Let people pass through you, not bounce off of you was what Isabelle Lambert told me during one of the many consciousness-based consultations I had with her. I went to work the next day turning this phrase over in my mind as I went about my normal business meetings and interactions with co-workers. I was puzzled by the phrase, and then realized I was more than a little frightened by the idea of letting others pass through me.
Letting people pass through me felt dangerous. What if on their way through me they, or some vestige of them, got stuck in or on me? I know that may sound odd, but I had come to cherish my wholly independent self and my privately held fringe thoughts and feelings. I didn't want anyone else in there tinkering around with the purity of ME. I had fought hard in my personal life to separate myself from the pain and suffering I had experienced and continued to witness in others around me. I had NO intention of merging with it in any way. In my experience, while people could bring love and pleasure, they often also brought with them significant dedication to limitation and suffering. There was no way I was signing up for that.
As is the case with most of my life lessons, as the days went by I became less reactive and frightened about letting others pass through me, and more curious about what my teacher actually meant. I became interested in what might happen if I figured out how to do this letting people pass through me thing. I've always considered my natural curiosity and willingness to experiment two of my best traits.
Years passed, jobs passed, and now, fifteen years after first being advised to let people pass through me, it's time for me to share with you what I've learned about doing so. Suggestions are powerful, and the one Isabelle gave me that day triggered some sincerely deep thinking and feeling on my part about who we are and can be at work. My years of witnessing myself and others in a myriad of professional situations have brought me to this very point with you.
Who I think we can be in our working lives is offered to you here in the form of affirmations, and includes my thoughts and experience to help illustrate the concepts. The four chapters of this book correspond to the work life components I have long come to regard as having the longest reach into the entirety of our career arc--from the earliest days of our first jobs, through the exceptionally rich sunset years that draw our professional lives to a close. Each of the four chapters holds within it eight affirmations to be used in any order and at any time.
I hope you find this approach to be a loving, thoughtful, and creative way to engage the important subject of your working life. Perhaps as your career unfolds, you'll return to this writing at just the right time for you--whether that's daily for a time, once in a while when inspired, or simply by coincidence--and maybe you'll find cause to share this with someone in acknowledgement that their work lives are journeys in need of supportive contemplation, too.
As with any affirmation based work, please make yourself very comfortable, creating an ideal condition for letting the words play on your awareness. Trust yourself enough to know that you will take from the time you spend here that which you need, leaving behind anything that falls out of range of your intent or purpose.
