Nowadays, one hears a lot about job dissatisfaction. Granted there are a lot of positions in the workplace that are not appealing at first glance, e.g., draining cesspools, customer service for the IRS, and holding the Slow or Stop sign at roadway construction sites. One even hears complaints from those whose salaries are in the six-figure range not including the two numbers to the right of the decimal point. One's reserved parking spot may not be close enough to the front door, or one's office may have windows but is not a corner office, or the position only has a $10,000 a year car allowance, or all employees are required to wear shirts and shoes to work, etc.

Our society has spawned thousands of highly specialized jobs that require a modicum of training and many hours of repetitious or predictable tasks in which employees are harangued to increase productivity and decrease expenses. It is the era of the DINK (double income-no kids), or the working parents who have surrendered their children to nannies, au pair girls, and daycare, and even Fido to doggy daycare. It is pretty much the case that people work to live, if you really wish to think of it as "living." Working for fifty weeks to spend two weeks on a vacation that, from day one, is a countdown to going back to "that" job. Even then, it is ersatz "fun" shared with numerous other wretches who deposited months ago to get that slip at the lake marina or camping spot nestled amongst rows of other RV commandoes. The solitude of nature broken by screaming children, blaring televisions, and, worst of all, rap "music" booming at 200 decibels.

I am not decrying the ludicrousness of most vacations. National Lampoon's series of vacation movies has already been there. The real question for me becomes, "Is it possible to live for work rather than work to live?" My answer is yes. The point to be made is that the job (and the employer) has no responsibility for the employee's happiness or contentment. If one takes the job of cesspool drainer, the expectation should be that one is going to drain cesspools and not bottle perfume. To maintain the western world's standard of living (and that is a topic for another day), there are millions of jobs that are not inherently exciting, fulfilling, or even interesting. A lot of people have to do a lot of tedious, sometime dangerous, tasks to bring refined gasoline to the pumps to put into the Benz, BMW, or Lexus of someone who sits at a desk all day, five days a week, attempting to figure out some way to sue another person who drives a Benz, BMW, or Lexus.

So how does one find a job that enables one to live to work? The answer is that you already have the job. Your job (or however you occupy your time) is not the issue. How you relate to your job is the issue. Many people are dominated by their jobs. Most fulltime workers are paid for 2,080 hours a year and get time off for good behavior through vacations and holidays. There are 8,832 hours in a year; so about 20% of the year is spent working on the job. The other 80% is spent sleeping, or complaining and worrying about the 20% job. Seems a bit lopsided to me.

The job that you have now (or the fact that you do not have a job) is a result of your choices and the responsibilities that attend to those choices. You made your bed so sleep in it! If you simply shift your thinking a bit to realize that no one but you put you where you are, then it is much easier to realize that you are not a Leninist downtrodden worker being exploited by capitalists. If you have an IRA or 401-K, then you are a capitalist. Don Manuel Ruiz writes in "The Four Agreements" that the fourth agreement is to always do your best. No matter where you are or what you are doing, always do your best. There is such freedom in adapting that practice. Even if you are stuffing envelopes and pasting stamps on them, there is dignity and fulfillment in that, as well as every other task, simply by: one, realizing that you put yourself where you are, and two, by always doing your best. Anyone can then leave work at the end of the day feeling good about himself (and the job) because of having done his best. Quit crying and complaining about life having dealt you a bad hand.

How you relate to your job is the issue. Does this mean that you should stay in the same job forever? No, of course it does not. People are now changing jobs and industries at a phenomenal rate. Doing your best in your current job will make it far easier to move to the next one. Employers are ecstatic to find someone who does his best every day. Do that which really resonates with you. Make income secondary and the type of work primary. If you really love what you do (and always do your best) you will find that your need for income decreases. Many high salaries are spent in pursuing diversions that take the worker's mind off of the job even if for a short time. "He who dies with the most toys wins." Really, what did he win?

Okay, this is a column in an allegedly spiritually oriented magazine, so what does all of this job palaver have to do with spirituality? Jobs are no more than a microcosm (remember only 20% of the time is spent…) for the way that we lead all 8,832 hours per year. If we complain and act as victims with respect to work, more than likely that is happening in most aspects of our lives. We are all supreme creators, every one of us. Spirit cares naught for what we create. We are all creating all of the time. Most of it is unconscious. Unconscious creation is responsible for most of what we complain and feel victimized about. The joke is that we are victimizing ourselves! For example, if I go into work this morning (although I do not need to) believing that this will be a frustrating and tedious experience full of angry, grumpy people, guess what? Bingo! I just created it, and I have a frustrating day full of angry and grumpy people. I don't realize that I am creating what I am experiencing. Hello! Wake up! Who's in there? Anybody at home?

There is much presented about co-creation and manifestation in this magazine and many other publications and seminars. There are different approaches and explanations to creating what we want in life; however, I submit that there is one unifying principle in all of them, i.e., having awareness of what is being created. Many wannabe enlightened folks are great about spinning off the request for a forty-two foot sailboat or the million-dollar portfolio, but totally ignore the day-to-day activities that make or break their ability to enjoy the boat or the money if they ever get it. Being fulfilled is in the details.

The bottom line about jobs is that we create what we have. It is as simple as that. If you are not happy with what you are doing, try taking responsibility for where you are (what you created) and always do your best, every day in every way. If that is not enough, then look into your heart about what you really want to do. Be the former corporate executive with two heart attacks and hypertension who starts his own fly fishing camp and lives to be a happy, fulfilled octogenarian. Wealth and power are not necessarily, and rarely, the answer. Find your heart's desire, pursue it with good intent, and all else will fall into place. I know. I have been in both worlds. It is not a theoretical position from which I speak.

Last, to end this column on a humorous note and in the spirit of "living for your work," I am reminded of an old movie, Woody Allen's "What's New Pussycat?" In the movie, a friend asks Allen about Woody's new job. Allen replies that the job is as an "undresser" in a burlesque show. The friend asks what it pays. Woody replies that it is only a $100 a week. The friend comments that it is not much pay. Allen replies that it is all that he could afford.

Be well, and be conscious of what you are creating.

H. Vexson is a black sheep offspring of an established East Coast (USA) lineage that predates the Internet and who heavily invested in Xerox and Apple at the right time. After graduating from well-known ivy prep and collegiate institutions, he was struck in the head by a mallet in a polo match. Although his team did win, he experienced an epiphany, sold his ponies and the Bentley, and sallied westward to California. There he garnered some minor fame in establishing a chain of aromatherapy stores named Smell This, garnering him a small fortune and establishing independence from the East Coast Vexsons. Forsaking the family traditions of Republican conservatism, he is a Libertarian, writes bad poetry, and lives quite comfortably where he may view the ocean and the mountains as well as the poor souls going to and fro their "jobs." If you wish to have a personal communiqué forwarded to him, please do so in care of the Editor of this magazine.