Interview with Tanis by Verena Deeken
Many of us, me included, spend the greater part of our life searching for the right job and the right place to work. What are your thoughts on that?
Tanis: I see two aspects here. One is concerned with the question: Is there is a right job for each person and is it important to look for that job? I do not want to minimize this concern; however, at the moment, I am more concerned with a deeper second question.
The second aspect is concerned with living in the present moment and enjoying whatever we are doing. It is concerned with the question of how we can do the best possible work for our customers, co-workers, and how we can create a better world. Every one of us can do this independently of whether we are a waitress, a management consultant, or a taxi-driver. There are as many unhappy waitresses as there are managers, as many unhappy lawyers as there are plumbers. More status and/or money will not give us more happiness. We can see that in the people we know.
I have great trust in the Universe. It puts us in the best possible situation to facilitate our transformation. Sometimes being in a seemingly difficult place creates strengths and qualities in us that the world needs.
Sometimes we must live for 10, 20, maybe 30 years in jobs that do not seem right for us. But why spend that time living in unhappiness? That's like the child who might pine for being in grade eight but currently is in grade three, or the teenager who wants nothing more than to be grown up and live on her own but she is only 14.
We would like to be in such and such a place where we believe we could manifest more. But the Universe will give us the opportunity to develop step by step - whatever is needed and for how long it is needed.
Some people might find their gifts at different stages of their life. Prodigies are recognized early in life, but the greatest majority of individuals are renaissance people, who do not excel in anything especially. Yet, in middle age the very many little gifts that renaissance individuals have developed become the unique package for them. That is when they excel.
What do you recommend that we do to live our life most fully?
Tanis: Live in the present and have goals for the future. We might have one goal like world peace, and we can hold this vision and yet not quit our jobs, or leave our families and kids. Instead of walking off on peace marches neglecting all else we might ask ourselves: what can I do in my work and where can I take responsibility to create an environment that is more peaceful?
From a very young age I've felt called to help the Earth and help people to develop spiritually. But only half of the time I could do that, such as teaching spiritual workshops, retreats, and tours to sacred sites. The other half of the time I was working in the mainstream as a corporate consultant. I found that I could only offer between 25 and 50 percent of my soul's gifts in the corporate environment because the other 50 percent would have alienated the people in that environment.
Although at the time this was not my ideal, I felt that this was what the Universe needed from me. And, actually, corporate work has given me many gifts that have enlarged me as a whole human being. For example, I can speak to people in all walks of life and understand what they are going through much better than if I had spent my life only doing spiritual work. This way spirituality is much more practical and in the end more successful.
I have learned that people, no matter what their jobs are, all have the same hopes for their lives: that is that their lives will make a difference in the world. We can help others by helping them to make a difference with their lives. So, in the end, there is no separation between doing spiritual work and doing work as a corporate consultant.
I remember one wonderful student of mine. Mary Rutherford, she was in her 80s when she attended Transform Your Work. At the end of the course she asked, When will my work end? At that time she was still teaching Tai Chi, Qi-Gong and helping groups on their spiritual journey. She is now 93 and still working, because for spiritual people there is no retirement - you work as long as you are capable. Currently she is trying to help a United Church minister to be less narrow-minded. Ultimately, work transforms us and we transform our work.
How can Transform Your Work help with the many challenges we face at work?
Tanis: There is no such thing as too much development. Every one of us has life energy that is constantly increasing or decreasing. And our life energy increases as we increase the functioning of each of our chakras. If we have blocks in our chakras due to fear or anger our life energy cannot increase.
For example, if we lack will power maybe people will like us (perhaps because our second chakra is strong), but if we don't stand up for ourselves we are at the mercy of others and are not able to attract what we want to us.
To be liked and to be respected, we need to have both of these to be recognized and promoted in the workplace. To put spirituality into practice means working on our weak areas, while maintaining our strengths. This way we grow into who we truly are. Diminishing ourselves does not serve anyone, and we must develop ourselves to the highest potential. That is how we become a conscious creator on the planet.
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