One of the biggest challenges in career shifting is not in deciding what to do next, but becoming painfully aware of the extent to which you have steered the ship of your life with the opinions of your parents, teachers, and peers, and rarely with the deepest and most authentic voice of your soul…
So, if you were to punch in “my soul’s calling” into your Spiritual Sat Nav, what route would it display?
- Blank. Most have been brought up to think in terms of what you can see, do, and create. So going within to find the voice of the soul is still a woolly concept for many.
- Find a reputable recruitment agency.
- Find a career coach.
- Go back to the places of your childhood that fill you with aliveness and wonder.
- Turn right, find the pub with your mates, and hope that the small pesky voice inside will enjoy the lager.
Or is there another way?
We can always just stay on the surface of this rich enquiry, and switch to another lucrative but not particularly rewarding career, without really getting to the heart of what we love to do that has meaning and makes a difference. Do you have friends who are sitting on clear talents or dreams that they try to keep hidden but keep leaking out? I am sure you do because it can be daunting to find out that you really don’t know who you are, and what you are good at, even with an impressive armoury of awards, qualifications, audited skills, and training.
Do not despair, you are actually at an exciting point in your life - you are starting to feel deeply again. Welcome back to humanity!
Tip 1: Slowing Down
Getting to know what gifts you bring to any role, in short your essence, is a deeply fun and spiritual journey. It provides the base inner ingredients for whatever career you choose. And to tap into your essence a slowing down is required. This is more of an inner than outer experience and if that sounds woolly, it is! And from my experience as a yoga student of 18 years and teacher, I know it to be a highly effective process and essential to becoming grounded in who you are.
You can simply start by:
- allowing your mobile phone to ring three times before your answer it.
- smiling at a friend before you rush into speech.
- looking up at the stars.
- Listen to a relaxation practice.
Tip 2: Watch out for clues in the pauses
As you slow down on the inside, the gaps you create in your daily life increase your awareness about what is really going on inside. You can remember dreams, spot articles, connect to people, who are the little clues or paving stones that lead your path over the rainbow. You get to see where you are not free, and where you have signed up to play at gigs with music that you really don’t like playing.
Tip 3: Get To Know Your Body
I had a client who once said “my body is what takes my head to meetings”. I thought it both funny and deeply sad. And I know this attitude to our body can happen to us all. By staying in anxiety over our career situation, we can unwittingly give our mind permission to control the expression of our body, heart and soul. Because if you are not doing what you love, you can be assured there is a place in the body holding that tension.
So get to know your body like a long lost friend. Listen to what it has to say. Relax it. Recognise both the joy and warning signals. Please do not wait like my friend did to collapse gravely ill at a concert before you listen to your body’s wisdom. For this always happens at the most inconvenient time…
Tip 4: Know The Time To Act
Learn to tune into the body’s readiness to act, even if you are also feeling fearful which is a natural part of any significant change. You can do this by regular walks in a peaceful area, yoga or allow the sun to warm your spine.
For if you look back at your life, I am sure you will see how there were clear windows of opportunity where everything seemed to be waiting for you to say yes. Once that window closes, you may still be able to say yes, but it happens with less ease and fun.
Tip 5: Let Go of the Controls and Enjoy The Ride
Finding out who you are and what you feel called to do is not a predictable linear left-brain process. I never imagined that part of my journey would involve working for an American entrepreneur, doing an MBA, then being in Deloitte Corporate Finance before going off to study for an MA in yoga psychology in a remote ashram in India for two years. And I now find myself living in the Caribbean, in response to a calling six years prior. It just happened once I started following the clues and allowed myself to be myself, which seems outrageous to others, but deeply ordinary to me.
The journey can be chaotic, magical and humbling. So be prepared to get lost and to have a few false starts off the career blocks, as you start to tune into your Soul’s Sat Nav. Then you can enjoy all the false starts, sprints, jogs and marathons which pepper your soul’s journey.
Leave a comment below: Rather than analysing yourself or trying to use a more logical approach to discover your ideal career role, howdo you feel about slowing down and allowing clues to come to you instead?
Martha Cuffy works with clients motivated by one overriding aim: to gain the courage to drop the masks to be true to themselves in whatever they do. She is a certified Fireworks career coach, a tested careers programme already successfully used by hundreds – from lawyers to social entrepreneurs. And as one of the founding guides of Gene Keys, what she calls a modern spiritual Sat Nav, she brings a contemporary reality to the truth recognized by the ancients: your consciousness creates reality.
Martha walks her talk - willing to make small and big leaps in all realms- from the world of corporate finance in London, an MA in yoga in India, to now blogging about her work and life she is creating in Dominica. Her life reflects her commitment to making the sometimes scary journey of career shifts fun, focused, spiritually fulfilling, and enlivening for people around the globe: in UK, Sweden, Norway, Canada, US and Dominica. marthacuffy.com
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