Sometimes as we are sweating away,
pouring ourselves into our daily efforts,
we may ask ourselves:
Is our work actually important?
We spend such a huge part of our life time doing it,
we sure hope so!
So where shall we go for an answer?
Well, being a Freudian…
I say we go ask him!
I once spent a whole day exploring Dr. Freud’s office in Vienna,
where everything is still set up exactly as it was in the 1930’s.
So it is not hard for me to imagine finding him there,
puffing on his cigar.
Dr. Freud, I say,
Please tell us…
Is our work important?
He replies:
Two hallmarks of a healthy life
are the abilities to love and to work.
Each requires imagination.
Hmmm…sounds like a yes!
But his last line has me thinking.
He’s saying that…just as with love…
for our work to be healthy,
we need to bring our imagination to it!
Wow. I never thought of that, did you?
Bring our imagination to work!?!?
Yup.
Sounds like he is saying
yes our work is very important,
but in order for it to be healthy
we need to apply our creative minds to it
to bring it to its full potential.
Maybe he means we need
to take whatever work we are doing
and keep transforming it.
Keep reinventing it at a higher level,
just like a great relationship.
I never thought of that before.
Work just got a whole lot more interesting.
So, I guess the foundational question is:
What kind of work does each of us want to be creative (imaginative) with?
Probably something that makes us feel good about ourselves.
Something that makes us proud of what we are accomplishing.
So, let’s look into this.
What kind of work makes us feel proud?