. . . AND Workplace Harmony . . .
As I sit here and listen to news of yet another shooting, this one involving little kids, young lives cut short. The devastation in its wake of families, parents and siblings, communities torn apart. I wonder what is at the heart of it all? Pain? Fear? Anger? Inequity? Injustice?
Workplaces are microcosms of the world. The pain, anger, fear, inequity, and injustice that plagues the world is insidiously present in workplaces. If we do not attend to these hurts and pains in the workplace, achieving success will remain elusive.
We are at a landmark moment in history where the pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate our lives, particularly our work lives. Many people, young and old, are asking for harmony - balance and wellness at work. There is a desire to challenge the old ways of doing things – the myth of the “work ethic” which colonizes the mind and creates a setup where the “have nots” work to the exclusion of life, to achieve a mythical success as a pathway to pleasure, connections, love.
So how do we create balance and wellness at work?
Harmony - Balance and wellness - for individuals is achieved through communal balance and wellness. In other words, balance and wellness cannot be achieved by one person unless all persons around also experience balance and wellness. Balance and wellness are firmly rooted in negotiation to create optimal well-being. They are based on agreed upon discipline which guides behavior at work. It is about acknowledging that every member of the team is a human being – with desire, need, family, community. When everybody functions with an awareness of humanity, humaneness, workplace harmony inevitably results. In a practical sense how do you achieve harmony at work? This is not a simple answer – particularly since the workplace is a dynamic entity, particularly now. Human beings are also dynamic – around a fulcrum of pleasure-pain and survival. So how can harmony be achieved in a microcosm of a dynamic workplace comprised of people with dynamic lives and needs? Under such circumstances, respect for all, negotiation of agreed upon principles of work, and a mutually held discipline in achievement of mutual goals are key ingredients to achieve harmony.
Sonia Suchday
Ashram On Park
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