Bringing Your Soul to Work: An Everyday Practice

Cheryl Peppers and Alan Briskin

EMPLOYEES TODAY are actively searching for more meaning in the workplace, for work that resonates with their being. How does one dare yearn for something more, when so many workplaces seem aligned solely with financial survival and profit making? How do we get work done amidst the demands and tugs on our soul? Bringing Your Soul to Work addresses these troubling questions in a way that provides a pathway for readers who want to bridge the gap between their spiritual and work lives. It honors readers' unique experiences and challenges them to think differently, aligning their actions with their hearts. Engaging, inspiring, and poetic, yet grounded in real life, this book is written by consultants who see the contradictions of the workplace firsthand. Using case examples, personal stories, inspirational quotes, visual images, reflective questions, and specific applications, it shows readers how to use their own experience to grapple with the gritty realities of the workplace. Throughout the book, readers are invited to consider the book's concepts in relation to their own unique situations and, in the case of the applications, to record their responses in writing. They then learn to construct meaning from their own experience, drawing on imagination and practice, as well as the specific circumstances of their work lives. Addressing what many feel but cannot say out loud, Bringing Your Soul to Work links ideas about soul to the realities of work in a unique way. For all those looking to increase their effectiveness at work and bring more feeling, imagination, and heart into their efforts with others, it will serve as a guide for creating something new and lasting.

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Collective Cry for Something More 1 The Inner Wilderness of Soul Section 1: Mapping the Territory 2 Windows to the Soul 3 Soul As a Chorus of Inner Voices 4 Shadows of the Soul 5 Playing with Wild Cards 6 Shadow Sightings and Everyday Practice Section 2: The Expedition 7 Finding Purpose in Work 8 Role As an Expression of Soul 9 Practices for Being Effective in Role 10 The Emotional Tapestry of Group Life 11 The Threads of Connection Notes Index About the Authors