxic job,” he concluded.
I remember, one of my coworker’s mom, she was 64 years old. She was a successful dentist by profession.
One day, suddenly, she was admitted to hospital due to a stroke.
Fortunately, she survived because doctors were able to remove the blockage in one of her veins in her brain.
Her higher blood pressure was measured at 230 instead of 120.
Later it became clear that her life was under immense pressure and in complete disorder.
She was dealing with many financial problems for her dental practice.
Not only that she was the sole proprietor of all the household activities, her husband never participated in household activities.
She was dealing with two very demanding people, a daughter who aspired to be a competitive swimmer and a son who wanted to start his own business.
After all, one day she visited a mind-body clinic with the help of her friend.
First she learned how to change basic habits, she couldn’t remove her stress entirely but she became aware of it so she found new ways to deal with it.
She trained herself how to say “no” immediately if she has to, which was a big step for her.
She reduced her workloads in the dental clinic almost half by applying the methods learned in the mind-body clinic.
Most importantly, she trained to develop courage to set boundaries between herself and her family.
Her husband used to say, “unfortunately, my prescription is still at the pharmacy, because nobody picked it up.”
Her daughter used to say, “I can’t make dinner tonight, because I have a one-on-one discussion with my coach.”
But by now, she taught her husband how to collect his medicine himself.
She taught her daughter how to organize her schedule.
Her adult daughter has understood what to say and what not to say to her mom about her competitive swimming ambition.
Her son has understood that his mom needs to put herself first in order to put her life in order.
Most amazingly, she learned to make time for herself, time for body and time for mind.
Now, she makes frequent visits to her family members and old friends.
She talks to her parents every week.
She regularly participates in blood donation because she knows that it reduces her ferritin, a protein that stores iron in the blood. Increased level of ferritin increases risk of heart attacks and strokes.
She gradually started to take a more plant based diet as she knew that high meat intake elevated ferritin levels.
Nowadays, she makes time once a week for music therapy that she learned from her old friend.
She learned to take a bath with lavender oil after long work in the dental clinic.
She said she practices hydrotherapy, bathing with hot and cold water became part of her life on weekends and holidays.
She knew that hot stimuli through water relax muscles, stimulate circulation, and raise body temperature. These activities activate defense cells, hormones, and messengers are released.
The truth she knew is that a hot bath causes blood vessels to widen and blood pressure to lower.
Conclusion
When she becomes a little bit tired, she sits for short breathing meditation where she inhales, counts backward from ten, and exhales when she has reached one.
She said, “If you want to use mindfulness as the art of living to reduce anxiety, achieve inner peace, and enrich life then hold the book “Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. This is classic, read and reread this book whenever you feel, it will change your life.”
Last time when I met her she shared the news with me: For the last few years, her blood pressure has never crossed 140 / 80.
There are many truths in life but one truth is: it’s tough, always has been, always will be, no question.
We have to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative.
We must not burn out.
We must listen, honor, and respect what our body and mind is telling us.
Yam Timsina, PhD, writes primarily on health basics, scientific progress, social upliftment, and value creation.