Part of a new series on Spirituality and Success

As a career success coach and leadership developer, I spend some portion of every single day helping people dig deep, discover their right work, and illuminate the world with it. Thats my mantra and my passion. Why? Because for a good part of my 18 years in my corporate life (the last two years of which were totally toxic and debilitating), my work made me feel sick, sad and lost. While highly successful on the outside (as a VP with a big job), on the inside I felt my work devoid of all meaning, passion and joy. Try as I might, I just couldnt figure out what else to do or how to change directions.

Now Im on the other side of that thanks to becoming a therapist, coach, training in energy healing, and finding my own spiritual path. Working with thousands of professionals a year, Ive seen that the journey to our most joyful work is not a linear, external experience. Its an inner one. And cultivating our own spirituality that allows us to deepen our connection to ourselves and others (and to how we want to be of service in the world in joyful ways), is the most direct route to a happier career and life.

A participant of a recent program of mine summed it up powerfully:

This has just been amazing. It quickly became obvious that I have a lot of things to work through on a personal level in order to be able to figure out the career I really want. I think part of it is just knowing that I am not my work. Work is an extension, an expression of who I am, but its not my identity. Im excited to get to know me, which sounds really weird. But I just feel like Ive always had this pressure around Ive got to do better, Ive got to BE better for everyone else. Maybe my career aspirations will shift once I find peace with who I am and really love myself for who I am. So I want to just continue to identify how can I serve where I am in my current position, continue to network, continue to express what are those passions I have in my career and type of work. But, I think the biggest thing is just going to be giving myself the freedom to just be still and just be, and not have that pressure to always figure out whats next.

To learn more about how spirituality can clear the path to your right career, I was thrilled to catch up with Lodro Rinzler, the author of the new book The Buddha Walks Into the Office: A Guide to Livelihood for a New Generation. Lodro is a popular meditation teacher and author of five books, including the bestselling The Buddha Walks Into a Bar. For over a decade, Lodro has taught workshops at meditation centers, businesses, and college campuses throughout North America. Founder of the Institute for Compassionate Leadership, Lodros columns appear regularly on the Huffington Post, Marie Claire, and Elephant Journal.

Lodro Rinzler (Photo credit: Christine Espinoza)

Kathy Caprino: Lodro, so many people are struggling today to find a new career path and to make a positive difference. What can they do differently to figure this out?

Read the rest here:

Why Figuring Out Your Best Career Is A Spiritual Endeavor