of view of scales and balance, it is obvious that immersing yourself so heavily in work is like placing your work on one dish of the scales and absolutely everything else in the other dish. Naturally, balance is destroyed and the consequences become visible all too soon. The result of prioritising work to this extent will be the exact opposite of what you expected.
If working harder means earning more money or improving your qualifications then of course a little extra effort will do no harm. Like everything in life, there should be good measure and proportionality. If however, you are constantly exhausted and have become your own slave driver then it would be better to slow down a little or even look for a different type of job. Either way, the point is that any effort made beyond measure will inevitably lead to negative consequences.
This is what happens on an energetic level. Aside from work, everyone has their own set of values, be it: home, family, leisure pursuits etc. If you juxtapose all your other values with the one value of work you create strong potential. Everything in nature strives towards equilibrium, which means that aside from your own will, other forces would come into play to mitigate the consequences of the excess potential you are creating. Balanced forces can work in all sorts of different ways. You may become ill, in which case there could be no question of working any harder. You may start suffering from depression which would not be altogether surprising because you would have been so hard on yourself. The voice of the rational mind shouts: “Come on! You must earn more money” while the soul or subconscious objects: “Surely this is not what I came into the world for, to suffer and torture myself? Why bring this on myself?” Eventually, you would become chronically tired and any plans to be more productive would have to be forgotten. You would probably end up feeling that you were banging your head against a brick wall; getting nowhere fast.
When people do overly prioritise their work there always seem to be someone else around who achieves more whilst making considerably less effort. Once a person achieves a certain level in their job there can be a tendency to place massive importance on their work, but unfortunately, the more disproportionately important it becomes, the more likely it is that problems will arise. People assume it quite natural for there to be problems, but in reality, the number of problems a person experiences is reduced significantly when they lower their expectations and relax their attachment.
The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that you have to consciously re-evaluate your relationship to your work if you want to avoid creating excess potential. It is essential to have free time in which you can do the things you enjoy. People who do not know how to switch off and relax do not know how to work well either. When you arrive at work, detach yourself. Give of your head and hands, but do not give away your heart. The work pendulum wants all the energy you can give it, but you did not come into the world simply to work for a pendulum. Your efficiency at work will be noticeably increased when you stop creating excess potential and free yourself from destructive pendulums.
Match detachment with integrity. Be careful not to make small errors or faux pas, which would enable others to accuse you of being irresponsible or negligent. It is important to carry out your responsibilities with integrity. Detaching yourself from a situation does not mean behaving carelessly in a slack or slip shod manner. It means to act with a cold mind, without creating excess potential at the same time as fulfilling the tasks required of you. This approach protects you from being drawn into unpleasant situations. There will always be people you know or colleagues who continue to immerse themselves head first in their work. On a subconscious level they will sense that, although you act with impeccability, you are sufficiently emotionally detached not to put yourself on the line completely. These conscientious individuals will instinctively feel the urge to trip their competitor up on some oversight. As soon as you make a mistake they will be there to criticize you. The sad thing is that the mistake is likely to be something quite mundane and harmless. You might just be a little late for work or have forgotten something fairly minor. If you had sunk your head in the work-sand, as they do, no-one would make anything of it, however once you change your attitude to your work, little things give people the opportunity to accuse you of slacking or lacking in dedication.
Situations like these can also arise at home and among your friends so it is important in any situation where you are detaching yourself to fulfil your responsibilities attentively, thereby not giving anyone the opportunity to reproach you. It is the inner witness, the Guardian that enables you to act with integrity at the same time as holding back from throwing yourself headfirst into the race. The notion of the inner Guardian has nothing to do with a split personality. It is the part of yourself that stands in the background and observes what you are doing and how you are doing it. We will return to this theme in forthcoming chapters.
Some might say that throwing yourself completely into your work is on the contrary, a wonderful thing. Of course, it depends what your work is. Total immersion in your work is only justified from the point of view of balance if it is connected to your personal goal. The personal goal is also a theme we will look at more closely a little later. If you love your work because it coincides with your personal goal then it can serve as the tunnel that leads to success. This kind of work nourishes your energy, bringing joy, inspiration and fulfilment. If you are one of the lucky ones who can confidently say that they feel this way about their work then you have nothing to worry about.
Exactly the same goes for study. Later in this chapter we will look at other situations in life, where excess potential is created, and the impact of balanced forces.
Resentment and Judgement
We will begin with resentment of self. This feeling arises when a person is unfulfilled by their personal achievements and qualities, and finds it hard to accept their own weaknesses. It is quite possible to be conscious of your own shortcomings without inflating them into a complex. If you are intensely focused on your own foibles, excess potential will be created. Balanced forces immediately get to work to eliminate the potential. Their action can be focused either on developing certain new qualities or on battling with the original weakness. People have a tendency to work with one or the other depending on their nature. Most often a person chooses to battle with the less attractive parts of themselves and their position turns against them. There is no point in trying to hide weaknesses, and overcoming them can be tricky. Trying to hide them only creates the opposite effect which makes the situation even worse. For example, when a shy person makes an effort to hide their shyness they can come across as very held back or, on the contrary, excessively cheeky.
If a person is dissatisfied with their achievements to the degree that it serves as motivation for self-improvement then balance is not disturbed. The outside world is not affected and the inner shift towards balance is established via by positive action. If a person starts upsetting themselves, beating themselves up, or even worse, punishing themselves, then a destructive dialogue between heart and mind is created. The heart is self-sufficient, perfect and does not deserve to be treated so harshly. All shortcomings that a person acquires are shortcomings of the mind, not the soul. You could write a whole book on just the connection between the heart and mind. Suffice to say, that conflict between the heart and the mind is greatly undermining. If reason dominates and the soul closes in on itself life can become chaotic. To avoid having to turn to a psychotherapist further down the road, let yourself go and forgive yourself for your perceived imperfections. Even if you have not yet learned to love yourself, you can at least refrain from fuelling the inner battle of self-criticism and accept yourself the way you are. Only then can the heart be the mind’s ally, and what a powerful ally it is.
“Ok”, you say, “if I let go and leave all my imperfections in peace how then will I acquire the better qualities I wish to have? I do not want to stop developing”. This is not about having to give up the striving to embody whatever qualities you admire. It is about giving up the war with self over your perceived imperfections. When you wage war on yourself with constant criticism you waste energy by supporting something which is not so much futile as harmful because of the excess potential it creates. When you finally stop battling, energy is freed up that can be channelled into self-development.
Although
