Seeing Good at Work on Kindle

Seeing Good at Work by Joyce Duffala and Edward Viljoen is now available online in Kindle version.  Keep in mind that you don’t need an actual Kindle to read a Kindle book.  You can download software to read Kindle books on iPads, iPhones, PC’s and other smartphones.

Here is the link directly to the Kindle version:

http://tinyurl.com/seeinggoodatwork

Why Your Work Never Seems Good Enough

Week 1 in Seeing Good at Work invites us to question our reactions. If you are a perfectionist, this is going to be an excellent opportunity to see if what you're telling yourself about your performance is accurate.

Wanting to do better at work is natural. Being disappointed when you don't do as well as you wanted, is natural. Being habitually mean-spirited to yourself with your inner dialogue is self-defeating and counter productive.

One of the reasons your work never seems to be good enough may have something to do with your thinking, your reactions, or your inner dialogue.

 “Nothing’s good nor bad but thinking makes it so.”
—William Shakespeare

Here is part of the text from week one:

Have you ever noticed how babies and very small children experience an injury, react to it, and then move on to the next adventure with the adverse event forgotten? Such minimal reactions to a physical injury can amaze adults who might expect the child to respond in quite a different way. 

As we grow older, we are more apt to judge things as “bad” or “good.” Over time, when something “bad” happens, our reactions become stronger, and we hold on to them longer, as they carry with them memories of a history of past hurts. In this way, we pass from the realm of purely physical reaction into the realm of memory reaction, associating with the memory of what is bad. 

This is where we find ourselves as adults, mentally carrying around a detailed list of good things and bad things. And as we go through our daily lives, we continue to judge the things in our lives as either good or bad.

Joyce Duffala on the Linda Mackenzie Show: Creative Health and Spirit

Click here to listen to the recent interview with Joyce Duffala on the Linda Mackenzie Show, Creative Health and Spirit.  The interview will be available through May 21

Why Avoid Assumptions?

Week 3 in Seeing Good at Work encourages us to avoid assumptions, so maybe it is a good idea to examine even that assumption – why exactly is it good to avoid assumptions? After all, it seems like we navigate much of our life by bringing into new situations information that we have gained from previous experience in similar situations.

The difficulty arises when we apply to a new situation ideas that aren’t actually appropriate to it. This is particularly tricky for interpersonal relationships. For example, recently a close friend asked me whether I was attending an event. I mentally jumped to the conclusion that he was asking me for the same reason as in a similar situation a couple of months ago, and began making suggestions about his concerns. He somewhat quickly interrupted me to let me know these were not his current concerns, and I realized I had made the mistake of not truly listening to him in the first place.

This incident suggests to me the need for a repertoire of polite phrases to test my assumptions – phrases like, “Is my understanding correct that …. ?” or “Are you wanting to know if … ?” My hope is that these kinds of phrases will not only test the accuracy of my understanding, but will also allow the other person to know that they are being truly heard.

Seeing Good at Work: A Teacher’s Experience

Seeing Good at Work: A Teacher’s Experience

I love Seeing Good at Work! This book has been a life saver for me, and without it I might not be at work.

I have been through the book three times over three years, and am starting it again. This is not because the material in the book is not working, but because it is working so well! The weekly lessons keep me on track and focused on what is actually true and important, and help me experience more good in every area of my life.

Each week’s reading is short and easy to read yet filled with great information, advice, and profound insights. The opening quotes add so much, and the concluding short “Remind Yourself” phrases are very effective in helping me to remember, feel, and experience the benefits of the reading.

Right from the beginning in Week One – “Questioning Your Reactions” -- I was reminded that I choose my reactions. The application exercises helped me examine my thoughts and feelings, and lift my perception to a higher understanding to remember that good is present in any situation.

This book has made me more aware of what I’m saying, hearing, thinking and doing. For example, the material for Week Nine -- “Are You Blessing or Cursing?” – allowed me to see that my conversations with co-workers were often about what was wrong rather than what was right. I began to realize I was doing more “cursing” than “blessing,” and that I was in fact working against my own good intentions to improve my life. Through the applications exercises, combined with my own daily affirmations, I was able to turn things around and experience the blessings that were all around. Not only did I notice the change in me, so did my co-workers!

My favorite topic comes in Week 18 -- “Water Off a Duck’s Back.” I use that phrase and image on a regular basis. One of my co-workers and I say it to each other when we want to lighten up and let go of negativity.

Sometimes, I find a week’s topic to be more difficult for me. It took me two weeks to do “Not Blaming.” But even when the week’s topic is challenging, I enjoy it and benefit from it.

Thanks to this book, I have become a healthier and happier person!

L.S.

A Free Event: Seeing Good At Work. Spirituality In The Workplace

http://steppingintotheblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/good-at-work-free-event.html

An Evening With

Dr. Edward Viljoen and Dr. Joyce Duffala

 

Friday November 4, 2011 - 7:00 pm

Center for Spiritual Living, Santa Rosa 

 

How was it that two people who hardly knew each other started to work together to produce Seeing Good at Work, followed by the CD “Rise in Joy, Sleep in Peace”?

In this presentation, the good doctors share what inspired them to write together, as well as some of the meditative music and affirmative language from the CD they co-created.

Come and join us in this free, fun

and informative evening

No glassy-eyed tome of recycled self-help themes!

SEEING GOOD AT WORK, a review by Julia Vose McClung

One day a small, wheat-gold book, with red and black letters, called to me from a bookstore shelf: SEEING GOOD AT WORK—52 Weekly Steps to Transform Your Workplace Experience, by Joyce Duffala and Edward Viljoen.  At last, I found that sage mentor I so long to turn to when I need a course correction by morning, or by afternoon-- slim enough to slip into my purse, keep in my car, or skim off a bedside table to read in bed.  Unbiased, this work quotes wisdom from modern and ancient ages.

We labor at work or school for our livelihood in the tides of ambition, risk-taking, competence, accomplishment, mistake, failure, goals gained and goals recalibrated; in the interpersonal “sandbox” of creative cooperation, productive alliance, or jealousy and competitive threat.  In any relationship context, the good at work between us is vitally about me, and also about you-- us! We know this intuitively, yet the tightness in our chest or stomach makes us search for how.

 SEEING GOOD AT WORK is no glassy-eyed tome of recycled self-help themes.  Inherent in the 52 weekly lessons is a respectful, shoulder-to-shoulder connection made by Duffala and Viljoen to the reader—to me and you personally.  They speak to us, without question, as centers of awakened intelligence to move from powerless victimhood, to seeing the shared common humanity and bridge-building opportunities available to us as metaphysical practioners at seeing good in the “thick of it.” Each week illuminates a fresh aspect of me and you in the workplace (as easily the home place, group place, or one-and-one place):  a luminary’s potent quote preceeds the one-page chat  that seeds your awareness for the week;  Application Exercise deftly captures our attention to the theme; and completed by a Remind Yourself,  such as, “When I am willing to really listen, I open myself to a new world of understanding.”  I’ve given this book to four young people so far, and they were grateful as I am.