I encountered this Kahlil Gibran quote years ago on my first visit to the Esalen retreat center.
I’d ventured into the kitchen to ask a question, and when I turned to leave, I saw the quote posted above the door out to the dining room.
Work is Love made visible
The impact was remarkable.
I could easily imagine – and even feel – how the kitchen staff would respond to seeing that every day as they cooked and then carried the food from the kitchen out to the serving areas.
The quote stayed with me.
Today, it’s posted on my bulletin board. I see it whenever I look up from my computer screen.
Work is Love made visible
When I’m frustrated, tired, feeling inadequate, trying to understand what’s next in my work, or just flat-out cranky, it reminds me why I do what I do.
Because I love it.
Because my work truly is – or can be – an expression of love, when I remember.
And when I remember, there’s a palpable shift in my energy, and in the energy with which I do whatever I’m doing.
There’s a corresponding shift in the ways my work is received – in the response from my clients, and in the transformation they experience.
It makes the hard things easier, for them and for me. And it makes all the things more joyful.
Work is Love made visible
I know that if there ever comes a time when my work is not “love made visible,” it will be time to find something else to do.