I have a question for you.
How do you balance this idea of recognizing our wholeness with running a company and having to make judgments about people and their fit with the company’s environment?
A Course in Miracles is clear – Seek not to change the other person, but instead to change your mind about the other person. I have made efforts to practice this thought in my life. When I find myself desiring someone to change, my key strategy for practicing forgiveness has been to remember, “J would not have a problem with this person, so why do I?” And then I am able to remember that this is my dream, and I can lovingly join with the person, rather than judge the person, and share the thought, “You may find it easier if you…” And then the person has the choice to, whenever the person is ready, to choose once again.
And the Disappearance of the Universe has taught me that my judgment is indeed a call for love. That the person is helping me see an area inside of me requiring forgiveness. That the so called “minor irritation” that I feel is hiding an intense rage and this person is offering me an opportunity to choose once again. And often times, I step up and do my forgiveness work.
At the office, however, I find this more challenging. In my role in this dream life as a leader of a company, I believe it is my responsibility to cultivate a positive culture in which people are encouraged to grow. There are a set of company values we live by, talk about, and take seriously. And I believe I am responsible to others in the company to play my role.
There have been times when I have let people go because they did not fit the culture. From an earthly standpoint, this makes sense. We have company goals and values and the person is out of alignment with these. From a practicing forgiveness standpoint, I’m conflicted. With my practicing forgiveness hat on, I would want to see the judgment for what it is and keep the person in my direct experience as an opportunity for me to find my way home. This person is showing me the way to healing. And I believe the loving act is for me to work on myself, not to find the other person lacking.
So, how do you balance this idea of recognizing our wholeness with running a company and having to make judgments about people and their fit with the company’s environment?
Let me know your comments on this.
In Joy,
Michael
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Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteMy thought on this is that since it is your dream, you are able to choose how you will do your work within the dream. It is important that you not judge yourself in the process. Making a decision about whether a skill set or personality type works for your organization is to my thinking not a judgment about that person's worthiness as a human being. Indeed you may be blessing them to move on to find their true calling.
I am just getting into "The Disappearance of the Universe" and will probably break down and stop avoiding "The Course" after I finish. As I understand it they both say and I agree, that there is no right or wrong in the Universe. To assume something is "wrong" about you letting someone go, is no more supportive than assuming it is "right" to stress yourself out trying to make a situation work that clearly isn't working. Knowing that you are sending the people you choose to no longer work with love and knowing that they are as powerfully endowed with the same divine creative powers as you... says to me, it is all good.
Peace & Blessings,
Kym
Hello Michael,
ReplyDeleteThis morning I remembered your question again and the following thought came to me. As a general rule, I know you would agree, it is best to always ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in any situation we are not sure how to handle. Often times we are not quiet enough to hear the Holy Spirit and all we hear is the screaming of the ego. Therefore it potentially could happen that we mistake the loud voice of the ego for the Holy Spirit’s. Well, it has happened to me. I therefore have also learned that when I reflect about the feelings and thought patterns related to a situation and I can detect that there is the slightest bit of FEAR, I need to go back to the drawing board and ask again for help to see it with the Holy Spirit’s eyes, because fear is never the Holy Spirit’s answer, as you know. However we can be sure that the Holy Spirit’s answer will always reflect the truth we find in ACIM, because the truth is the truth in ANY situation. The title of Garry Renard’s CD pops into my head: “Fearless Love” – yes, fearless love is what the Holy Sprit calls for. But often times the Holy Spirit’s answer does not seem to come to us right away when we need it (and I know you can relate to that as well) or we are not sure how to apply fearless love in a situation. Therefore it might be helpful to just visualize the end result we desire - I am sure that it is always safe to desire to feel peaceful and joyful (since this does not seem to limit the Holy Sprit’s solution) – and to just ask the Holy Spirit to handle the rest and release it. This way decisions might get delayed but it seems worldly acceptable in many circumstances to request time to “sleep over it”. Remember that it says in ACIM that everything is given to you to for your own healing and good.
But “making mistakes is all right. And it may even bring you greater growth than trying to avoid mistakes. In the “bad thing” the seed of light is dormant. Only by experiencing the bad from within, can you experience the good as beautiful, pure and true.” “All experience is sacred and meaningful. Do not let yourself be guided by outside rules, dictating what is healthy, right and spiritual for you to do. The touch stone is your heart: if it feels right to you, then it is okay. Let go of anything else”. (Quotes from www.Jeshua.net: Surrender and Control)
In love,
Sybille
Hello Michael,
ReplyDeleteBelow I will add the response, that I already e-mailed to you, in two separate comments since this blog does not allow for very long comments. This might help illustrating some of the ideas from my previous comment for readers of this blog. And here we go:
I do not have the responsibility of running a business, but I have my job in the business world too and can relate to a certain degree to the conflict you are pondering. An incident comes to my mind which I very well remember. At the time I was in charge of the US customer service for an oversea client and there was a particularly difficult customer we had to deal with. One day I made a suggestion to our client as to how I thought we should react to the challenging customer. Before I made the suggestion I had thought thoroughly about the options and I chose my suggestion in a way that clearly would have allowed for the forgiveness principle to be applied, knowing full well that it would be considered controversial in the business world. Well, shortly after that the client asked that I should be removed from my position. He thought that I had little knowledge about proper business practices. Fortunately for me, my husband owns the business and did not fuss with me about this situation, but in fact I was removed from this job. You could think now, that forgiveness did not work out in this case and that is what I thought at first too. But looking back I realized that spirit has worked it out just fine. You see, this job was a task that was pushed onto me and that really left me overworked, struggling to manage two jobs. So, what had happened actually was the release of a burden for me. In fact it was the answer to my prayers for the reduction of stress. (I was open for the Holy Spirit’s perfect solution – and received it. I would never have dared to drop this responsibility on my own.) In addition I lived up to my principles and felt good inside. What is the lesson to learn from this? Follow the Holy Spirit’s inspiration – even if it might not be popular in the business world yet. But bear in mind that this is a new consciousness we are bringing to this world. It takes just one light to light up the darkness. Even though the light might still be dim, I believe that there will be more lights soon through that little seed of light that we left.
With love,
Sybille
Michael,
ReplyDeleteAnother experience comes to my mind that involves the principle of non-judgment. One might consider the situation rather trivial since it involved trying to purchase something for my hobby on e-Bay. After I won the bid the seller tried to cancel the transaction claiming she had made a mistake posting the item and that she would relist it. The only mistake she could possibly have made was that she had not listed any charge for shipping. There was obviously nothing wrong with the item. Therefore I maintained the position that in an auction house one cannot withdraw an offer once the bid was properly processed and expected the seller to deliver the item. But she pulled a trick, invoicing me for shipping in an amount higher than the value of the item. It would have been foolish to pursue my point of view and I chose to accept her previous request to cancel the transaction, but not without leaving a negative feedback about the seller. All of it could have ended right there, but for several days afterwards I was still pondering if I should have better abstained from leaving the negative feed back. I had that sick g u t feeling that I always get when something is not right. Only after reading some passages in A Course In Miracles did I realize that our society and business world has come up with all kinds of rules and regulations which are not in accord with what the Course teaches. Leaving a negative feedback is what one is supposed to be doing when the other party does not play by the rules, but I would have felt a lot better had I not followed what I thought was my right to do – or was even expected to do. I know now that I would have much rather chosen peace instead which I could have achieved by not judging the seller, by not leaving that feedback, by not following the world’s expectations…And as so often before, forgiveness has helped me getting back to the peace that I so yearn for. Nevertheless I am grateful for this whole experience because I know better how to deal with the world now and that brings me one step closer to Home.
With love,
Sybille
Hi, Michael! I like the question! The simple answer is, of course, wait for Spirit, listen to Spirit's guidance. Aside from that general answer, I'd like to mull over the question with these thoughts: We have relationships with our children, our students, our employees--all these look to us for leadership. My students want my guidance, even if they don't always follow it. And my "blooming" wants my self-expression. Children need our modeling, teaching, honesty, inspiration, humor, gentle advice. Employees want to learn, too. I like your beginning with, "You may find it easier if you...." And as the Manual for Teachers says, judgment is really impossible, as we never know enough background to make a fair assessment. I trust your wisdom with every employee of yours!! Love, Mary Feagan
ReplyDeleteEveryone comes into our lives because we put them there as a opportunity to grow or an opportunity to teach and heal. Allowing the ego to refuse either is an invitation to do it again later. There is no right or wrong answer. It just comes down to how long we really want to be here?
ReplyDelete