Catch Your Breath

David Whyte: “If you treat the discipline of reading poetry as an act of contemplation, then you will have a moment in the day, as William Blake said, ‘that Satan cannot find.’  When William Blake spoke of Satan he actually meant the strategic mind, the part of you that feels it doesn’t deserve anything unless it is ’doing’ something.”It is my hope that you treat reading this blog as an act of contemplation.  A chance to catch your breath and reconnect with your personal “for the sake of”.  For the sake of what do you do the work you do?  For the sake of what are you here at this moment in history?We wonder why our workplaces are so stressful and yet, and assume it is the pace of things or something unique to our time.  But, is it?  Back in the 1800s poet and artist, William Blake noted this was happening.  There is really not much new in the human psyche.  The strategic mind that must always be “doing” or “controlling,” what neuroscientists are now calling the default network, is deeply uncomfortable with another much larger part of us.  This part, the soul or psyche (which means soul in Greek) -- the energy that makes you you -- or maybe you call it your true or essential self, terrifies the strategic mind.  It is a jealous lover who must have complete control.Another poet, William Carlos William wrote:My heart rouses thinking to bring you newsof something that concerns you and concerns many men. Look at what passes for the news.You will not find it there but in despised poems.It is difficult to get the news from poemsyet men die miserably every day for lackof what is found there.So, in this pause, see if your answers to the questions that follow, reconnect you and invigorate you for the work yet ahead of you.  For the sake of what did you enter the profession you chose?  For the sake of what did you join this firm or start this company?  What about this work’s mission touches your heart and soul?And if the answer is nothing, it just might be time to find out what does!