Macrina Wiederhehr explains how we can impart some of the wisdom of the monastic tradition into our workday in her book “Seven Sacred Pauses.” Among my favorite passages are these:

How can we learn to open our hearts to simple grace-filled experience? …How can we become more aware of the yearning in our hearts for the healing balm of solitude? You don’t have to be a monastic to experience these grace-filled moments. These moments are available every day. They are offered to the workaholic just as frequently as to the mindful person. It is all a matter of living with open eyes and sometimes a rearrangement of our values. 

We belong to this earth, and the work we do is ultimately for the purpose of making our world a better place in which to live. When we begin our day, most of us probably do not approach our work with the awareness and belief that we are artists involved in continuing the work of creation. From the most sublime to the most menial, work is creativity. If we could truly believe this, many things might change in our workplaces and in our world at large. It is not necessarily our work that is the problem; perhaps it is our inability to be a loving companion to our work.

The Indian poet Kahlil Gibran suggests that our work is our love made visible. The way we approach our work is vital to our happiness and the good we are going to be able to do as artists and co-creators with God. The attitude with which we approach our work determines whether or not our work will become a love made visible.

Living mindfully is not an option for those who want to live healthy lives. Healthy living necessitates finding a balance between work, prayer, and leisure. Integration of these three is difficult but not impossible. Daily practice is needed as well as, perhaps waking up to your own inner call. A bell will not necessarily peel out for you in your workplaces. You must learn to listen for the tapping of the heart. In some workplaces this will be easier than others.

Corporate America will probably not bless you for taking care of yourself. The bottom line is production. Without that, there is no company. No one really cares what you did for them yesterday. The big question is: What are you going to do for me today? Thus the mania begins. It perpetuates itself, producing a stressed, violent society. It is impossible to be mindful when you are going ninety miles per hour.

Even if you aren’t part of the big corporate machine, living mindfully is always a challenge. No matter what your work entails–housework, laundry, personal contacts, business meetings, preparing for workshops, yardwork, writing, composing, teaching, cooking, raising children, (fill in your own labor of love)–realize that you are an artist. In some small way you are continuing the work of creation. Remember to pause.