"Unemployment is teaching me to be still and reflect
Assessing the real quality of my life
Getting rid of all the junk"
Timothy Mullner in “A Spiritual Guide for the Unemployed”
Assessing the real quality of my life
Getting rid of all the junk"
Timothy Mullner in “A Spiritual Guide for the Unemployed”
THE UNEMPLOYMENT BLUES
I recently became unexpectedly unemployed.
Removed from a job I loved and excelled at.
Plunged into a tight employment market.
I knew I needed to create
to try and make sense of this experience;
to negotiate the flood of raw emotion;
to sort out the important from the trivial; and
to transform it into an opportunity.
But I avoided making anything -
a moment of self- sabotage:(
However,
I needed to heal
and I needed to hear what my body and mind were saying
and I needed to transform.
So I began a limited series.
To remove much of the decision-making,
which can cause creative block and stall the entire process,
I found random pieces of fabric,
cut them into strips
and roughly sorted them into colour groups.
I found a small piece of mattress cover which I decided to use for body and limbs.
I found a pattern by Pamela Hastings for a head.
I created intuitively until I felt I could stitch no more.
Now I have taken time to let the dolls' story unfold;
explored the thoughts, insights and experience of others; and
let them all be my guide
through The Unemployment Blues.
Removed from a job I loved and excelled at.
Plunged into a tight employment market.
I knew I needed to create
to try and make sense of this experience;
to negotiate the flood of raw emotion;
to sort out the important from the trivial; and
to transform it into an opportunity.
But I avoided making anything -
a moment of self- sabotage:(
However,
I needed to heal
and I needed to hear what my body and mind were saying
and I needed to transform.
So I began a limited series.
To remove much of the decision-making,
which can cause creative block and stall the entire process,
I found random pieces of fabric,
cut them into strips
and roughly sorted them into colour groups.
I found a small piece of mattress cover which I decided to use for body and limbs.
I found a pattern by Pamela Hastings for a head.
I created intuitively until I felt I could stitch no more.
Now I have taken time to let the dolls' story unfold;
explored the thoughts, insights and experience of others; and
let them all be my guide
through The Unemployment Blues.
"I am aware that I will always be fearful in some way.
But I do not have to be fear-based in my behaviour or choices.
I can hold my fear in one hand and my commitment to no longer act in a fear-based way in the other.
Somehow that combination seems more do-able than no fear at all.
A useful spiritual practice in any predicament is to hold both hands out,
cupped, palms upward,
and imagine them holding just such opposites.
We feel the light and equal weight of both, since our hands are empty.
We then say, for example,
"I can serenely hold both my need for relationship and my not having one right now."
Here is another example:
I lose my job and am depressed and scared.
At the same time, I know I have to search for another job.
I hold my unemployed situation in one hand with serene acceptance of the reality of my loss.
I hold my plan to do a job search in the other.
This is how my depression, a given of every life from time to time,
does not descend into despair. Holding my opposites grants me serenity and courage.
This practice combines the style of mindfulness with psychological work on self-esteem."
David Richo in "The Five Things We Cannot Change"
But I do not have to be fear-based in my behaviour or choices.
I can hold my fear in one hand and my commitment to no longer act in a fear-based way in the other.
Somehow that combination seems more do-able than no fear at all.
A useful spiritual practice in any predicament is to hold both hands out,
cupped, palms upward,
and imagine them holding just such opposites.
We feel the light and equal weight of both, since our hands are empty.
We then say, for example,
"I can serenely hold both my need for relationship and my not having one right now."
Here is another example:
I lose my job and am depressed and scared.
At the same time, I know I have to search for another job.
I hold my unemployed situation in one hand with serene acceptance of the reality of my loss.
I hold my plan to do a job search in the other.
This is how my depression, a given of every life from time to time,
does not descend into despair. Holding my opposites grants me serenity and courage.
This practice combines the style of mindfulness with psychological work on self-esteem."
David Richo in "The Five Things We Cannot Change"
"To all whom I meet
To all in the street
Peace, Lord, Peace
To all working here
To all who are dear
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all who need pity
To all in this city
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all facing defeat
Who feel incomplete
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all unemployed
Whose hope is destroyed
Peace, Lord, Peace"
David Adam in Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work
To all in the street
Peace, Lord, Peace
To all working here
To all who are dear
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all who need pity
To all in this city
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all facing defeat
Who feel incomplete
Peace, Lord, Peace.
To all unemployed
Whose hope is destroyed
Peace, Lord, Peace"
David Adam in Power Lines: Celtic Prayers about Work
Prayer Upon Losing a Job
"Creator, Sustainer, Creator Anew,
it is also true of me
that my work is mostly who I am.
I know myself in my qualifications.
I am alive when I am useful,
and this morning I have nothing to do.
Oh, I can pretend I'm on vacation.
I can head for the hills
with my sleeping bag and tent.
I can go to the movies.
I can play a little golf.
Or I can paint the screens
or dig in the garden
or prune the scraggly ivy
and gather the clippings into a pile
and take two hours for lunch
and nap all afternoon.
But none of this is fun
if you don't have a regular job.
O God, protect me from feeling I am absent.
Reduce the swell of discouragement
that rises and wrecks my day.
Have mercy, for I cannot be idle
and feel I am pleasing you.
Now take away my resentment
of carpenters, janitors, tailors, all at work,
and kids selling papers on the street.
End my jealousy of neighbours
who get into their cars
and head for the rotten commute.
Calm me as I read the morning paper
and come to the help wanted ads.
Steady my nerves
as I dial for appointments.
Control my rage
as I fill out ridiculous forms.
Comfort my grief
for my tiny cluttered office,
for the desk I deplored,
for my squeaky chair,
and the bothersome details of my former work.
Sooner rather than later, I pray,
help me to see this as a chance
to make a worthy change.
Give me a glimpse of who I am
apart from what I do.
And grant me a courage
I never thought I would need
to rise at a reasonable hour
and have a good breakfast and bathe."
Robert Jones in “Prayers for Puppies, Ageing Autos and Sleepless Nights”
"Creator, Sustainer, Creator Anew,
it is also true of me
that my work is mostly who I am.
I know myself in my qualifications.
I am alive when I am useful,
and this morning I have nothing to do.
Oh, I can pretend I'm on vacation.
I can head for the hills
with my sleeping bag and tent.
I can go to the movies.
I can play a little golf.
Or I can paint the screens
or dig in the garden
or prune the scraggly ivy
and gather the clippings into a pile
and take two hours for lunch
and nap all afternoon.
But none of this is fun
if you don't have a regular job.
O God, protect me from feeling I am absent.
Reduce the swell of discouragement
that rises and wrecks my day.
Have mercy, for I cannot be idle
and feel I am pleasing you.
Now take away my resentment
of carpenters, janitors, tailors, all at work,
and kids selling papers on the street.
End my jealousy of neighbours
who get into their cars
and head for the rotten commute.
Calm me as I read the morning paper
and come to the help wanted ads.
Steady my nerves
as I dial for appointments.
Control my rage
as I fill out ridiculous forms.
Comfort my grief
for my tiny cluttered office,
for the desk I deplored,
for my squeaky chair,
and the bothersome details of my former work.
Sooner rather than later, I pray,
help me to see this as a chance
to make a worthy change.
Give me a glimpse of who I am
apart from what I do.
And grant me a courage
I never thought I would need
to rise at a reasonable hour
and have a good breakfast and bathe."
Robert Jones in “Prayers for Puppies, Ageing Autos and Sleepless Nights”
A Turn in the Road
"Family taught me to work and play hard
Caring for everyone and the earth
responsible for pulling my own weight
Ministry taught me to listen and discern
Building relationships with others & myself
Welcoming God's gracious gifts
Business taught me to be productive and efficient
Taking the shortest path, producing
the most revenue
Incurring the lowest cost
Unemployment is teaching me to be still and reflect
Assessing the real quality of my life
Getting rid of all the junk
Lord, I'd prefer a simple path
Following a straight line and
knowing all of the steps
But now there's another turn in the road
Inviting me toward passion or comfort
Daring me to choose"
Timothy Mullner in “A Spiritual Guide for the Unemployed”
"Family taught me to work and play hard
Caring for everyone and the earth
responsible for pulling my own weight
Ministry taught me to listen and discern
Building relationships with others & myself
Welcoming God's gracious gifts
Business taught me to be productive and efficient
Taking the shortest path, producing
the most revenue
Incurring the lowest cost
Unemployment is teaching me to be still and reflect
Assessing the real quality of my life
Getting rid of all the junk
Lord, I'd prefer a simple path
Following a straight line and
knowing all of the steps
But now there's another turn in the road
Inviting me toward passion or comfort
Daring me to choose"
Timothy Mullner in “A Spiritual Guide for the Unemployed”
The world of my work is changing,
and my professional identity, direction, and security are unsettled.
It is discouraging to think of all the time and effort I have invested.
It seems like a sacrifice.
Perhaps I can begin to understand the original meaning of the word: "to make sacred."
Perhaps this is a sacred passage in which my insecurity is sacrificed for trust in whatever is to come.
As one form dissolves,
another takes its place.
My work is now to seek and to recognise a new form
that will provide opportunity for growth and reward.
Noela N Evans in “Meditations for the Passages and Celebrations of Life”
and my professional identity, direction, and security are unsettled.
It is discouraging to think of all the time and effort I have invested.
It seems like a sacrifice.
Perhaps I can begin to understand the original meaning of the word: "to make sacred."
Perhaps this is a sacred passage in which my insecurity is sacrificed for trust in whatever is to come.
As one form dissolves,
another takes its place.
My work is now to seek and to recognise a new form
that will provide opportunity for growth and reward.
Noela N Evans in “Meditations for the Passages and Celebrations of Life”
TO BE OF USE
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlour generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Marge Piercy in “Circles on the Water”
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlour generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Marge Piercy in “Circles on the Water”
Sybil Keane suggests several mechanisms for coping with unemployment.
- Reach out to others.
- Acknowledge and grieve the loss.
- Look for new opportunities.
- Learn something new.
- Volunteer your time.
- Stick to a schedule.
- Find a therapist or career coach.
After all the shock and anger and brow-beating,
what remains?
I can choose between bitterness and a desire for revenge,
which shrivels the heart and soul,
or I can choose to forgive and transform,
which is the road less travelled.
I recall The Ravenbruck Prayer, written in a WW2 concentration camp,
which is as relevant today as it was then.
O Godde,
remember not only the men and women of good will
but also those of evil will.
And in remembering the suffering
they inflicted upon us,
honour the fruits we have borne
thanks to this suffering -
our comradeship, our humility,
our compassion, our courage,
our generosity, the greatness of heart
that has grown out of all of this;
and when they come to the judgement,
let all the fruits we have borne
be their forgiveness.
Perhaps this is the sign post I need to move forward.
what remains?
I can choose between bitterness and a desire for revenge,
which shrivels the heart and soul,
or I can choose to forgive and transform,
which is the road less travelled.
I recall The Ravenbruck Prayer, written in a WW2 concentration camp,
which is as relevant today as it was then.
O Godde,
remember not only the men and women of good will
but also those of evil will.
And in remembering the suffering
they inflicted upon us,
honour the fruits we have borne
thanks to this suffering -
our comradeship, our humility,
our compassion, our courage,
our generosity, the greatness of heart
that has grown out of all of this;
and when they come to the judgement,
let all the fruits we have borne
be their forgiveness.
Perhaps this is the sign post I need to move forward.
