The other day, my colleague came to me and asked something like – “Can you tell me your strategies to handle office politics? I am tired and fed up. You seem to be good at managing different situations.”Hearing this, my ego boosted and I gave him good 30 minutes talk on different strategies. Then an inner voice said – “Hey, were you always this smart ? Don’t you remember how your career was before you started your meditation journey?”

I started my software career in 2008. I hated the project in which I worked. I hated my colleagues and especially my manager. I thought my job is too monotonous and boring and colleagues played politics. I hated my manager for his authority and bossiness(well, he did his job but I thought he targeted me). I thought of myself as a victim and used to think – “why am I in such a worst job?” I used to think wish I were rich enough to leave my job.

Everyday in office was stressful and though I learnt Energy Healing in 2009, I never did meditation to solve my office problems. I used to think of Healing as nice intellectual and spiritual knowledge but  did not apply the teachings to make my career a joyful experience. I thought hating job is the norm because all my colleagues too experienced same stress like me. No one in my project was happy about job(or atleast I thought this way) and I thought this is how life is when you grow up and start earning money.

Unexpectedly, I started my meditation journey in 2012 to come out of my suicidal tendencies. After I completed 100 days of meditation, I completely came out of my suicidal tendencies and I also noticed one more thing. I started liking my manager, my colleagues and my job. Everything remained same since 2008 but in 2012 after completion of my 100 days meditation, everyone around me looked like a nice person. The same manager whom I thought bossy earlier felt like my mentor and well-wisher. My job felt exciting to me and I really enjoyed working. I was amazed at the transformation in me.As I continued my spiritual practices since 2012, my career became better and better with each passing day.

After my inner voice reminded me about my past, I said to my colleague- “I can give you many more strategies to handle situations but the only secret of my success in career is my meditation and spiritual practices”. He was surprised by my statement about meditation and said “Really? Does a logical person like you believe all this stuff?”

Like my colleague, I never believed that meditation can help me in my career. I thought only strategies, books on leadership, playing politics helped in career.But I was proved wrong by my meditation practice. Its not my belief  that meditation is helpful in career but its my experience. I learnt from experience the benefits of meditation in career.

Below are the changes I have seen in my working style and career after I started meditation

1. I became more efficient in my work.
2. I stopped feeling myself as a victim and started seeing myself as a contributor.
3. I owned my work and became proactive in my approach. I never waited for my manager to tell me or follow ups on what to do. I took the lead and responded  appropriately as per the project’s needs and demands.
4. I became a confident and assertive person.
5. My stressful situations in office became very few – like once or twice in a month.
6. I could handle tough situations in office with patience most of the times.
7. I asked for more work because of my increased productivity. If it took 8 hours before, now it took 4 to 5 hours and there is lot of free time in office. So I asked for more work.
8. I felt grateful to my company, my manager, my clients, my colleagues and tried to give my best.
9. My inter-personal skills improved.
10. My ability to forgive improved tremendously. When I had a serious conflict with my manager, earlier I carried the pain  and hurt for years. But thanks to my meditations, it has come down from years to a day.
11. I was given many unexpected bonuses and stocks because of my job performance. Yes, my spiritual practices helped me earn more money.
12. One biggest gain I had was job security. In software industry, as a person’s tenure increases, person’s job security decreases. So, as my tenure increased. I know I can lose my job any day and I also know that my spiritual practices will show me a way if that ever happens. Surprisingly, my company came up with a financial plan to retain me for 3 years when I am in tenth year of my career. This came as a surprise to me.
13. I have job satisfaction and I truly love my job. My strong aspiration is to be in a career directly related to spirituality. Though my software job does not align with my aspiration, I feel happy about it and I can easily continue for another 20 years in software industry.
14. I learnt to be flexible.
15. I learnt to value and respect every person in my team. I understood a team does not run with one person . Every person and every role is equally important in making a product or company successful.
16. I learnt to listen and take orders from my manager, my colleagues, my clients. Somehow,my ego levels have decreased greatly and I am not offended when given orders. I am happy to receive orders and give my best.
17. I am given the role of working as a coordinator in a team with 8 people and making sure that team’s deliverables are done on time. This role is a tricky role. It does not give me the authority of a manager but expects me to get things done like a manger. My only answer for this role was meditation and I could swim effortlessly.
18. Before meditation, my job used to haunt me in my dreams. Now, I am able to sleep peacefully.
19. My professionalism in communication and actions improved.
20. I learnt to take it easy and move on when I dont get rewards or recognition as I expect.

These are some of the benefits I gained in my software career because of meditating and practicing the teachings of Healing.Yes, there are rough days in my software job even after years of meditation and spiritual practices, but they are very few. They account for less than 5% of my time in the organization and when they happen, I have many tools to come out of them quickly in few hours. I feel this as a great blessing.

Recently, I got a job offer outside software industry where my aspiration of working in a job directly related to spirituality is met. This new job has better spiritual and financial prospects than my software job. It is aligned with my purpose and something close to my heart. So, I resigned from my  job and right now, I am serving notice period. After I submitted my resignation, I received many heart-felt emails which expressed appreciation and wishes from various people in the company -some expected and some unexpected.

I was asked by the company to postpone my last working day and I was also given the assurance that if ,for some reason, my next job does not work out, I can always come back. I felt overwhelmed by this experience and wondered how much my meditation and spiritual practices paid me. Without playing any politics and just working hard and smart with fairness, with meditation and spiritual practices as my biggest support system, I could make my software career a satisfying experience to me.

When I calculate the returns on the time and money I invested in learning and practicing Energy Healing, I don’t have any numbers because I cannot place a value on my life. My health, career,relationships are transformed beyond my imagination and I have great purpose to live. This is what my Guru has blessed me for the time and money I spent. From experience, I learnt that every rupee and every minute I spend in Healing – be it learning, teaching, practicing, doing service or just talking to Healers, I will gain minimum of hundred-fold worth my investment.

Thank You Guru for being part of my life and for blessing me with the inner strength to practice your teachings. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu!