Category: Spirituality

What is spiritual energy and why businesspeople should care about it

Posted on by Marek

To be successful in business – and in life – you need to be energetic. You need to be able to maintain your energy levels and constantly replenish them. And your spirituality and spiritual energy levels are especially important, particularly when it comes to business.

Generally, when we think of energy, we think of physical energy. But there are actually three types of energy: mental, emotional, and spiritual. And all sources are equally valuable in fuelling your success. However, we often ignore the importance of spiritual energy as we do not know what it is exactly.

Essentially, it is the energy generated by the inner self, which religious people call the soul. The level of one’s spiritual energy is determined by good deeds and our values and convictions.

While we already know a lot about how physical and emotional energy can impact us in our lives, often spiritual energy is overlooked. That is why I am going to focus specifically on spiritual energy and how you can use it to improve your success in business. It will even help increase your stress resilience too.

What is Spiritual Energy?

To understand what spiritual energy is, we should first break it down into its main elements:

  1. Spiritual energy is the energy generated by the inner “self”. It’s the part of us that religious people call the soul.
  2. The level of one’s energy is determined by our deeds and is triggered by our values and convictions.
  3. Our beliefs and values define who we are, why we live and what we perceive to be right or wrong. A crook and a volunteer involved in an altruistic activity will have totally different spiritual energies.

In a nutshell, it is our actions that stem from how we perceive ourselves on the inside. How we perceive our place in the world. Our spiritual energy is connected to our motivations, our drivers and our passions.

For a more tangible definition, some people refer to spiritual energy as a “vibration”. It is based on the conviction that everything around us consists of vibrating energy.

Let’s also establish here that being spiritual does not inherently mean that you are a good person. The quality of your spirituality depends on your actions. You don’t need to look very far to find examples of very evil, highly spiritual people, consider terrorist suicide bombers or even Adolf Hitler. They were spiritually motivated with horrific repercussions.

Does Spiritual Energy Only Emit from Religious People?

The short answer is no.

When you read the above definition again, it hardly makes mention of religion.

Religion is simply a structured and institutionalized approach to spirituality. But you do not need to be religious to be spiritual. Religious people, however, understand spiritual energy as a measure of one’s connection to God.

By contrast, non-religious people source their energy from a higher universal truth or force, the supernatural realm, or simply from their own inner dimension.

No matter if people are religious or not, they often look for a connection with the universe and its unifying force. Spiritual energy takes you beyond your own narrow self-interests and guides you towards a life purpose where you contribute to the greater good.

Does Spiritual Energy Contribute to a Successful and Happy Life?

Absolutely, it does. 

Spiritual Americans are significantly more satisfied with their lives and personal health than non-spiritual ones. And it does not matter if they are religious or not.

Spiritual energy makes you optimistic and courageous. You forgive more easily. And in times of adversity, you are able to keep calm. It is these qualities that help you lead a happier life. Seeking your energy from within leads to a more satisfying experience. External influences, beyond our control, can lead to an increase in negative energy. But more on that later.

A common opinion is that money, success and wealth are all expressions of spiritual energy. And while this may sound ridiculous, it is not far from the truth. Consider it from the perspective that money, success, and wealth are outcomes of your actions. Actions that have been driven by your spiritual energy.

The Beatles famously said: “money can’t buy me love” and it can’t buy you happiness either. The Beatles weren’t wrong, but it is more about where your money came from or how you earned it.

There are interesting studies on the growing affluence of Western societies which do not correlate to the same growth rate of happiness. You become happier through your spirituality but not without it. If you solely focus on increasing your wealth without considering your spirituality, your money will grow but your happiness will likely plateau or even decline.

Can My Spirituality Influence My Productivity at Work and My Business or Career Success?

Very much so. For the same reasons that you can be more successful in life, you can also be more successful in business.

Recent research found that spiritual leaders can be quite an asset for a business. Leaders full of spiritual energy communicate better and are more likely to unite and inspire their employees.

Likewise, spiritually energized employees are far more likely to sacrifice their egos and self-interests for the sake of the company’s mission and the greater good.

Additionally, spiritually energized people are more stress-resilient. Which can be particularly helpful in stressful workplaces. Highly spiritualized people have been found to have lower stress perception when activities performed are meaningful. In general, spirituality protects you from stressful work events.

Spirituality even makes you a better team player. Spiritual Americans (religious or not) tend to do favors for their friends and co-workers.

In a nutshell, spiritual energy creates better leaders, more motivated and creative employees, stronger teams, and a less stressful work environment.

This obviously leads to more successful and productive individuals and organizations with a profound impact on business success.

What Happens When Your Energy Is Low?

It is difficult to live and work when your spiritual energy level is low.

Research even shows that those with low spiritual energy may find it more difficult to cope with negative life events. Spiritual people can always turn to a higher force in times of trouble. The alternative is to rely on social support, which is not always available.

Studies have found if your energy is low, you are more likely to exhibit addictions. And you will also find that addiction recovery is more difficult for you than for spiritual people.

As mentioned, in difficult life situations, people with low energy look for human support. They seldom take on leadership positions. And they prefer to have a boss, or authority, above them who can give them support when needed.

This dependence on another human being sometimes forces people with low spirituality to undertake a desperate search for a life partner. They simply hate being alone. Their relationships may be shorter and they may change partners frequently.

At work, people with low spiritual energy are less likely to lend a helping hand to colleagues. They prefer short-term profit to long-term focus. 

What is Negative Spiritual Energy?

While we have proven that spiritual energy is a good thing, we also touched upon negative energy. Let’s take a closer look at what negative spiritual energy is and how we can change our mindset to ensure we stay in a positive spiritual place.

Negative spiritual energy presents itself in our thoughts and how we perceive ourselves. Consider incessant negative thoughts, overwhelming self-doubt, and a belief that you are not worthy of your own happiness.

Externally, negative energy can be seen in others that are unable to control their emotions, constantly blaming and always immersing themselves in negative experiences.

Negative energy is heavy and can weigh you down, it works in the opposite way to positive energy and all the benefits we’ve discussed can be inverted.

Being overwhelmed by negative energy can make success in life and business an impossible task.

Harnessing your spirituality for success

There is no doubt we need to harness, maintain and grow our spiritual energy to be successful in life and business. We can be more effective, efficient workers if we live our lives in a spiritually positive way. We will be more resilient and better equipped to manage life’s unexpected events.

Spiritual energy comes from a place within us, religious or not. We can maintain our energy and avoid negative energy by seeking our strength from within and making sure we are following our own path.

Want to learn more about increasing your spiritual energy? Read the second part of this article and discover some proven spiritual energy boosters.

What is spirituality and how to use it in the business world

Posted on by Marek

Traditionally spirituality had no place in the office. When you were at work, you adopted a professional persona. You put on your work clothes and become your professional self. You might even think of yourself as a different person at work. Historically there has been a block between our spirituality and our professional identity. The two things we could not bring to work – or indeed even talk about – were religion and politics. But if we are naturally spiritual beings, can we really operate at an optimal level without acknowledging our spirituality at work? What is spirituality anyway and is there really no place for it in the office?

Essentially, our spirituality is part of who we are. It just is not possible to function without accepting that side of ourselves.

Faith in the workplace

The idea of not discussing religion and politics and acknowledging our spirituality in the office is changing though. The role of spirituality in business is starting to be acknowledged, and it is generally more accepted to be an openly spiritual being in the workplace.

In fact, many companies aspire to become faith-inclusive workplaces, providing prayer rooms and religious leave to support employees who want to embrace their spirituality. And the changes are for the better. Companies that emphasize spiritual values are able to unlock the full potential of their employees and their employees are able to find meaning and fulfillment in their jobs.

However, many business people still do not really understand the meaning of spirituality, let alone how it can be applied in a professional environment. For some, spirituality can even be a bit of a temporary fad, like exercise routines or healthy diets. While for others, spirituality and religion are so heavily intertwined they can’t understand its place in business. But spirituality is so much more than just religion.

To understand how you can benefit from spirituality in business, you must first understand what spirituality is as well as understand the difference between spirituality and religion.

Once you understand the meaning of spirituality, you can then learn how to use your spiritual awareness to unlock your professional potential.

What is spirituality?

Simply put, spirituality is the continuous search for your place in the universe. Seeking the answers to life’s big questions: what is the meaning of life? Or what is the purpose of life?

It is also the attempt to understand your own inner values and what you can personally do to make the world a better place.

In answering these questions, you increase your spiritual energy. This energy can be transformed into action, which feeds your spiritual energy even further. It is through harnessing this energy that you are enabled to reach your life and business goals.

You should be aware, though, spirituality limited to mere reflection is a redundant activity.

Spiritual people tend to be more selfless, empathetic, and honest rather than egocentric, narcissistic and insincere. They speak more about their responsibilities and less about their rights. Many spiritual people believe that they are connected to a superior force and that nothing in their life is a coincidence.

What is the role of spirituality in business?

Before you can define the goals for your career, your department or your company, you first need to know what success will look like.

You could define success as simply having more money in your company’s bank account. Or by eliminating your competitors, the colleague competing for the same position or another company competing for the same customer. Although this approach is limited by selfish and egocentric motives and has little spiritual enrichment.

A more spiritual approach would be to ask yourself or your business colleagues about the higher, overarching purpose of the future activities and how these activities will interconnect with your values.

I am not suggesting you replace your financial goals with spiritual goals. After all, it is only possible to achieve your higher goals if your business career or your company’s activities continuously generate sufficient income.

What I am suggesting is that you first define the meaningful goals and objectives and then break them down into specific money-generating activities.

This approach works. And it has been proven successful by many extremely successful business leaders. Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg based their successful business strategies on their strong spiritual purpose.

Their overarching objective was/is to improve people’s lives and to make our planet a better place to live. They make products that make millions of people happier. Their customer’s happiness comes back to them in the form of their financial fortune.

Why is spirituality important for a businessperson?

The world is changing and so are people’s expectations of their jobs. People expect their jobs to have meaning. They want to work for ethical organizations. And money is no longer the only reward expected from a job.

Businesses can benefit a lot from spiritually energized employees. Spiritual leaders can inspire and influence their employees and unlock their full potential.

The management style of spiritual leaders allows space for creativity and innovation. They can build strong united teams and their team members feel a sense of connectedness to one another.

Spiritually energized employees are far more likely to sacrifice their egos and self-interests for the sake of the company’s mission and the greater good.

Additionally, spiritual energy makes us more stress-resilient. Stress perception is much lower when activities performed are meaningful.

This obviously leads to more successful and productive individuals and organizations with a profound impact on business success.

Spirituality vs Religion

No matter if they are religious or not, many people look for a connection with the universe and its unifying force. Spiritual energy takes them beyond their narrow self-interests. Their life purpose is to contribute to the greater good.

But you do not need to be religious to be spiritual. Religion is simply a structured and institutionalized approach to spirituality. Religious people understand spiritual energy as a measure of one’s connection to God.

By contrast, non-religious folk source spiritual energy from a higher universal truth or force, the supernatural realm, or simply from their own inner dimension.

As a matter of fact, 38% of Americans who describe themselves as spiritual are not religious.

Furthermore, you can be religious and not spiritual. This is the case for 43% of religious citizens in the US. These results come from a study performed by researchers from Florida State University.

There are obviously many non-religious business leaders in the world that have successfully harnessed their own energy – be that spiritual or not.

While most CEOs keep their faith out of the workplace, you may be more surprised by the successful business leaders who are open about their religiousness and spirituality.

Bring your whole self to work

There is no right way to be spiritual, and it can either be guided by religion or not. But there is no doubt bringing your spiritual self to work will benefit you and your business. What is spirituality in the workplace? It is people bringing their whole selves to work, being better leaders, more successful and productive individuals with a profound impact on business success.