There are three principles behind such an attitude. For the first we can turn to the Native Americans and their principle of the Giveaway, when possessions would be freely and gladly given to a member of a tribe in need, to maintain the well being of the tribe as a whole. We can view our employment as our Giveaway, enabling us to live the way we choose for the remainder of the time. This may be seen as unbalanced exchange, given the hours we are required to work, but when we have a sacred attitude to our lives as a whole, we find that we utilise our time much more effectively, than allowing evenings to slip away, seated in front of the TV due to lack of motivation to do anything else. The second principle in reclaiming the sacredness in our everyday lives is to examine the work we are actually doing.
Many people do jobs because they have to, while yearning and longing for something more fulfilling.
Such longings are the stuff of tragedy, for one day we find that a large part of our lives has slipped away and quietly died, leaving us forlorn and regretful, with neither the energy nor commitment to dig ourselves out of the hole that we find ourselves in. This may be something of a cliche, but cliches are so because they are invariably true. This brings us to the third principle. We need to examine what we need from our employment, or how we spend the majority of our time, are. Many of us think that 'if only' we had this, that, or the other, we would be fulfilled and happy, but it is often in these 'if onlys' that we find the clues to our fulfilment.