Months ago I read an article by Malcolm Gladwell; He used the term "meaningful work" and talked about how we have a need to do work that offers some degree of autonomy and complexity, work that is rewarding. This phrase keeps ringing in my brain. Marshall Rosenberg says that we all have a need to contribute to the world and to the lives of others in meaningful ways. Isn't that the purpose of meaningful work?
My mom used to work in a factory where they made televisions. She would come home tired, her hands cut and bleeding. As a child I was pretty sure that this was not meaningful work; to me it just seemed mean. My mom was the smartest, most capable person I knew. Why was she forced to do such demeaning work?
My mother's sacrifices had a lot to do with my decision to go to college. Yet I still find myself struggling to find meaningful work, to do work that meets the Buddhist definition of "right livelihood," to not just make a living but also make a life.
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