Tired and burned out at the end of the day? Trapped in your job? That’s just bananas!

“Most of the world has gotten just enough of the bananas to permanently trap themselves right where they are.”  Dr. David Hawkins

 

One of my favorite authors is Dr. David Hawkins.  I recently started reading his latest book Success Is For You:  Using Heart-Centered Power Principles for Lasting Abundance and Fulfillment.

 

The book starts out with a reminder of the story about the experiment of a monkey in a cage and his reaction to bananas that were placed just outside the cage just beyond his reach and opposite the side of the cage that had an open door.  If you know this story you will recall that the monkey struggled to reach the bananas ignoring the open door.  He struggled so much he even injured himself by trying to squeeze through the bars of the cage.

 

Dr. Hawkins uses bananas as a metaphor for all the markers of success you can imagine (money, fame, title, recognition, job security, etc.).  Of course, that makes us the “stop at nothing even if it means killing ourselves in the process” monkey and the cage is our “cube” (as in your cubicle/office/workspace – actually, as in your job!)

 

His point…

True happiness and success has nothing to do with struggling.  In fact, success is merely a by-product of happiness and true happiness is never achieved via struggle.  Happiness is only achieved through the experience of joy and love.

 

Do you love your job?  Do you approach your work with joy in your heart?

 

See where I am going with this?

 

So again…  Tired and burned out at the end of the day?  Trapped in your job?  That’s just bananas!

 

If you’re feeling tired and burned out at the end of the day or trapped in your job then you may or may not be in the wrong job – I’m not certain.  But I AM certain that you are just experiencing the side-effects of reaching for bananas which is what happens when you’re disillusioned by your sense of what your work actually is.  And when we are disillusioned, we are never authentically equipped to experience true and sustainable happiness.

 

One way I have seen (and even personally experienced earlier in my own career), that we are disillusioned is that we seek RECEIVING bananas vs. seeking an understanding of ourselves and what “our work” truly is – AND GIVING that.  In that process we give ourselves a sense of peace and full confidence that the bananas will come to us effortlessly.

 

When we do that, we give up the huge threshold of pain and suffering others are willing to endure in an attempt to get more bananas.  Why do we accept this torturous threshold of pain as we try to get bananas?  Because we make bananas mean more than they are – after all, bananas are just food – and we cannot live by bananas alone.  Bananas have become a marker – a symbol – that validates us as a living, capable, force to be reckoned with.

 

Bananas are a consequence of happiness – the effect.  When we strive for an effect we are in force mode – that means a degree of pain and suffering will be associated with our job – and that leads to burnout.  Happiness is the cause of bananas.  When we strive for a cause we are in power mode – that means we will do our work with energy, joy and a sense of accomplishment – that leads to bananas.

 

Here’s another quote from Dr. Hawkins:  “If we’re tired and burned out at the end of the day, then it’s from the monkey business of trying to grab the bananas.”

 

So do you see why enough bananas – sometimes even just one – is enough to keep you struggling within your cage (within your cube)?  Because getting even just one teaches us that struggle (or even just hard work) = bananas – we become programmed just like animals do!

 

How do we transform the energy we spend on struggling for bananas in order to experience happiness and success?

 

You can wait and wonder in your cube while continuing to try to get bananas OR you can walk through the open door located on the opposite side of your thinking and call me for a consultation and start discovering what your work truly is….

 

 

Sign up today for a Career Success Insight (“CSI”) session.

 

 

In this initial 60 minute tele-coaching session we go through an exercise to help you gain insight into what “your work” truly is.  “ Your work” is the mission of your highest self – what you ultimately want to enable for others and be valued for in return .

 

 

Your sense of sustainable fulfillment is more easily realized when you recognize and take advantage of opportunities related to your career, job and work environment where you can contribute and be valued for “your work”.  These opportunities are easier to spot when you know what “your work” actually is.

 

 

From this session you will get a key clue about “your work” in the form language that you can use on your resume, in cover letters, thank you notes and even in actual interviews.  It conveys to employers what you can actually be counted on for – no matter what!

 

 

This session is offered to new clients at $57.  Plus, I will apply the $57 you paid from your CSI session to your next purchase!

 

 

Sign me up now! Email me to set up your session today!

 

 

Best wishes for sustainable happiness – and bananas!

About Gina Calvano

Gina Calvano is a certified coach and Senior Professional in Human Resources, with over 20 years of experience as a talent management professional in both the private and non-profit sectors. With a unique approach, she combines her strategic corporate expertise and accreditations with metaphysics and transformational thinking which has resulted in people all over the world feeling good about themselves and connected to a sense of purpose.

She created the Success Readiness Bootcamp™, a step by step process that enables people to easily discover their unique talents and abilities and match them to majors, jobs, industries and leisure pursuits. Gina is also the co-author of Breakthrough! Inspirational Strategies for an Audaciously Authentic Life with NY Times Best Selling Authors Marci Shimoff, Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood and Powerful Connections Made Easy™ with Aprille Trupiano, and is currently working on her next book — Caged in My Cube: The Turnaround Guide For Loving The Job You Hate.

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