by Phil Wellman

Turbulent economic times often serve as an unwanted, yet necessary catalyst for spiritual discovery. For some it provides an opportunity to bring greater meaning to their work.

At the tail end of the dot-com bust in 2001, my advertising and design agency was floundering and I was desperate. One day while scanning a magazine rack, I was drawn to an issue of Fortune magazine with large billowing clouds on the cover and the headline, “God and Business, the Surprising Quest for Spiritual Renewal in the American Workplace,” by Marc Gunther.

Something felt very right.

In the article, Gregory F. A. Pearce, author of Spirituality@Work, said “Why would we want to look for God in our work? The simple answer is most of us spend so much time working (or thinking about it), it would be a shame if we couldn’t find God there. A more complex answer is that there is a creative energy in work that is somehow tied to God’s creative energy. If we can understand that connection, perhaps we can use it to transform the workplace into something remarkable.”

As a designer, I knew that creative energy first hand, and I’d been actively involved in a spiritual practice for over 25 years. But I had to ask myself whether I was really incorporating the spiritual principles that I knew so well into my work.

Back to my 2001 dilemma. Clients were dropping fast and the only new one I could find was an innovative little start-up called Centerfor.

They described themselves as “A business dedicated to connecting people through education, services and resources to help them build a financially secure life.” Sounded perfect. They were long on idealism, enthusiasm and goodwill, but unfortunately, very short on cash.

Contrary to my more selfish survival instincts (I was broke), I knew I needed to work with them. I could see the valuable need they were filling in the community and jumped in. For the next three weeks, I ignored my financial fears, asked questions, listened closely and was laser focused on helping them to develop a clear and powerful advertising campaign. They loved the resulting work and it helped inspire a whole new wave of business activity for them.

I got a fraction of my hourly rate for the work, but the sense-of-purpose and creative satisfaction I felt for days afterward more than made up for the meager income. Something had changed in me. Somehow I was beginning to understand the value of giving in the workplace without thought of return. Sounds crazy, right? But that more generous attitude would begin to pay big dividends.

And it didn’t take long. One week after I finished the project, one of the Centerfor associates referred me to the Monterey Bay Blues Festival and they hired my agency the following week. That later led to being hired by the Monterey Jazz Festival, one of the best known and most creative jazz festivals on the planet. And more great clients followed. The connection between my initial act of selfless service and the growth of my business was not lost on me.

But adding clients was only the beginning. Now I felt committed to treating my customer relationships as spiritual laboratories where I could experiment with those principles that could further deepen my personal connection with Spirit (God’s creative energy) to the benefit of all concerned. How could the guidance of Spirit, and the disciplined focus of attention that it requires, begin to play a more powerful role in my work life?

About a year later I ran across "Your Brain on Innovation," an article about Ray Kurzweil, the prolific inventor who had developed an incredible variety of helpful inventions including optical character recognition, the first music synthesizer and computer speech recognition. In the article, he outlined his process for getting guidance and accessing breakthrough ideas. It became immediately clear to me that no matter whether you were a high-powered designer in a corporate setting or a mom running a household, this exercise could be of value.

This is how it worked for him. Every evening before bed, Ray plucks out a vexing problem...perhaps a business strategy, a technical problem, or a personal issue. First he begins by reviewing the nature of the problem and potential solutions. Then, lying in bed, he lets his imagination roam free, and sometimes envisions himself talking to someone in the future about the new solution he has found. "This has the purpose of seeding your subconscious to influence your dreams," says Ray. Then he drifts off to sleep.

All night, flashes of the solution filter in and out of his dreams. At the first glimmer of consciousness, Ray returns to the problem. It is then, during that brief semi-conscious period that he merges the logic of conscious thought with his more uninhibited dream state to arrive at many of his most innovative ideas and insights.

Over the last few years I’ve relied on my own version of this invaluable technique over and over again to develop new campaigns, design logos and get guidance on difficult personal and business decisions. But this is only one of many exercises I’ve used to pose questions to God’s creative energy and get answers that help solve problems, expand my understanding, and deepen my relationships.

Experience has demonstrated that following the guidance of Spirit demands the  control of  my attention and imagination. This guidance can come from anywhere; dreams, sudden intuitive knowing, family, friends, co-workers or clients. But it’s essential to stay open and trust the fact that there are no limits to the ways in which this creative energy interacts with and through us.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges we all face is to learn to fully integrate our insights and spiritual principles into our work, and in so doing transform the workplace and the world.

How do you interact with God’s creative energy in your work world? I’d love to hear your stories.