How to Use Your Spiritual Power to Get a Job By Bennett Michael Roberts Copyright March 2012 Bennett Michael Roberts Smashwords Edition This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: First Steps-Examine Your Beliefs Chapter 3: Center Yourself before You Search Chapter 4: Identify Your Job and Search for It Chapter 5: Infuse Positive Energy into Your Resume & Cover Letter Chapter 6: Preparing for the Interview Chapter 7: It’s Interview Day! Chapter 8: After the Interview Chapter 9: Starting Your New Job Chapter 10: Final Thoughts Chapter 11: Book Club Discussion Questions Chapter 1: Introduction So you need a job! We’ve all been there. Everyone needs to provide for themselves and their loved ones. Unless you’re independently wealthy, you need to work for a living – to pay the bills, put food on the table, and enjoy the pleasures of life. You may be feeling a variety of emotions as you embark on your job search: anxiety, loathing, excitement, reluctance, or even that pit-of-the-stomach feeling you get right before you throw up. Whatever you are feeling, accept the feeling as being okay, and know that things can only get better from here. As you read through this book, you’ll discover how to turn these emotions around, and develop a spiritual approach in your quest for employment. You already know why you are seeking a job. Some of the reasons may include: I just lost my old job. I dislike my current job. I just finished school, and am entering the workforce. I currently have a part-time job, but I want (or need) a full-time one. I have been out of the workforce for some time, and am re-entering it. Does it really matter why you’re looking for a job? No, it doesn’t, because whatever your reason is, the job won’t magically appear before you. You have to take positive action to find it. Here are some of the actions you must take to get a job: Identify the jobs you will pursue. Look through the want ads. Prepare a resume and cover letter. Send these documents to prospective employers. Respond to employer inquiries. Prepare for and attend job interviews. Follow up after the interview. Now this seems like “nuts and bolts” stuff, and it is. But have you thought about how to take each of these actions to the next level? How can you gain an edge over your competitors in getting a job? And what does spirituality have to do with it? The answer is simple: You can take these actions to a higher level by infusing each step in your job quest with spirituality and positive energy. And that is what you’ll learn in this book – how to use the “invisible edge” of spirituality to maximize your chances of getting a job. Here are some of the spiritual techniques you’ll use to get a job: Positive thinking Centering Deep Breathing Meditating Creating a Vision Board Visualizing White Lighting Volunteering Utilizing Affirmations Expressing Gratitude Living Optimistically By adding each of these elements into your job quest, you’ll become a powerful force in the job market: indeed – you’ll become a powerful human being! Back to Top Chapter 2: First Steps–Examine Your Beliefs Let’s start by asking some basic questions. What is spirituality? And how does it differ from religion? Many people were brought up believing in a certain religion, usually the religion of their parents. Whatever religion it was, it had a certain set of beliefs associated with it. For example, Christians believe in God and that there is a place called Heaven. Buddhists believe in Karma and Rebirth (aka reincarnation.) One thing that most religions have in common is worship – acts of devotion that are directed towards one or more deities. Spirituality differs in that it is not tied to any one religion, and allows each individual to develop their own beliefs. For example, a spiritualist may believe in an afterlife, without labeling or describing it. He or she might believe in the connectedness of all things, instead of an all- powerful deity. Spirituality does share an important commonality with religion though. If you believe something to be true, but it can’t be proven in the material realm, then you are said to have faith. Faith is basically just believing in an idea, and trusting it to be true. Some say that faith believes in a positive outcome, while fear believes in a negative outcome. But when you believe in something that is non-tangible or non-material, you have faith. Spiritualists develop their own beliefs, their own faith, apart from the established doctrines of religion. Perhaps they do not feel complete partaking in a traditional religion, or simply want the freedom to explore the immaterial. Spirituality gives people the latitude to expand their awareness and discover their own inner being. They feel a connection to the universe, but don’t wish to be limited by the views of others. So they experiment and study the intangible aspects of life, to gain a greater insight into their own existence. Yet spirituality and religion can and do coexist. You can be a devout believer in an established religion, but incorporate spiritual practices into your daily routine. It seems counterintuitive to consider things like breathing and volunteering to be spiritual practices, but they can open doors that you didn’t even realize were there. A more spiritual path can begin with small changes in the way you think. You’re probably familiar with the phrase positive thinking. But what does that even mean? In its simplest sense, it’s about being hopeful and confident. But it is much more than that. Positive thinking starts with a commitment deep within you. It is a change in attitude, a change in the way you see things. Instead of responding to people and events in a negative manner, you look for the bright side in everything. For example, you wanted to go for a walk today but it is raining. So instead of getting down in the dumps about it, you choose another positive action. You’ll catch up on paperwork or read a book or watch a movie. Instead of dwelling on the negative, you’ll search within yourself for a positive alternative. Then you take action towards that positive choice. One of the most important times to think and act positively is when you are looking for a job. At every step along the way, you must possess good energy, feel superb, and infuse the positive feelings into your actions. You’ve probably heard of The Law of Attraction. It isn’t really a law; it’s a belief system, and is similar to positive thinking. The Law of Attraction states that you should A) know what you want and ask for it, B) feel, think, and act as though your desire is already yours, and C) be open to receiving it. So now ask yourself the following: Do I really want a job? Do I know what job I want? Am I behaving like I already have a job? Am I acting like a professional? Will I say “yes” if I’m offered a job? Hopefully you answered yes to all or some of these questions. If you did, you’re already on your way to a positive mindset. If you didn’t, it’s important to identify your mental state. Think about what it would take to answer yes to all of these questions, and what positive thoughts you can develop to get there. Imagine your perfect job and believe that you’ll get it. Have faith that it is out there and you’ll find it. Ask for that job, out loud, and repeat your requests to the universe daily. Smile when you think about the new job. You’re on a new path now, a spiritual path to getting a job. Exercise 1 – Start Your Spiritual Job Quest Journal Open an empty spiral-bound notebook, or if you prefer, open a new document on your computer. You are starting a Spiritual Job Quest Journal. Write down your answers to the questions on the previous page. Explain your answers, as much as possible. No one will see this but you, so be completely honest. Answer the questions below as well. Examine your answers and look for places to improve, to adjust your mindset to be more positive. Additional questions: Why do I need a job? (Or, why do I need a new job?) What are my religious beliefs? What are my spiritual beliefs? How can my two sets of beliefs coexist without conflict? How can my combined beliefs help me get a job? What are my most positive beliefs? Am I open to new practices that will help me get a job? Review your answers as many times as necessary, until you feel they are complete and honest. Take a day or two to examine your beliefs and answers, and know that you’ve just taken a positive step towards getting a job. Back to Top Chapter 3: Center Yourself before You Search Before starting your job search, it is wise to become centered. What does this mean? Being centered means focusing your attention or energy on something. For the moment, you won’t focus on the job quest. Instead, you’ll focus on yourself. Centering is about finding the calmness that exists within you. You’ve probably felt it at some point in your life – a time when the incessant stream of consciousness inside your head slowed down (or stopped) and you were just able to exist, free and unencumbered from the rigors of daily life. Eckhart Tolle, in his excellent series of books, calls this “stillness”. By slowing things down, both internally and externally, you allow your body and mind to recharge and regain the energy you need to move forward. And there are few times in life when this is as critical as when finding a job. Employment represents your survival, so it’s naturally a very tense and draining process. But it needn’t be so, and finding the calm place within you prepares you for the challenges that lie ahead. There are many ways to focus inward and become centered. Let’s start by looking at some breathing exercises. How do breathing exercises help you? First, they help release and reduce emotional stress (which is pretty common when one needs a job.) Second, deep breathing relaxes the body, including slowing your heart rate. Breathing also increases energy flow throughout the body. These are just a few of the wonderful benefits that can be enjoyed through deep breathing. Here are a few different exercises. You may like one or two better than the others, or you may like them all. Try doing a different one each day, or a specific one at a certain time each day. Whatever you prefer, it is important to incorporate one or more breathing techniques into your daily routine, to help you get centered and stay that way. Exercise 2 – Breathing Exercise – Accepting & Releasing The first breathing exercise is called “accepting and releasing”. Sit down in a comfortable chair, and close your eyes. Focus on each in and out breath you take. Notice the rising and falling of your chest. Just keep inhaling and exhaling, focusing on the rhythm. Then, with each in-breath, say to yourself “accepting.” With each out-breath, say to yourself “releasing.” Continue this cycle for many minutes. As you do, you’ll notice your respiration rate slowing down. You’ll notice that the breaths are becoming deeper. Stop after 5-10 minutes, or whenever you feel comfortable. Observe how you feel more relaxed, both mentally and physically. This is what centering is all about – focusing your attention on one thing until it slows you down. Exercise 3 – Breathing Exercise – Breathing from the Belly Here is another breathing exercise. Do the same as in Exercise 2 – sit down in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. But this time, focus on your stomach, not your chest or lungs. With each inhale, push your stomach outward, and with each exhale, pull your belly inward. This has the effect of sucking more air into your stomach and lungs. Continue this breathing technique, and you’ll automatically be breathing deeper. This floods your body with oxygen, and shortly you’ll feel superb! The above technique is actually the proper way to breathe – from the abdomen. Ask any doctor and he will confirm this. “Breathing from the belly” is the most natural way to breathe, and you see children doing it all the time. But as we grow older and the stresses of life consume us, we gradually breathe shorter and shallower. This is lung breathing as opposed to belly breathing. Sadly, this deprives us of exactly what we need the most – life-sustaining oxygen. Exercise 4 – Breathing Exercise – Nostril Breathing Now try the above breathing technique again, but this time with a slight variation. Inhale and exhale from your abdomen. Keep your mouth closed, and breathe through your nose. Now use a thumb to keep one of your nostrils closed. Notice how the airflow is immediately reduced. This may feel uncomfortable at first. If it does, that’s okay – just release the closed nostril and use both. Then keep the one nostril closed for only a few breaths. Keep practicing until you can use only one nostril comfortably. Observe how slow, deep, and steady your breathing becomes. Sometimes it feels like you are breathing through a straw, but it is an excellent exercise in mental and physical control. By focusing so intently on one specific task – breathing – you are filtering out everything else and becoming centered. After performing Exercises 2, 3, and 4, note in your Spiritual Job Quest Journal what you liked or didn’t like about each technique. **** Breathing is a good place to start the centering process. But meditation can take you to an even deeper spiritual level. What does meditation mean? Like centering via breathing, meditation is an inward focusing. It is a deep relaxation, a clearing of the mind, and an enhanced awareness. Meditation has been practiced for over 5000 years and even today there are some who dedicate their entire lives to studying and mastering it. Yet it can be practiced by anyone, and comes in many forms. Take yoga, for example. Yoga is a meditative technique that is used to attain a higher level of consciousness and awareness. It has numerous health benefits and is taught and practiced throughout the world. The stretching and breathing of yoga helps you improve your flexibility, strength, and stamina, while fomenting mental calmness and reducing stress. Yoga is a great way to become relaxed and centered before starting your job search. Exercise 5 – Yoga Exercise - The Easy Pose You’ll want to wear loose-fitting clothing for this one. Take your shoes off and sit down on the floor or a comfortable mat. Cross your legs, and place your hands atop your knees. Then turn your palms up so they are facing the sky. Sit up straight and hold your head level. Close your eyes. Now breathe naturally, while holding this position. It may feel uncomfortable since your body is not used to sitting like this, but with repeated practice it will feel better. Remain in the Easy Pose for several minutes or as long as it’s comfortable, while continuing to focus on your breathing. **** You may also wish to examine other forms of meditation like qigong (pronounced “chee kung”) or tai chi (pronounced “tie chee”). Similar to the breathing exercises discussed earlier, qigong is another spiritual practice that focuses on breathing. Its objective is to help people maintain their health while improving their joint flexibility and expanding their range of motion. Practicing qigong also calms the mind and increases the energy flow within the body. Tai chi does the same, though it focuses on simulated martial arts movements in addition to breathing. There are many places that offer classes in yoga, qigong, and tai chi. Another easily learned form of meditation is Transcendental Meditation. This is typically practiced 20 minutes a day, with eyes closed, and mentally or verbally repeating a word or phrase known as a mantra. This requires no special skills of contemplation or concentration, yet it allows the mind to quiet down and sink into a deeper level of consciousness. So picture this – you, sitting quietly in a comfortable chair, eyes closed, and repeating your own personal mantra to yourself. What might you be saying? How about “I am employable” or “My perfect job is coming soon” or “A good job is near”? You could even just focus on a single word like “employable” or “working”. Make your mantra something positive and your energy level will be higher by the time your session ends. Exercise 6 – Combine the Easy Pose, Deep Breathing, and a Mantra Now get into the Easy Pose, and begin deep breathing again. This time after you’ve gotten into a rhythm, start saying a mantra to yourself (or speaking softly) that relates to your job search. Continue this for 10-15 minutes or however long feels comfortable. This is a great exercise to do daily, and feel free to change your mantra in each session. Be sure to record your favorite mantras in your Spiritual Job Quest Journal. **** While breathing exercises, yoga, and mantras are beneficial, many people will experience even greater benefits by using an audio form of meditation. One such form of audio meditation is Holosync, a product offered by the Centerpointe Research Institute. By listening to the Holosync sound tracks using high-quality headphones, a person’s brainwaves are lowered from the normal waking state (alpha waves) down to the much deeper theta and delta waves. The benefits of doing this are many – you’ll experience extremely relaxing meditation sessions, improved memory and creativity, lower stress levels, enhanced personal awareness, and many other benefits. Much more information can be found at Centerpointe.com, and you can request a free sample CD. Holosync is an excellent introduction to the world of audio meditation. There is no one best or right way to become centered before starting your job search. Try several of the aforementioned techniques and experiment to see what feels right for you. Take the pieces that you like best and incorporate them into your daily routine. Then by centering on a daily basis, you’ll have an edge over many of your competitors in the job market – a peace of mind and relaxed state of being that they don’t have. Back to Top Chapter 4: Identify Your Job and Search for It So you’ve been practicing your favorite breathing exercises and meditation techniques, and are now feeling really focused and centered. This is the ideal time to think about the job you want, and then take action to get it. You already know your skill set and what you are qualified for. But have you taken the time to contemplate and write down what you really want? Most people don’t do this, but it’s a valuable exercise that can really help you define your objective. Get out your Spiritual Job Quest Journal now. Exercise 7 – Create a “Don’t Want” List You’ll make two lists. The first is a list of things that you don’t want or don’t like in a job. Label this list as “What I don’t want in a job.” Some examples of these are: I don’t want a job where I work too hard for low pay. I don’t want a nasty demeaning boss. I don’t want a job with inconvenient hours. I don’t want a job where my co-workers are unpleasant or lazy. Write down as many statements as possible about what you don’t want in a job. The more negatives you can write down, the better. But what does writing down all of this yucky stuff accomplish? Exercise 8 – Create a “Want” List Now you’re going to take each of those things that you don’t want, and turn them into things that you do want. Take each statement you just wrote, and flip it around into positive statement. Label this list as “What I want in a job.” Some examples are: I want a job with the right amount of work for the right pay. I want a friendly, supportive boss. I want a job with hours that fit right into my schedule. I want a job with competent and pleasant co-workers. What you have just done here is called “comparing and contrasting”. Most people definitely know what they don’t want. That’s why it’s so easy to come up with a big list of negatives. But most people don’t stop to think about what they do want – which is the list of positives you get when you flip the negative statements around. Exercise 9 – Refine Your “Want” and “Don’t Want” Lists Now let’s take this exercise a step further. Get out your newspaper and turn to the want ads in the classified section. Or alternately, get on the Internet and go to your favorite job site, like Monster.com or Careerbuilder.com. Examine the ads for your profession. Look for things you like or don’t like in each advertisement. Add these onto your respective “Want” and “Don’t Want” lists. You should be able to put quite a few more items on your lists. Be sure to add the [...]... Create and Use Affirmations Take a few minutes now and design your own affirmations It’s okay to use the ones above as a guideline But you’ll go far beyond those – try for 20-30 new affirmations that are specific to your life, and your job search Write them down in your Spiritual Job Quest Journal, and take as much time as you need You may also wish to contemplate your affirmations during a meditation... – a chance to shine at a new job Of course, you’ll once again mail or email a Thank You Letter In some cases, the company will want a formal Acceptance Letter – that is okay too And modify your daily breathing and meditation sessions to intensify your gratitude **** But your job hasn’t even begun – it doesn’t really start until your first day of work Does this mean your spiritual quest to find a job. .. taken have moved you toward getting a job You’ve focused your mind on the single goal (getting a job) , and have visualized the desired outcome in painstaking detail You may even feel like that job is already yours! And that is okay too In fact, if you do feel that way, or are starting to, that is superb That is one of the principles of the Law of Attraction – vibration matching Your thought energy attracts... helped a company, and the details of that experience Put together a little story of that success, and memorize it Interviewer: Tell me about a problem you had with a past boss and how you handled it Emphasize finding common ground in this situation Talk about how open communication flow is a great way to avoid conflict Acknowledge that managers are people too and how you always strive to help your boss...“Don’t Wants” to your “Want” list, after you’ve flipped them around into positives As you peruse these ads, pay careful attention to how you feel, and what is going through your mind as you read each advertisement Especially look for things in the ads that evoke strong emotions For example, you may see a job and say to yourself “I’ve worked a job like that before and it was bad news.” Or maybe a job posting... will come later Enthusiasm can be contagious – so go ahead and share it 7 “Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.” It is critical that you stay present in the moment, and don’t sink back towards negative past experiences They are like a poison, and can ruin your day…or damage your career Instead, always apply positive energy to what you are doing at the... These can be anything that you want, like, or dream about For example, perhaps you see an advertisement with a couple walking on a tropical beach You’ve always wanted to take a trip to Hawaii, so cut out that picture and put it on your vision board Maybe you need some nicer clothes for the job you intend to get Browse through some clothing catalogs and cut out the apparel you desire How about a new faster... passes, and should add them to the list You may also add negative people from your past to the list, and clear them as well by throwing their images into the trash can Anything or anyone that represents negativity from your past is fair game to get tossed Repeat this exercise at least once a week Getting rid of the garbage is an ongoing process and takes time On most days, think about the positive statements... in any way you can Interviewer: What is your biggest weakness? You can talk about being a perfectionist and that you want to do your job correctly and thoroughly, so sometimes it takes a bit more time You can also discuss how hard you work, and that sometimes you work too hard and can get burned out Interviewer: How do you handle stress? You can talk about your daily breathing exercises and meditation... from your “Want” list Repeat those phrases during your inhales, during your “Accepts” Turn your desires into mantras (Remember mantras, from the last chapter?) This will feel really good, and you’ll look forward to it during your daily deep breathing practice You also honed in on exactly what you want in a job in Exercises 8 and 9 You’ll want to revise your “Don’ Want” and “Want” lists periodically, as . honest. Take a day or two to examine your beliefs and answers, and know that you’ve just taken a positive step towards getting a job. Back to Top Chapter. This is a great exercise to do daily, and feel free to change your mantra in each session. Be sure to record your favorite mantras in your Spiritual Job