Forget spirituality on the job; how about spirituality as a job?
There’s no shortage of paying posts to absorb someone who’d like her professional preoccupations to reflect those filling out her personal balance sheet. Think artistic community director, organic farmer, yogi, healer and a slew of other careers with a decidedly spiritual bent. On careerbuilder.com, find some 1,108 “spiritual jobs,” an exhaustive inventory that, on one recent sweep, included such examples as a hospice spiritual care coordinator, a part-time spiritual counselor, a health-care coordinator at a senior assisted living facility and a work-from-home advanced-illness telephonic case manager (a soul who’d ostensibly be responsible for “providing a holistic approach to addressing the physical, emotional, spiritual and psycho-social needs of members and their families).
On http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/st/jobs-spiritual.html, meanwhile, another whack of so-called “spiritual” jobs are housed under this category heading, this list including school crossing guard, pastor and bereavement counselor.
Herewith, a few choice spiritual-job picks for your consideration:
Clergy
According to various sources, there are currently some 22 prevailing world religions that garner 500,000 or more followers. Given that reality, to say nothing of the multitude of subsets, denominations and variations of belief out there (and the billions of people aligned with same), it’s not surprising that the richest source of formalized so-called “spiritual” work can be found in this realm. Among other tasks, clergy deliver spiritual sermons, perform spiritual ceremonies and administer a range of spiritual services, including weddings, funerals, baptisms, circumcisions and even guided meditation. For their part, chaplains offer traveling religious services to those in need, typically finding their audiences in hospitals and crisis centres. Often, chaplains will do their work in remote or hard-to-access locations.
Teacher
From ESL to ECE — and everything in between — there is an undeniable spiritual component to the task of imparting knowledge to others. If you’re not formally qualified, you might find satisfaction (if not stacks of cash) in simply sharing your sewing or gardening tips with others. Otherwise, earn your teaching degree and set about changing the world.
Life coach
This ever-emerging field employs professionals with an interest in helping guide others toward their life purpose. Here, the so-called “expert” might advise on such disparate subjects as meditation, work/life balance, diet and career counseling — all with a view to assisting people to more comprehensively incorporate a spiritual piece in their chaotic, workaday lives.
Spiritual counselor
A spiritual counselor guides her clients through various practices, all of them tied into a belief system, in pursuit of a stated goal. Among other objectives, a spiritual counselor might help others to heal and release personal baggage, resolve unfinished life issues or work through those areas in which they’ve become inextricably stuck.
At the end of the day, an element of spirituality can find its way into virtually every trade. From plumber to Shaman to IT guru, the work world spills over with an abundance of opportunities for on-the-job spiritual engagement. Still can’t see it? Make it so.