The Nuts & Bolts of theTrip

The Purpose of the Trip:  `

 

From Boardroom to Buddhism, The Nuts & Bolts of it:

From Boardroom:
I had a job where I was in charge of 2 businesses & 33 employees.  I pushed myself to the brink of what is humanly possible, working 12 hr days for up to 30 days straight. I was there on Christmas Eve & Day.  I barely had time to do laundry, pay bills & get groceries.  I thought about it from the time my eyes opened in the morning to the second I fell asleep at night.  I had completely lost any sense of balance in my life.  I felt like I had so much riding on the success of this job, having moved across the country for it & would put every ounce of effort I had to make it work. 

 When I decided to quit & had left, it was like a runaway train coming to a screeching halt.  My body & mind had been constantly functioning at at such an intense speed for 9 months, & now I got up & didn’t have a full time job to go to.  I was in “career detox.,” literally coming down from the grueling pace of life I’d created.

“Career Detox”: The 5 month Transition:

 

·         Luckily, I had kept my foot in the door with my previous job.  I quickly picked up hours at multiple sites, met & worked with so many wonderful people, & had time to contemplate & plan the trip I’m on.

 

·          I took long, meditatiave walks along the ocean where I cleared my mind.

 

·         A handful of times, I attended meditation & lectures at a Buddhist temple.

 To Buddhism

·         Compassion: After the 9 month job, not only did inner peace & tranquility sound good, but compassion as well.  I’m in the health care field & I think it takes someone with a certain amount of innate compassion to enter such a career.  I’m talking about inner compassion for oneself as well.

·         Happiness: I’m looking forward to learning what the Buddhists consider happiness & seeing the good in situations without the denial of your circumstances. 

…And Beyond:

·         Every work place has a boatload of different personalities to deal with, some more challenging than others. There are bosses, peers, employees, & in my case, patients.

·         And today, just about every job comes with an amount of stress.  You may not be able to take the stress out of the job, but you can change the way it affects you & the way you react to it.

·         I would like to think I can not only utilize the tools I plan to learn in studying Buddhism for my own benefit, but intend for it to spill over into my professional life, & to take Buddha to work with me daily in my management style. 

·         Part of the “Code of Ethics” of my company is to “Take care of the employee.”  I hope to return  & incorporate  a whole new aspect of that concept through more patience, empathy, & compassion.