The Spiritual Deficit in Modern Workplaces

Do you know why we work 8 hours a day?

We used to work a lot more in the 1800’s. With the start of the Industrial Age, factory workers were putting in 12 to 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.

People eventually started pushing back and work hours dropped to 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. Henry Ford was the first major manufacturer to implement these hours in the early 1900’s.

It’s been that way ever since.

But that was 100 years ago in a different age.

We are now in the Information Age and in the middle of a global mass awakening.

The ways of the old simply aren’t supporting us as a human being having a spiritual experience here on earth.

We are not given any time to stop, think, recover, reflect, create.

Our bodies are forced out of bed in the early hours by a jarring alarm clock. We force feed ourselves coffee, and something to eat if you can at 6 in the morning. Sit in traffic in a commute to the office. Then sit hunched over for the next 8 hours.

Lunch is a mindless affair usually in front of your laptop. Then the drive home again. A little family or personal time. Many people have takeaways or microwave meals in front of the TV. Then it’s back in front of screens before collapsing into bed before starting all over again the next day.

If you work from home, you’re working longer hours than before and struggling to find the cut off between work time and personal time. Messages constantly coming in all hours of the day and night, and you feeling compelled to answer them.

Come Friday, drinks time, rush around the weekend getting things done, seeing friends and family, shopping. Rush, rush, rush because the dreaded Monday morning is always looming.

We get sick from it all. We get a few days off to get over our illnesses and expected to be instantly high functioning again.

We go on holiday. We get a few days off to explore the world but have to be back in minutes to get back to those jobs. Most of the time, companies are still messaging the people on leave, giving them no respite from the stress of working.

In both instances, you’re usually still exhausted when you get back to work.

We get no time to absorb what we are doing or experiencing. To process it, assimilate it.

How do the companies hiring us benefit when the bulk of the workforce feels this way? Surely they suffer too? Low morale affects the bottom line and makes for a miserable culture. That can’t feel good. Maybe they just don’t care because they make so much money.

And round and round we go, for years and years and years.

Our bodies and minds are suffering in this internet, sedentary, fast-paced, fast-food age. So many people needing glasses, sick, obese, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, quietly desperate, lonely, overworked, underpaid, critically stressed.

And when we do manage to steal an hour to just go and think and reflect, we feel guilty! In the back of our minds, all the deadlines and work that needs to be done. We rush the process because we have to get back to work. And in doing so, doing neither of them any justice.

We don’t allow these rest periods because they are not baked into how we live. Our 9 to 5, 5 days a week lives are simply not conducive to a spiritually balanced life. There are just too many other priorities that get in the way. But if we did have dedicated daily time for our spiritual growth, all the other aspects of our lives would become easier. Oh, the irony of it all.

And why do we do all this? Because we need money.

Earth is not free.

So we suck it up, say “it’s just the way it is” and do nothing to change it because we don’t believe we can. We convince ourselves that it’s not so bad. That other people have it much worse, so we have to be grateful for what we have.

So we do nothing. We don’t rock the boat because we need that job. We give up on our dreams and resign ourselves to a lesser life, just so we can pay the bills.

Are we really even being productive the full 8 hours a day? Of course not! You are deluding yourself if you think you are. We are just not made to function that way. Our bodies and minds function in short bursts of an hour or two before requiring a break in the routine.

Spiritual growth is not prioritized or valued in the workplace. Yet, we are fundamentally spiritual beings having a human experience. It’s the core of who we really are.

We need time to focus on our spirituality.

Eighy-five percent of the population believe in a Higher Power. There are over 4000 religions. Just under half the global population is employed.

That’s a lot of people at work.

We see social clubs in companies, charity drives, team building, year-end functions, awards evenings, canteens, creche’s, gyms, banks.

How many spiritual centres are there?  

Where can you go if you just need a half an hour prayer, meditation, quiet time?  

There are some prayer rooms here and there, granted. But they are few and far between and usually in huge companies trying to cater for diversity.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Stillness Room, or Quiet Room? A comforting place where no technology, no talking and no interruption is allowed. Where you can just sit and be to recharge your brain and your soul. Where you can talk to your Sacred Power. Where taking this time to reflect is considered an essential part of your day.

When we start companies and grow them, spirituality just doesn’t seem to make it on the list of priorities for a successful business.  

Our priorities are not serving us very well.

We need to figure out businesses that do not require us to work 8 hours a day, that celebrate our eternalness. Isn’t this why we’ve invented all this technology? To make our lives easier? Work less, earn more?  

We are spiritual beings. It doesn’t matter what religion you are or aren’t, you are a physical human being that has fundamental spiritual needs.

Ignoring them leads to a supremely miserable life.

We can’t expect the world to change overnight. A primary shift in consciousness is a big thing that happens one person at a time.

You are responsible for figuring out what is truly important to you. And once you know, build your life around that.

Maybe you can approach your bosses and ask them what the policy is on Stillness Rooms. Maybe you will be responsible for creating one where you are.

If you are a business owner, start thinking about how you could better support your employees.

There is just too much noise! We can make stillness mainstream if we wanted to.

Our souls are craving this.