Work Makes Me Less Conscious

[ElenaO]

So I've just recently got an (very important!) insight. I had an accident while ice skating and broke my wrist quite badly. Had to go through a surgery too. But that is not the point. I've been on a sick leave, even though still doing work here and there. The point of the story is that I've just realized how does my job make me feel. Besides making me feel drained, I also feel highly unmotivated to do anything after work. I mean anything that I even love to do (reading, blogging, learning new things in my field). The reason for this I believe is that it puts me into some kind of unconscious state. And I am not sure whether that's the people around me or something else, but the effects of it are so clear. 

I wonder if anyone else has experienced it? 

At first I thought that it's just me being tired after work, but I've realized that that's not it. It's specifically the state of being less conscious that makes me feel and behave in this way after the work. Any ideas on why would this happen and what is to blame?

[Arman]

It's hard to stay alert, alive and happy doing something we don't like, are not passionate about,  and/or don't believe is truly beneficial for us.  Perhaps this accident occurred for a reason? 

I heard it stated recently that our environment and people around us are not so much responsible for our state of energy, so much as they are a reflection of it. 

Do you love what you do? If not, what does this mean for you now? 

[ElenaO]

I wouldn't say I don't love what I do. I actually do see a point in it and it does make me feel useful and even needed. The problem is more likely the environment. No one is really at ease, people have low self-esteem and it makes the team work that much harder.

If I were to work at home on my own on the same exact thing I bet I would be so much more productive and feel more alive. So it's gotta be the environment, doesn't it?

[Prabhaker]

4 minutes ago, ElenaO said:

So it's gotta be the environment, doesn't it?

You can't transform world outside , you can transform yourself. Change the attitude that exists about work. It is a very western idea of having a separation between the work and enjoyment; it is a very Christian idea – that God worked for 6 days and on the seventh he rested. For me relaxation and work are not opposite. I am not at all in favor of people feeling they work too hard and they need a rest or a break to relax and that they have to go somewhere away, away from the work. My vision is that you enjoy totally whatever you are doing. 

People need to change the attitude that exists about work, particularly in the Western mind. Meditation should be part of the work, not separate from it. People should feel that their work is something very special, and that whatever work they do is respectable.

[ElenaO]

Hmm, well here I wouldn't agree either. I do not feel like the work has to be hard. I actually enjoy challenges.  Maybe the problem is that I cannot be myself at work, that's what's draining me. My team leader for once is just afraid of being put out of control and his supremacy. It makes me feel sorry for him. Maybe that's actually what I am doing wrong - being too emphatic to everyone and pleasing those around me.

[Prabhaker]

2 minutes ago, ElenaO said:

Maybe that's actually what I am doing wrong - being too emphatic to everyone and pleasing those around me.

Pleasing those around you can't be draining, you do not love them, you think that they are less conscious people, drain you.  

[jjer94]

I hear ya, sister. Currently working a soul-sucking job in retail.

Does it feel like:

• you're expending energy in this job as opposed to gaining it?
• a chore most of the time?
• you forgot what happened the past eight hours you've worked?
• you feel disconnected from your co-workers?
• you'd rather be doing something else?

If so, chances are you're working a soul-sucking job. Or, as you put it, a consciousness-sucking job. 

Yes, it does seem that the more soul-sucking work you do, you're less creative and more indulgent. That donut looks much more appetizing after hours of frustration. Or you just happen to be horny right when you get home. Or how about you give yourself permission to sit down and watch TV after "a long, hard day of work"?

In my experience, these mechanisms are a way to protect you from feeling what you really want to feel about the job.

I have a theory about soul-sucking jobs, especially here in America. I feel like the whole 9-5 system has purposely rigged you into having your soul sucked. Short-term gratifications like porn, TV, internet, video games, drinking, and drugs (which happen to be the largest industries here) are all ways to cope with your hatred towards the job. As long as you can get your fix to cover up your feelings, you can keep working at your soul-sucking job without becoming too discontent. And then, the corporations get what they really want: expendable grunts. But who knows.

I hope it all gets sorted out for you!

[SLICKHAWK]

I cook. I'll make 33k to 33.5k this year. I find my job new everyday. new challenges of love.

When I cook I know the person receiving my love will be instantly happy/ miserable but I believe food makes people happy. 

This is off subject but small ego I create minions from the movie Kevin is my favorite to do but I'll make minion pancakes for kids that come in . do it for the kids do it with love.

[Prabhaker]

13 minutes ago, jjer94 said:

I feel like the whole 9-5 system has purposely rigged you into having your soul sucked.

Most of us accept this prison, this routine, right? We accept it. Nobody, as far as one is capable of sufficient observation, nobody has questioned this. We say it is normal, it is the way of society, it is the way of our life, it is the way we must live.

The mind is capable of so much more than monotonous routine. It is capable of imagining, designing, and manifesting a society in which the 9-to-5 workweek is viewed as nothing short of imprisonment so intolerable that no criminal deserves it. We can build a society in which the office space and workweek are considered antithetical to the welfare of sentient beings. But will we?

We are concerned with the whole of life, not just a career, 9-to-5,but we are so conditioned to this idea that we must work and create a structure of a society that demands that you work from morning until night… We are all so timid, we are all so nervous, frightened, anxious, we want security which we think we have, which we haven’t got. 

However, if all you do is complain about your job but take no initiative to change your situation, then maybe you should consider the workweek of the child slaves who pick the cocoa that goes into the bowl of chocolates you keep on your desk. And then think about exactly why it is we need more great minds like yours envisioning a better society.

[SLICKHAWK]

Epic ending . 

[SLICKHAWK]

.grilled Portobello avocado romaine roma Tom. paste it in Dijon an spread it with love.:) 

[jjer94]

@Prabhaker You make some really eloquent remarks.

I'm theorizing though, not complaining.

I don't plan on staying in this job much longer anyways.

[Leo Gura]

@ElenaO Of course anything do you mindlessly will put you into an unconscious state, by definition.

Before you can learn to work mindfully, you need to start practicing mindfulness just sitting and doing nothing. Once you've developed some proficiency there, you can start mindful eating, mindful sleeping, mindful walking, mindful talking, and perhaps finally, mindful working.

Also, be clear about whether you mean your work is being done mindlessly, vs your work makes you irritated and drained because it's not fulfilling, because it's not aligned with your deepest values. That's another matter. For that, you need to align your work with your life purpose. Which probably means transitioning out of whatever lame job you're probably currently doing. Such a transition requires lots of careful planning and strategizing to pull off.

I remember when I hated my old job.

[ElenaO]

7 hours ago, Prabhaker said:

Pleasing those around you can't be draining, you do not love them, you think that they are less conscious people, drain you.  

Oh, it is not? I would say it is certainly draining. 

[ElenaO]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

@ElenaO Of course anything do you mindlessly will put you into an unconscious state, by definition.

Before you can learn to work mindfully, you need to start practicing mindfulness just sitting and doing nothing. Once you've developed some proficiency there, you can start mindful eating, mindful sleeping, mindful walking, mindful talking, and perhaps finally, mindful working.

Also, be clear about whether you mean your work is being done mindlessly, vs your work makes you irritated and drained because it's not fulfilling, because it's not aligned with your deepest values. That's another matter. For that, you need to align your work with your life purpose. Which probably means transitioning out of whatever lame job you're probably currently doing. Such a transition requires lots of careful planning and strategizing to pull off.

I remember when I hated my old job.

Sometimes I do experience moments of being mindful at work and surely I get different results and a much more fulfilling state. The discovery was not the fact that I am mostly unconscious throughout my day, but the fact that I become even more unconscious after spending 8 hours at work. When I am home doing my own things, which could be also work/developing myself, I am much more content and it's much easier to resist any urges. Or at least I am more mindful of them. 

Perhaps the work that I am doing is indeed lame. Even though I do see its purpose and value. I am a software developer, by the way. But of course it also depends on the things you are doing, what's the product and so on. I believe that if I would have different relationships at work, things wouldn't have been as they are. Not saying that I should close my eyes on the problem, but still.

[ElenaO]

7 hours ago, jjer94 said:

I hear ya, sister. Currently working a soul-sucking job in retail.

Does it feel like:

• you're expending energy in this job as opposed to gaining it?
• a chore most of the time?
• you forgot what happened the past eight hours you've worked?
• you feel disconnected from your co-workers?
• you'd rather be doing something else?

If so, chances are you're working a soul-sucking job. Or, as you put it, a consciousness-sucking job. 

 

@jjer94 You are spot on about this. These are true for me:

• you're expending energy in this job as opposed to gaining it?
• a chore most of the time?
• you feel disconnected from your co-workers?

[Dodo]

The only way I see out of the 9-5 or 9-6 in my case, is for computers/robots to start working most now human jobs, do the work for us and therefore allow a minimum living wage for everyone, no matter whether they choose to work or not.

This system has to be satisfactory to absolutely everyone and I don't see a problem with it. The only thing we need for this paradise on earth (even for the unenlightened) is time and advancement in technology.

Elena, I am a web developer. We're in almost the same boat. I was also long time not happy, because it was not allowing me to not think

Since, I have accepted reality and try to flow with it and just endure what is happening. It's not like it doesnt pay well. It is also something that the rest of hunanity will benefit from, as I mentioned earlier,  this is the sector that can make us free.

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by Dodoster

[jse]

8 hours ago, ElenaO said:

I had an accident while ice skating and broke my wrist quite badly.

I'm sorry about your painful injury.   

But if this accident has allowed you to pause and reflect on your life, then it's been a blessing in disguise.

[ElenaO]

23 minutes ago, jse said:

I'm sorry about your painful injury.   

But if this accident has allowed you to pause and reflect on your life, then it's been a blessing in disguise.

Thanks! And I agree! Probably it was a gift in its own way.

[ElenaO]

33 minutes ago, Dodoster said:

The only way I see out of the 9-5 or 9-6 in my case, is for computers/robots to start working most now human jobs, do the work for us and therefore allow a minimum living wage for everyone, no matter whether they choose to work or not.

This system has to be satisfactory to absolutely everyone and I don't see a problem with it. The only thing we need for this paradise on earth (even for the unenlightened) is time and advancement in technology.

Elena, I am a web developer. We're in almost the same boat. I was also long time not happy, because it was not allowing me to not think

Since, I have accepted reality and try to flow with it and just endure what is happening. It's not like it doesnt pay well. It is also something that the rest of hunanity will benefit from, as I mentioned earlier,  this is the sector that can make us free.

 

So do you still do web development?