the energy behind work

Over the past few years, I have been working with how words resonate with people.  I always had a sense that words resonate differently with each person, but working with a client today, I reached a deeper understanding.  

How does the word, "work" resonate with you?  With my client today, it made her feel dense, heavy, full of obligation.  Work is hard.  

This reminds me - I know someone who decided that he wanted to experience work as though he was on vacation.  He felt like he was on vacation on the weekends when he was restoring his mountain home.  Soon after making that realization, he started getting approached by his neighbors to help with restoration projects on their homes.  A few months later, he did the unthinkable - he quit his high stress job in the city and got his contractor's license.  This launched his new career as a general contractor. His new business grew quickly and consistently, based on referrals.  He said he didn't even feel like he was working any more.  It was what he loved to do.

I don't want to minimize what it takes to make a life transition of that magnitude.  Courage and trust and a ton of support from people around him who believed in him from day one. And it started with him choosing to redefine what work meant for him.

Today, I had a different take on the meaning of the word with my client:

She said, "I'm working on treating myself better and carving more time out for myself".  So, inherently, by her own definition of work, treating herself better is connected to feeling dense, heavy and full of obligation.  I suggested, "What if we replaced the word 'work' with the phrase, 'being open to'"...

She paused and took that idea in for a moment.  And, physically, she exhaled.  Already, just considering this idea inspired a release for her.  She said that made her feel light, stress free.  

And then, I added, "with the intention of balancing out your life."  And that completed the concept for her.

We went from "I'm working on treating myself better..." to "I am open to treating myself better and carving out time for myself, with the intention of balancing out my life."  She said the sense of obligation went away. She had a sense of possibility and allowing of things to shift for her.

Work doesn't have to be hard, exhausting, just good enough.  I've seen, over and over again, that there are far more opportunities and possibilities than you can imagine at this moment.

It's one of my favorite things about this process - seeing the new come in.