“Eighty percent of life’s satisfaction comes from meaningful relationships.” – Brian Tracy
You can’t have spirituality if you don’t have a relationship to share it with. Let’s look at three different relationships that are important to fostering our spirituality.
Relationship with your higher power
Many studies state that those who are passionate and believe in spirituality in the workplace, have a deep connection with a higher power, something greater than they are. For me that relationship is God, so that is how I’ll describe it here. I foster this relationship every day, sometimes every hour and am working on this being more of a every moment type of relationship. This relationship is the most important relationship that I have in my work and in my life. In fact, it is at the top of my personal mission, vision and values (MVV), the MVV I have with my husband, and the (MVV) for my business. The first value that I list in order of priority for my personal MVV says God is Number One: Remember daily that God is my center and light. Our number one value as a couple states: Keep God at the Center: Unite our spirituality and faith For my business the first value I have is Lead by Faith: Pray for God’s purpose and guidance.
This relationship is fostered with the two previous blogs that I’ve written about, D is for Divine and Q is for Quiet (if you haven’t read them yet, I highly recommend it). It is a relationship that keeps growing as I become more familiar with how to connect and communication with God. I’ll never forget when I was conducting a teleseminar interview with Janet Hagberg, an author, healer and of my one spiritual teachers and mentors. She spends quiet time daily – hours at times – connecting with God. She says she’s “in tune with God” enough to know that he is speaking to her though her body, i.e. different aches or pains give her messages. I thought that was fascinating. We receive guidance from our higher power or divine team all the time, we just need to prioritize this relationship and remember to ask for it.
Relationship with ourselves
I’m a firm believer that if we don’t know thyself and nurture the relationship we have with ourselves, we won’t be able to nurture the other important relationships in our lives. How we do this, is a personal choice, but we all know what we need that will help us feel, look and be good. The relationship with myself is like a water pitcher. Many evenings late at night when the rest of my family is sleeping and I’m alone I try to ask my source, God, to fill me with his water (I can only receive this blessing by nurturing the relationship above). I also then use this time to do things will nurture my soul. This usually means that I’m reading, writing, listening or creating something inspirational. I’ll stay up however late I need to fill up the water pitcher. What happens is that I become so full that my water pitcher is overflowing so I’m able to pour out my love and joy to other relationships. I then get up in the morning and I’m ready to give to all the other important relationships – like my husband, boys and work clients. The cycle repeats itself each day as I’ve poured out my water and need to fill it up again.
Relationship with others
In the new book by Simple Truths, called The 100/o Principle: The Secret to Great Relationships, author Al Ritter talks about how we are to manage the most important relationships in our lives. It’s about taking full responsibility (the 100) for the relationship, expecting nothing (the 0) in return. Here’s what Ritter has to say about this paradox: “When you take authentic responsibility for a relationship, more often than not the other person quickly chooses to take responsibility as well. Consequently the 100/0 relationship quickly transforms into something approaching 100/100.”
We have all at times given 100% to a relationship and then gotten nothing back, which usually causes us to feel bad about the relationship because we didn’t get anything in return. Over the years, I’ve been learning how to foster this 100/0 principle. Through gratitude, I’ve been able to give more unconditionally in some key relationships without expecting anything in return. I noticed how much better I feel when I don’t expect a certain outcome from the relationship. It’s also amazing how then you’ll receive 100% from some relationship in your live without them expecting anything in return.
The beauty of all these relationships that we build with our higher power, with ourselves and with those who matter most ignites our spirit and brings meaning to our lives.
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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.
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Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.