On work and the person you’ll become

On work

One of my favourite quotes about work comes from Kahlil Gibran who said this in “The Prophet”:

Work is love made visible. And if you can’t work with love, but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of the people who work with joy.

Whether you are employed, self-employed or “unemployable”, work can be challenging. I’m not referring to those busy, frantic even, times but rather the experience of doing work that we struggle to do with passion, with love. That latter experience inspired this next piece (well, that and Dr Seuss):

Oh, the person you’ll become

When you wake in the morning,
do you hear your passion calling you
or the shrill alarm clock
beside your bed?

Oh, the person you could become.

When you walk out the door,
do you step into the morning light
or feel as if you are falling
back into the darkness?

Oh, the person you may become.

Is your daily work your labour
of love, your soul’s song,
or the burden that crushes
your promise with infinite despair?

Oh, the person you are becoming.

And when your day is done,
is your spirit elated with a sense of infinite possibility
or is it starved and unfulfilled,
having been drained of its vitality?

And at the end of it all, what have you become?
Do you feel a sense of wonder or do you quietly rage
against your ceaseless confinement?

Oh, the person you have become.

Originally published at pauljacobson.me on May 31, 2016.