Avoiding Stress and Burnout at Work | Michael Singer Reframes Burnout In The Context of Surrender

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   Intro

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      [gentle music]

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   Reframing workplace stress as inner resistance

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      Finally, we're gonna take on what is one of the most important things that can come up in a workplace. That is the concept of stress and burnout. This job is burning me out. I'm getting stressed out. So let's take on that question from a spiritual point of view. The truth of the matter is you will eventually, as you grow spiritually, come to realize there is no stress. There's only resistance. Energy is coming in a

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   How resistance creates stress: the force-opposition analogy

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      given direction, and if you are participating in that dance of that energy, there is not stress. If you are resisting at all, to whatever degree you are resisting, resistance creates stress. It's the same thing with engineering. Do you know that I-beams that they build buildings with, they measure stress? That's because there is a force that is opposing them, and that creates stress. Nothing in isolation has stress. So the question

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   Minute-by-minute self-inquiry: where am I resisting?

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      isn't what's going on outside, again, as usual with me, it's the question what's going on inside. If you are feeling uptight, if you are feeling stressed out, if you are feeling burned out, I appreciate that. I respect that. Start looking inside at a minute-by-minute level as you go through your day, where am I resisting? Where am I resisting? What is it that a phone call happens? Fine, I told you, it's a phone call. You're sitting on the planet Earth and you get a phone call. That's exciting.

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   Fear and desire as the engines of workplace stress

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      Here you get the entertainment of a phone call. You have this opportunity, but that's not how you look at it. If you look deeper inside, you'll see, "I'm afraid of failing. I'm afraid something will go wrong. I'm afraid I'll get in trouble. I'm afraid I'll get yelled at, or I'm afraid I won't get what I want. I want to get something from this. How do I get that?" Fear and desire create stress. Why? Because fear is saying, "I don't want something to be the way it might be or the way it is," and desire is saying, "I do want something to be the way it's not." [laughs] Right?

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   Openness vs. tension: why some experiences feel effortless

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      You don't ever desire what you already got, and you don't fear what's not happening. It's something is happening and you have resistance to it. That's what creates fear. Something isn't happening and you want it to. That's what creates desire. Both of those are coming out of yourself. That's your personal self, fears and desires. There is no stress without fears and desires. There's just the beauty of the experience, the awesomeness. I mean, do you feel stress when you look at a beautiful sunset? Do you feel stress when you hold your beloved in your arms? "Oh, I held you too long." [laughs] You don't, you don't do that, right? Because you are open. You're receptive. You're completely open to the experience. Why are you not open to the phone call? Why are you not open to the meeting? Why are you not open to going to work? Why are you not opening to putting in a couple extra hours if you have to? There's a whole stack of papers left over there. You would never wanna see what I took home every weekend, [laughs] right? And I never felt burned out. I never felt stress. It was passion to me. I wanted to do it. I wanted

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   Challenging common explanations: burnout isn’t hours, it’s resistance

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      to have it run the best that it could. I wanted to help everybody. So you look inside and say... Don't let people tell you, "Well, of course you're burned out. You're working 40 hours," or whatever the heck. "You've been doing the same job for such and such." No, it is not true. You are burned out and you are stressed because you are resisting, and the only reason you resist are fear and desire. I'm repeating that to you. I have a fear that something's gonna happen that I don't want, or I have a desire and it's not happening. That creates stress. So I'm not ready

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   Stress as biofeedback: a chance to evolve beyond the personal self

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      to harmonize with the moment that's unfolding in front of me, 'cause I'm either afraid of it or I want something from it. And so therefore it creates this tension inside of me. So spiritual growth, tension, and stress are wonderful feedback. They are biofeedback that I'm doing something wrong. Not that something is wrong. I'm doing something wrong. I'm unable yet, I'm not evolved enough yet, to be able to handle the energy that the universe is sending my way and participate in it, dance

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   Workplace as a rigorous spiritual practice: using pressure to let go

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      with it, and enjoy the journey that it's taking me on. Instead, I have a way I'd rather have it be, or I'm afraid of it. So these give you a tremendous opportunity to let go of your fears and your desires, which don't belong in a workplace. Is it easy to do that? No, it's not easy to do that, but it's not easy to meditate six hours a day either. It's not easy to do a lot of what we call tough spiritual practices that people do to try and, and elevate their consciousness. You're being given this opportunity

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    Owning the issue: shifting from fixing circumstances to transforming oneself

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       in a beautiful Western environment, in a beautiful workplace to do tough spiritual practices. So you're being an opportunity to say, "I have a problem." The stress is not a problem. I have a problem. My resistance is the problem. What is going on in here? Why am I not able to see the beauty in the experience that's being given to me? And then you start letting go. Now what does that mean? My experience is it means the following. One, you want to. Not I wanna fix the problem. You defined the problem. There's nothing to fix. You're the problem.

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    The core method: relax as the witness of stress, not the stressed mind

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       I want to be able to handle this situation with love and passion and enthusiasm and excitement. I can't because I'm closed. I can't because I have a problem inside of me. So first you admit that you have a problem. It's your problem, and then you admit that the whole purpose of my life is to transcend my personal self, to transcend these problems. So how do I do that? You relax. How can I relax in the face of stress? I'm telling you. I'm not telling your mind to relax. I'm not telling your heart to relax. I'm not. Those things will go through their natural little perturbations based upon the garbage you stored inside of them. I'm asking you, you who notices... How do you know there's stress? See, if you came to me as a therapist and you told me, "Oh, I'm stressed out about my job," you know what I'm gonna say to you? How do you know? Oh, you're gonna get so mad at me? How do you know you're stressed? And eventually you'll get so frustrated, you'll say, "'Cause I'm in here. I see it." And I'm gonna bow down and touch your feet. Oh my God, namaste. That you're in there? Oh my God, you know you're in there. That's

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    Letting stress pass to uncover and release the underlying fears and desires

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       self-realization. You who's in there noticing the stress cannot get stressed. A flashlight that's shining on something doesn't get dirty because what it's shining on is dirty. You are just the consciousness experiencing, observing, witnessing what you're seeing. And what you're seeing is stress. You're not stressed. You're seeing stress. Relax. That's how you handle stress. Relax. Relax and let it go. Let it pass. And you're gonna see underneath it,

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    Making work sacred by using it for spiritual growth

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       there are these fears and desires. There's these things that you created inside that can't honor and respect the universe as it is. Well, your whole spiritual growth is about letting go of that, isn't it? So now again, work became a spiritual growth. Work became a sacred place because you made it that way. Not because you went and found a job that has the name spiritual in it. You made it spiritual because you used it for spiritual purposes. So even stress and burnout can be used to take you beyond yourself if

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    Surrendering to the work you have: serving the unfolding of the universe

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       you're willing to use them that way. So what you see is the theme that we've talked about in all of these discourses is the same, which is, are you going to work to get something? Are you going to work to get rid of something? Because if you're bringing your personal self into the workplace and thinking that your job is supposed to satisfy you and give you what you want and make you inspired, you'll never find the right job. It's not gonna happen. You'll go from flower to flower, just like relationship to relationship. Work is a place that you are given an opportunity to let go of your blockages, to let go of your personal self, to let go of all this garbage that you've collected inside. And if you will use it that way, you will be an excellent worker. You will be the highest possible worker. You're not doing it for yourself. You're doing it to give of yourself, to let go of yourself, to serve the universe as it presents itself to you. That's what your work is. It's your work, the work the universe gave you. How do I know that's the work the universe gave me? Duh. [laughs] I mean, that's why the alarm clock rang. That's where your car drove. That's where, you know, people have your name on the payroll. It is obviously what your work is, and it will take you where you're supposed to go if you will surrender to it, if you will give yourself to it completely. Thank you so much. I hope you got something from all of this. I certainly enjoyed sharing with you all. Thank you. [outro music]

Episode duration: 9:05