Spirituality In The Workplace

Today's episode is all about how to bring spiritual truths into the work place. No matter if you are the boss or an employee, from philanthropy to family values, this episode covers it all!

Transcript

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with your host Glenn Ambrose.

Hello,

Welcome to Life,

Lessons and Laughter with Glenn Ambrose.

I got that right,

Right?

Yes.

It feels like it's been a while.

You did.

Has it been a while since we recorded?

Maybe a little bit longer.

What?

Maybe like,

Oh.

It's been a while.

It's been a while.

So,

Hey,

Today we are talking.

Did you film this podcast?

Oh,

Okay.

That was just a little birdie.

Pay no attention to the pen.

It flew in and flew out.

Yes,

It's actually just Ben and I.

And a fleeting bird.

Today we are talking about work.

Careers.

Careers.

And how we're talking about bringing spirituality and,

Or lack thereof,

Into our work environments.

And one way to look at it is it's not so much bringing spirituality into your work life,

But just bringing good living into your work life.

Being who you want to be in your work life as well as your personal life.

Okay.

Does that work for you,

Ben?

It does work for me.

I suggested this topic.

And yet I don't really have a ton of.

.

.

Then it better work for you.

I don't really have a ton of idea of what that means.

So I don't know.

I guess what I was just asking was like,

In what ways,

Like people separate things very much.

Usually when you start working on yourself personally,

You don't really worry about it professionally or you worry about yourself professionally and you don't really worry about it personally.

Yeah.

A lot of times it starts where the pain is.

So if your greatest pain is in your personal life,

You start doing the work there.

And I feel like most of what we've talked about in the last year and a half has been personal,

More on the personal.

It could be taken both ways.

It could be.

.

.

Right.

You can apply it.

It's applied.

It's applicable to everything.

But we haven't specifically spoken about work in that way.

Yeah.

I'm thinking there's kind of two aspects to this.

One is being who you want to be in your work life and relying on the same principles in your work life that you do in your personal life.

The other aspect is using your work life to expand your spiritual life.

Using the same principles in a way that you make your business decisions based from a spiritual perspective and your business expands because of that.

So one aspect of this is expanding your business through spiritual principles.

The other aspect is bringing who you are as a person into your work life.

And as we go on through the podcast,

They blend together.

They both kind of blend together also.

One of the things that I was just thinking while you were saying that is we're sort of raised and presented with and surrounded with the idea that business is cold and cruel and matter of fact.

The phrase is,

Hey,

It's business.

That's the worst.

Like,

Hey,

It's evil.

Right.

Yeah.

And that's how we excuse poor behavior in the name of,

Well,

This isn't me cheating you.

This isn't me lying to you.

I'm not a bad person.

This is business.

So I can be a horrible person and get away with horrible things because it's business.

It's not actually me doing it.

And I mean,

We see that played out in politics all the time.

It's the same thing.

And right,

It's just an excuse.

And it's a large reason why we're in the situation that we're in is because people excuse their behavior in the name of something else.

It's the end justifies the means.

That's what people believe.

So it's like,

Well,

If I reach this goal business-wise,

Then I'll be able to do wonderful things for the community or something.

So I'll cheat,

Lie,

And steal to get there.

But what they're not realizing is they're becoming a cheater,

A liar,

And a thief.

So when they get at their end goal,

They're just a rich thief.

What you are on the inside is sort of some of your actions.

So if you're lying,

Cheating,

And stealing,

Then you're really not a good person.

It doesn't matter what.

A lot of people will set their sights on the goal at the end and go,

Well,

No,

I have to do this to get there.

And we don't.

That's a big,

Huge misconception.

We don't need to get there.

Fortunately,

What's going on in the world right now is a shift of perception.

People are starting to see things differently.

And it's starting to play out in the business world,

Which is wonderful.

I think one of the most obvious examples is CVS.

I don't know all the numbers,

But I bet that they took a substantial hit not selling cigarettes anymore.

But what they're doing is they're banking that whatever proceeds that they would make from selling cigarettes,

They're going to be compensated for doing something healthy and enhancing their view,

How people view them,

And say,

Oh,

Well,

CVS cares.

CVS is doing things to make us healthier and better.

So I'll do my business there.

CVS cares is their slogan,

Isn't it?

Yeah,

Actually it is.

It might even be the name of the company,

CVS Caremark.

But that's the direction they're heading.

And you see.

.

.

And it's working.

It is working.

It really works.

When I go to CVS and there's a big sign on the window that says,

Let's quit together,

It's constantly reminding you of,

Oh,

Hey,

They did a really cool thing.

Yeah,

Boy,

That was brave.

That was brave.

That was very.

.

.

It's outside the box thinking.

It's changing the way people are thinking about business.

They're not just going,

If I sell this amount of this product,

I will get this for a profit.

So therefore,

I will do that.

If I do not sell this amount of product,

I do not make that profit and therefore my company is doing worse.

Business has reached.

.

.

We've analyzed everything.

We know,

Yes,

If you sell this,

You're going to get this.

Business is naturally expanding.

It's growing.

It's evolving.

And just like humankind is evolving.

So what we're doing is we're starting to evolve into different areas.

We're constantly looking for new ways to grow.

Well,

This is a new way to grow and it's effective.

People are saying,

Oh,

We'll do something good and then people will like us and then they'll do their business with us.

I was going to say that the CVS thing was like something out of a movie or a TV show and it actually is.

In Mad Men,

In one of the first seasons,

The whole advertising company is based around selling cigarettes,

As any advertising company probably would be in the early 60s.

But they didn't do it for good reasons.

So even fictionalized of a company turning against cigarettes,

It was for business.

It was for.

.

.

It can be both.

When we make decisions from a business perspective,

It's not screw everybody and make profits or be nice to everybody and go broke.

That's not the truth.

And we're starting to see that.

It's not the truth.

So what we're doing is bringing these spiritual principles into our work life and going,

You know what,

If we do things that are good for people,

They might like us.

And if they like us,

Maybe they'll buy from us.

And it is.

It's a whole new way of thinking and it's working.

This might be a heavy question.

Do you think that capitalism is anti-spiritual?

Do you think that it is completely.

.

.

Because some people would say that capitalism is the official religion of America.

Well,

There might be some truth to that,

Just because a religion is based in dogma with spiritual principles that underlie it for the ones who go there to find them.

And a lot of people in religion don't necessarily connect with the spiritual truths that underlie it.

So capitalism,

It's a set belief system,

Just like a religion is.

So it's like,

Well,

There might be,

Definition-wise,

There might be more truth to that than we realize.

But it's very important for me in my business that I don't think there's anything wrong with making a profit.

I don't think there's anything wrong with living in abundance.

I think that that is what my Creator wants from me and for everybody else.

If we look at nature,

There's abundance everywhere.

I think that we're supposed to be living in abundance.

I think that when we're not,

It's because we have a block.

And I've lived many years not living in abundance.

But I believe that that was my block.

And as I make business decisions as I move forward,

Do I keep in mind profit?

Yes.

Absolutely.

I want to have a nice life.

I want freedom in my life,

In my son's life.

I want nice things.

I want to be able to travel the world and experience wonderful things.

I want to be able to travel the world and help more people.

I want to get my message out there to more people,

Or the message out there to more people.

And it's so money can only enhance that.

I don't think there's anything wrong with money.

There's no way that I feel that it's either or,

That I have to live my life in a way that has integrity,

Or I get profits.

Think about if we could actually get a politician,

Let's say we could somehow figure out to tell the truth,

The 100% truth.

When we found a person on this planet that would live their life and make all their decisions based in 100% integrity,

Every time,

Every decision they made was the best possible decision for the greater good of everyone.

If we found that one person and we could prove that that's what that one person would do,

And we told everyone about that,

That person would be elected to president.

We'd be like,

Oh,

Check this out.

This guy actually just lives in integrity.

Oh,

Well,

We'll elect him to the city government,

The monthly government.

The people,

If the people,

The masses found out that there was a human being that would actually look out for their best interests and they were 100% sure about that,

They would rally around him so much that,

Well,

I mean,

Barring that he was killed by the.

.

.

I was going to say,

Or,

And you can't see it,

But I'm putting my arms out like a crucifix right now.

The story sounds a little familiar and I think it ended a different way.

Yeah,

Well,

It was a different situation.

But I mean,

You know,

But if there was elections being held and they're like,

Oh,

That guy has integrity,

Like for sure,

We know that.

Oh my God,

Yeah,

Let's vote for him.

Everybody would be voting for him,

But we don't have a way right now of telling the 100% truth.

So we wouldn't,

You know,

We're not going to see that happening.

There is no one,

No one anymore that it feels like the more integrity somebody has,

The more the public is now waiting for what the awful,

Awful thing we're eventually going to find out is.

Does that make sense?

It makes sense.

I think that people are so jaded or crushed or whatever by,

You know,

Like,

Politicians that we thought that had integrity,

Obviously all of the like priest scandals and stuff.

Bill Cosby comes to mind.

Yeah,

But it's,

You know,

We're putting people on these pedestals for,

Yeah,

Well,

We're putting them on these pedestals when we don't know anything about them,

You know,

And it's the,

I get it.

And when I see people like that,

That are kind of in the public eye,

Do things against themselves,

Against their own integrity,

There's a little part of me that goes,

Oh,

Darn it.

That's too bad.

Because what it does is it just takes,

It gives all the people who are waiting for that to happen more evidence and then they have more evidence.

So then they go,

See,

I'm right.

I'm right.

And honestly,

That's not how I see the world.

I see the world completely differently.

I see the world that people of integrity are coming up more.

I see the world as us getting to a point in evolution where,

You know,

We have people that are worth billions upon billions of dollars.

They're more famous than ever thought possible.

It's just the pinnacles of success nowadays are so ridiculously blown out of proportion that people are sitting there with nothing left to achieve.

There's nothing left.

And they're sitting there going,

Geez,

I'm not happy.

So what do they do?

They're finally turning inside and finding happiness within themselves.

They're finally turning to philanthropy and helping others as a way to fulfill themselves.

I see that happening more nowadays than it's ever happened before.

So that's how I see the world because that's what I'm looking for.

And I see evidence all over the place.

There are business organizations that are formed nationally as well as internationally that their whole business model,

Their whole model of success is based on not just profit but how you give back to your community.

And to be a part of these international and national business associations,

Your books and everything are monitored to see how you're actually giving back to the community.

And then they have a rating scale of how successful a business you are and it's based on not only your profit but how you give back.

And that's the way.

And it's working.

These business organizations are growing.

So when I'm looking at the world and the things that are happening and the direction we're going,

That's the type of stuff I see.

I don't look for the company that just did an old thing by focusing on profit and screwing over their workers yet again.

I'm not looking for that news story so I don't generally see it.

And if I do see it,

I go,

Okay,

Well,

That's those people over there and they're not at this place yet so they're still doing things the old way.

I'm looking for the stories like CVS,

Like these international business communities that are focused on doing good in our community that show the evolution and where we're going and how it works so effectively.

So since I'm looking for that,

That's what I'm seeing.

No matter what you look for,

You'll find.

That's why I generally,

That saves me so many arguments.

Because people come up and they'll go,

Well,

What about this?

What about that?

What about this?

I go,

Well,

Yeah,

I mean,

If you're looking for that,

Obviously you're going to find the evidence of that.

There it is.

But I've got evidence over here of this.

Would you like to hear my evidence of this?

And sometimes it's yes,

Sometimes it's no.

And if they're completely closed off,

They're not interested in seeing what I'm seeing.

So they just stay where they are and they have the right to do that.

And I'll be over here looking at things changing for the better.

This is good.

What's weird is that I,

We were,

Yesterday you and I were having a training session.

And this is true.

We had,

We briefly spoke briefly about what we would talk about on the podcast today,

Which is more of a pre-production meeting than we ever have.

And this topic just came to me and I threw it out for whatever reason.

It didn't really,

It affected my life in as much as Dave and I had spoke kind of,

Not abstractly,

About doing some things,

Volunteering our time,

Like helping some people in some situations.

And I thought that kind of connects with this and I'm going to get your opinion on it.

And then more stuff happened.

After we were like,

Yeah,

Let's talk about that tomorrow.

Then yesterday,

More stuff happened that I'm not going to go into that really related to,

Wow,

Business can be really cold.

It absolutely can be if we choose it to be.

And especially places that you would think that wouldn't be cold and uncaring.

So this has just been a really refreshing.

.

.

That's an important point too.

Cold and uncaring can be very subjective.

And I don't know any of the details about what you're talking about.

So I'm just going to talk about these types of things in general because I literally don't know the details of what you're talking about.

So I can't talk to that specific situation.

But it's funny because I was thinking about this this morning at home before I came out.

And I was thinking about how people generally will blame business for being uncaring when it's not necessarily the case.

Because generally what we do is a lot of times when we get hurt by something,

We walk into a situation and this is good because I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with your situation.

But a lot of people will walk into a business situation and they'll be like,

Hi,

Here I am.

I'm going to put my happiness in the hands of my boss or the company that I work for.

And I'm going to give them all the decision making power.

I'm going to give them my happiness,

Control over my happiness.

And I'm going to do that because I'm such a kind and nice person.

And then all of a sudden the boss makes a decision that's based in the company's best interest from his perspective at that particular time,

Not knowing what the worker's perspective is.

Not only because he can't climb inside somebody's brain,

But oftentimes he's so busy and caught up in his own life he doesn't even take time to slow down and really look how it's going to affect somebody.

And then he makes a business decision.

And then the worker gets hurt and they go,

Oh my God,

I'm so wounded.

I was just being a nice person.

This is my payback for being a good person.

I'm just being a nice person.

This person just took advantage of me and hurt me.

And it has nothing to do with any of that.

And this leads me right into the second part of the podcast I want to touch on.

The person we are is our own responsibility.

Our happiness is our own responsibility.

Everything that goes on in our life is our responsibility.

So we can't walk into business and say,

I am not responsible for my own happiness.

I am not responsible for looking out for myself.

I am not responsible for protecting myself.

That's my boss's job or that's my company's job.

They are responsible for looking out for me and protecting me.

That's their job.

So I'm just going to do whatever I can to please them.

And if they're happy,

Then I'm happy because I'm such a good person.

I'm such a martyr and such a wonderful person that if they're happy,

I'm happy.

See how kind and nice I am?

That's what everybody walks around doing.

I'm so nice.

I'm so kind.

Look at me.

And then all of a sudden,

The boss craps on them and they're like,

Oh my God,

Can you believe he crapped on me?

Well,

Yeah.

You're not his concern.

You're not his responsibility.

You're your own responsibility.

You have to live your life with integrity.

You have to live your life by making good decisions,

By securing your future.

You know,

People have come to me and asked me for multiple different things that I've worked for.

You have to go to a mandatory meeting.

You have to do this.

You have to do that.

And if it was out of line with my integrity,

Then I didn't do it.

No,

I'm sorry.

I can't do that.

Well,

You have to do that.

No,

I'm not going to do that because the example that I talk about when I wrote an article about was when my different bosses had asked me to or told me I had to go to a mandatory meeting that was during the time that I was supposed to be spending with my son when he was younger.

And I was like,

No,

I can't go to the mandatory meeting.

I'm going to be with my son.

And I was threatened with being fired.

And I said,

Okay,

You know,

Do you should I take my stuff now or should we discuss it later and then I'll grab my stuff or how do you because I was living out of integrity for myself.

I wasn't putting my relationship with my son and my personal happiness in the hands of my employer and then wondering why I'm not happy in my personal life.

I have to take responsibility for that and I can't live my life through fear.

When it comes to work,

We all hide behind this,

Oh,

I need to pay my bills.

Well,

No kidding.

We all have to pay our bills.

But most of us are pretty darn capable of doing a lot of jobs.

And this thought that there's only one job in the world that we can work to pay our bills,

It's just fear-based.

And we run around making these decisions based in fear and then we wonder why we're living a fearful existence.

Oh,

I'm so fearful.

I walk around and I'm scared all the time and I'm not happy and I'm fear.

Well,

That's because all your decisions are being based out of fear.

I'm scared I'm not going to have a job.

I'm scared I'm not going to be able to take care of myself.

Well,

You know what?

If you've got a company that's treating you like crap,

Don't quit your job.

Start looking for another one.

But people don't do that.

They'll sit there for 20 years in a job and complain why their employer treats them like crap and they're not happy.

Well,

Year one,

Year two,

You start seeing that they're treating you like crap,

I bet you could find another job in a year or two if you actually looked.

There's a.

.

.

I'm really glad that we talked about both sides of this because the first half of the show was really about.

.

.

It was from the employer's perspective,

From an entrepreneur's perspective.

Just business ideas.

Of how to better use your business,

Better implement these things in your business.

But most people are not in that position.

Most people are in the position that we just spoke about where they're the employees,

They're working for someone and they are at the whim of the business practices of someone else.

They feel they're at the whim,

But they're not.

We can say no to things a lot more often than we do and people just don't realize that.

It's just about,

Like I said,

Taking responsibility and I honestly consider myself a realist.

I never tell one of my clients to go quit their job because their boss is acting like a jerk.

What I do is tell them to take responsibility for their future.

If your boss is acting like a jerk and there's some sort of conversation that you can have with them,

Try dealing with it in a healthy way with that boss and shifting the dynamic there.

If that's not working or he treats everybody like a jerk and you know you don't want to work there,

Well then stop looking for another job.

But don't just sit there complaining that this boss isn't taking care of you.

I've seen it time and time again.

People stay at these jobs for years and years and years and then they're going,

Oh my god,

I'm so unhappy here.

Because you're not walking towards your happiness.

Your whole goal,

Most people's goal is to keep their boss happy.

Well,

I'll do this because if he's happy then maybe I'll get the promotion.

I'll do this because if he's happy then I'll keep my job.

I'll do this because if he's happy then I'll have job security.

It's all an illusion.

We don't have job security.

You can get fired over anything.

You're spending all your time and your energy trying to please somebody outside of yourself and then years go by and you look back and you go,

Why do I not like myself?

Because you've never tried liking yourself.

You've never walked in the direction of liking yourself.

You've never looked at your life when it came to a business decision and said,

What type of man or woman would I like to be?

Would I like to be a man or woman of integrity,

Of honesty,

Of self-love?

Then why don't I make my business decisions from that?

What would a man of integrity do in this situation?

Would they say no to their boss?

No,

I can't work overtime this week because I have plans with my family.

Would that person say,

Okay,

Yes,

I'll agree to work overtime for the next six months or a year,

Make a deal with themselves.

Yes,

I'll work overtime for the next year while I look for another job that this isn't demanded of me.

Make your decisions based out of integrity and you'll become a person of integrity.

If you make your decisions based out of fear,

I'm scared of what he's going to do,

I'm scared of what they're going to do,

I'm scared of,

Or I want to keep them happy,

I want to keep them happy,

I want to keep them happy instead of keeping yourself happy,

Then all of a sudden years go down,

Years go by and you're just going to be unhappy.

All right,

So I have two quotes.

I think I'm just going to use,

Well the first one we don't need to talk about,

But never respect men merely for their riches,

But rather for their philanthropy.

We do not value the sun for its height,

But for its use.

Oh,

I like that one.

Gamaliel Bailey.

And two,

I like this one more.

It's important to think good,

Speak good,

And do good.

If we want to see positive change in the world,

Then we need to connect to goodness.

I try in everything I do,

Both in business and philanthropy,

To make a positive change and do that by doing good.

Sherry Arison.

Yeah,

And I bet you Sherry is feeling good about herself.

Why?

Because she's doing good.

If you want to get to the truth,

Simplify what I always say.

It's very,

Very simple.

It's not always easy to do,

But it's very simple.

If you want to feel good,

Do good.

The very last scene of the TV show Boy Meets World,

Which is like such a huge part of everybody my childhood,

The very last scene,

The teacher that's been teaching them since they were literally in kindergarten every year.

They come back when they're leaving to go on and live their lives.

Do you have anything else to teach us?

And he says,

Do good.

And the smart kid in the class goes,

You mean do well?

And he's like,

No,

Do good.

And they all cry.

But that's the most important lesson that he has to teach them is go do good.

Do good.

If you do good things,

I say this too,

If you do esteemable things,

You will have self-esteem.

To raise your self-esteem,

Do esteemable acts.

If you do good and you live your life and make your decisions based on integrity and self-love,

Then you will have integrity and self-love.

If you make your life decisions,

Including business,

Based out of fear,

You will be a fearful person.

It's that simple.

Where can people reach you?

They can reach me on life-enhancement-services.

Com and my Facebook page,

Life Enhancement Services and or Glen Ambrose,

Glen with two N's.

So thanks for listening.

Thanks Ben for being a part of.

Thanks little birdie for tweeting in.

And we'll talk to you next time.

This podcast is presented by New Shore Productions,

Executive producers Glen Ambrose,

Benjamin Barber and David DeAngelis.

Reviews

Good insights, thank you. Something happened at work today which threw me, so this gave me food for thought.. thanks Glenn, Ben and birdie 💜x

Great advice to hear as a manager or staff