“Can you give me more tips and resources for how to put more of my values into my business?” asked a participant in a class I taught on business planning at the San Francisco Small Business Administration www.sba.gov/localresources/index.html). That led to the following list, which I’ll use in tomorrow night’s class.  Links are kept visible, in case you want to print out the list and share it.

1.  Be very clear about what matters most to you:  what and who you care about, how you’re called to serve and use your talents.  Focus a vision around your values, then build your business plan around your vision and values.  Resource: “Finding Visions for Work and Life” at http://www.visionary-resources.com/resources/finding-visions-for-life-and-work/

2.  Read biographies of people who do business profitably in a way that excites you. Take a walk and imagine your role model giving you practical advice and inspiration.  This process can be magical.  Just ask any kid who becomes more courageous by imagining she is more like her hero. Business consultant C.J. Hayden‘s (www.cjhayden.com) public service website (http://www.howtobecomeahero.com) is loaded with tips.

3.  Think quadruple bottom line:  profits, people, planet and purpose. Research the conscious capitalism and socially responsible business movements; find meetings and gatherings.  Resources:  Fast Company Magazine and its Ethonomics online channel (http://www.fastcompany.com), Heart of Business (www.heartofbusiness.com), Ode Magazine (www.odemagazine.com), consciouscapitalism.com, www.livingeconomies.org and quite possibly your local business school.

4.  Go green! The Sustainable Business Alliance (www.sustainablebiz.org) is a membership organization for companies committed to greater environmental and socially responsible business practices. This San Francisco East Bay, CA group is a role model for any sustainable, socially responsible member group.  Gil Friend’s book and talk on The Truth about Green Business are outstanding.  See www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKB20j4sWAE  Also see his free newsletters at http://www.natlogic.com/approach/new-bottom-line/.

5.  Make integrity your bottom line. (http://spiritworkandmoney.com/creating-a-culture-of-integrity-for-work-and-money/).   Using your mental inner compass, North Start, gyroscope, or carpenter’s level and plumb line, note how to measure when you are on true with your deepest self and on the level with others.  Then stick to your principles.  Elizabeth Doty’s new book:  The Compromise Trap, How to Thrive at Work without Selling Your Soul, is totally practical.  (See www.worklore.com/CompromiseTrap and  spiritworkandmoney.com/how-to-thrive-at-work-without-selling-your-soul.

6.  Turn every business task into an opportunity to implement your deepest values. For more than thirty years, a growing spirituality and work (also called “faith and work” or “spirituality and business” or “workplace spirituality”) movement has sought to heal the split between work and what matters most:  integrity, purpose, joy, time to pet the cat and be with people we love, etc.  For an overview of this movement and many resources, see http://www.spiritworkandmoney.com/spirit-and-work-resource-center/.

7.  Be absolutely respectful in implementing your values at work. The wisdom of our diverse faiths needs to be practiced, not preached.   (spiritworkandmoney.com/all-faiths-are-rich-in-wisdom-for-money-and-work-part-1/  Etiquette for spirituality and work is thankfully a growing field (www.workforce.com/archive/feature/25/96/27/index.php?ht=)  When in doubt, be kind.  http://spiritworkandmoney.com/kindness-the-best-workplace-spirituality-practice-ever/

I spent 13 years in the Discalced Carmelite monastic order, which traces its origins to hermits living on Mt. Carmel in the 13th century. As is the case with most religious orders, the Discalced Carmelites prayed together at least six times a day on a regular schedule, using Latin names for the hours. These were also known as Canonical hours, because they have been used by all orders in the Roman Catholic Church for many centuries.

As our Muslim friends have so ably demonstrated, prayer can also provide the framework for secular life, including busy workdays. Inspired by what I learned in the monastery and from the example of Muslims, I adapted the canonical hours to my spiritual practices.

Here is the structure of ancient and universal canonical hours:

6:00 AM Lauds (Morning Prayer): The morning begins with praise.

9:00 AM Terce (The Third Hour):The community pauses in its work to remember God.

12:00 PM Sext (The Sixth Hour): The community prays before the noon meal.

3:00 PM None (The Ninth Hour): Mid afternoon prayer.

6:00 PM Vespers (Evening Prayer): Praise and thanksgiving as the day ends.

Bedtime Compline: The community prepares for sleep in peace.

Prayer Can Provide a Framework For Divine Order in Today’s Fast-Paced Secular Lives

Following the intent and inspiration of the canonical hours, here is my version of prayers for a contemporary workday:

As I rise I set my intention for the day. I will live fully in peace and with compassion.

As I begin my work, I bless my space and my tools. I pray that all my work today contribute to the good of all those I meet and brings me the resources I need for my life.

I pause for lunch and recall to mind the presence of the divine. I nurture myself with material and spiritual food.

During an afternoon break, I rededicate myself to doing well by doing good.

As I prepare for the evening, I give thanks for events of the day.

As I prepare for bed, I reflect on my actions of the day and their alignment with my true nature.

When I was in the religious order, I followed these prayers every day without fail. It’s not so easy to remember to stop for prayer in the contemporary day, but it’s definitely doable and rewarding. When I first adapted the hours, I wrote prayers and quotes on file cards that I could carry with me throughout the day. They helped me focus and get grounded at those times when I wished to pray and meditate.

I am now returning to this prayer practice, using as a mantra the Hebrew word for peace, which is “shalom.” This means to pause from work for a few minutes, breathe in on the first syllable, “shal” and breathe out on the “om.” I repeat the practice several times, then center into silence.

How Can You Build Your Workday Around Prayer ?

What are your thoughts?

How do you weave moments of prayer into your work day?

What can you learn from the prayer life of religious orders?

We welcome your thoughts and questions.

Many blessings to you,

John Sullivan

John Sullivan was resource director of the first major directory of spirituality and work resources, published by Spirit of Health! In 1995. With his wife Pat, he is the co-founder of the Spirit and Work Resource Center, www.spiritandworkresourcecenter.com.

True joy is an amazingly unselfish spiritual gift. Joy begets a light heart, plenty of energy, resourcefulness, and the longing to help others find joy. Thanks to the spirit and work movement, I’ve thoroughly learned how to distill joy out of any task, even when reality also includes sorrow, grief or other honest emotions.

Now, thanks to the new movie “Julie and Julia”, my full joy is back in cooking, eating, and sharing food with others. That may not be my paid work, but it sure affects all my paid work and dealings with money. Plus, I’ve got a whole new pair of role models for persisting in any vision around work and money.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Role Model for Any Challenge

In case you missed it, “Julie and Julia” refers to a hot new movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Julie is Julie Powell, who recuperated from the daily drudge of an often thankless job by cooking her heart out after work.

Julia Child is the legendary author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which for 50 years has brought a lot more joy into many American kitchens through her book and her PBS tv shows.

Both women sought purpose; both found it around food. Julie’s decision to cook her way through all 524 recipes in Julia’s cookbook and blog about it became a lively journey that intertwines her story and Julia’s. Like any great story, its essence is about all the things the characters learn and the new gifts they wrestle out of themselves in the process of living zestfully. Then there is the essence we can create for ourselves as we allow the story to become an ingredient in our lives.

“Julie and Julia” are loaded with lessons for the kitchen of any soul:

1.    Start with what you love. Whether looking for a new career or an answer to a puzzling problem, start with what you care about most, and give it love all the way. Do it with gusto, not drudgery, even when the task itself is difficult.

2.    Know and stay true to  your own standards. Somewhere inside, you know what really matters to you. Consider the wisdom and perspective of others and let them guide you, not rule you.

3.     Work with allies, not alone. Be an ally to others and find all the family, friends, and other companions you need to cheer you on, provide feedback, keep you honest, call out the best in you, and celebrate or cry with you. And when you’re being unkind in any way to those allies, fess up!

4.   Don’t limit your allies to people you encounter in the flesh. Julie met Julia only through her writings, her cookbooks and her TV shows. Yet, “without you here,” wrote Julie, “I would be a different persons — a smaller, a sadder, a more frightened person.”

5.   Don’t look for perfection in yourself, your allies and friends, your role models. Julie described Julia as a flawed woman of enormous energy and a great teacher who was funny, generous, and confident. … That’s what I love about her – she inspired because she was a woman, not a saint.”

6. Follow “the thirst to keep finding out, the openness to experience that makes life worth living. … [be willing to dive] into the next possible disaster…”

Dealing with food is a huge part of our lives and work — paid or unpaid. If God hadn’t meant us to enjoy it, why are there so many good things to eat?

The movie took me back to the joy of being in the kitchen with my mother, who used recipes primarily as a springboard for her own creativity. During our 13 years together she taught me to be fearless in the kitchen. I can only imagine what she could have done if had she lived past 1956, when the ethnic food explosion and cooking shows like Julia Child’s came into being.

I came out of “Julie and Julia” convinced that the only way I’ll deal with my own food-related issues is not just to cut the carbs and the wrong fats, but also to savor every morsel. After all, food that is savored digests better. Food that is digested sends out signals of enough and fills the body with more energy for a workout.

There are so many more food issues to explore around money and work, like the whole issues of organic and free-range versus factory-grown and depleted soil, and why the concept of fair trade is growing. Because these matter so much to me, I welcome your insights around them them.

But right now, whatever’s on your plate literally or figuratively, Bon Appetit!

As always, many blessings and come again real soon,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

This doesn’t have to mean that we worship money. The dollar bill is filled with wisdom that can help us have a better relationship with money, including having more money and a more sustainable, just economy — even in a recession.

The wisdom of the dollar bill starts with the history of the vision that guided our country’s founding. Long before there was any hope of creating a United States, people dared to speak openly about their dream of human rights in countries that were then ruled by powerful kings who thought they ruled by divine right. That hope led to the more audacious hope of a successful revolution by American colonists against England, then the most powerful nation in the world.

Three of the original committee for drafting the Declaration of Independence — John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson — were appointed in July 1776 to develop a seal for the United States. Two committees and about six years later, Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Congress, and William Barton, a Philadelphia lawyer, designed the Great Seal which eventually became part of our currency. Since 1935, the Great Seal has appeared on the back of the dollar bill. Note that none of these men had any political power before doing what all of us can do: consider carefully what matters, speak out for what matters, do what matters.

Lesson from history: however powerless you now feel, initiate a new relationship with money with a vision. Don’t let current lack of knowledge about how you can fulfill this vision stop you. Dare to hold your vision and speak it, no matter how many people laugh at you, or even threaten you. Allow your passion for your vision to draw allies. As anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Think of the front of the dollar bill as representing our business and legal relationship to money and the reverse as our spiritual, emotional and philosophical relationship to money.

The front side is loaded with representations that this bill is backed by the US, including the seal of the US Department of Treasury, the signatures of the Secretary of the US Treasury and the Treasurer of the United States, and a serial number.

On the back side of the bill, the delicate web of the front border is greatly expanded. On the left side of the bill is the reverse side of the Great Seal, which features a pyramid, symbol of strength and durability. Its unfinished state reminds many that our history is unfinished, not set in stone. Instead, we are guided by the Eye of Providence (God).

Over the eye is the Latin phrase, “Annuit Coeptis.” While the official US Treasury explanation of this phrase is that “He (God) has favored our undertakings,” referring to many instances of perceived Divine Providence as our government was formed, my Latin lover husband John says it can actually be translated as “”He/she has shown favor to the beginnings.” Underneath the eye is the phrase “novus ordo seclorum,” which translates to “a new order of the ages.” A newer translation, “a new order for the earth,” may be incorrect says John, but it does give some interesting food for environmental inspiration.

On the right side of the back of the dollar bill is the front of the Great Seal, featuring the uniquely American bald eagle (i.e., crownless). Originally, the eagle faced the claws in which he held arrows; after the horrors of World War II, Harry Truman had the seal redesigned to face the olive branch in the eagle’s other claw.

In the center of the bill is a huge word “ONE,” just below the phrase in smaller print, “In God we Trust.” During the Civil War, the words were added to some of our coins because of increased religious sentiment then. Almost a century later, a joint resolution of the 84th Congress made “In God we Trust,” the national motto of the United States. On October 1, 1957, the phrase first appeared on paper money.

Notice how the front and the back of the dollar bill are woven together of the same fibers, carrying the concept of the web from front to back, integrating the essential symbols on the back with the practical and legal information on the front.

What if we let the wisdom on the dollar bill guide us to a rich, sustainable and just economy — starting with our own individual relationship with money?

The first time I asked this question at a gathering of the Spirit and Work Resource Center [www.spiritandworkresourcecenter.com], participants focused on what it really means to be one with each other and one with God (or whatever name we use for the mystery of Creation). What does it mean to really trust that our truest, most eternal wisdom source can guide us through everyday, nitty gritty challenges?

Subsequent discussions in churches of different denominations or with friends led us to explore more of the history of the dollar bill, which led to new questions. What hope and caution, for instance, can we take from our rich history as a nation and our own personal histories — including the wisdom of elders who have already survived various economic challenges?

What new vision can we see if we anchor our financial and other practical questions in the wisdom of Providence? If we balance our need to take care of ourselves with our compassion? If we allow our practical financial planning and economic policy to flow from spiritual and other inspiration? If we see ourselves as part of a beautiful web connecting all of Creation: past, present and future?

What’s your guiding wisdom, right here, right now, from the dollar bill and its history? We welcome your comments here. Please, however, nothing esoteric, like Masonic or Illuminati symbols — just your thoughts and inspiration from taking a closer look at the ordinary, everyday dollar bill.

As always, bless your work to bring together your vision, values, work and money.

Pat McHenry Sullivan, with the increasing research and writing help of John Sullivan

Have you ever dreamed of flourishing financially, no matter what happens in the economy?

Does it matter that you flourish with integrity in all its meanings–whole, honest, naturally ethical, true to your own values and in harmony with the rest of the world?

Do you want to meet all financial challenges–from emergencies to long-range planning–with wisdom, not panic?

If these questions speak to you, then I invite you to join a 30-day money challenge:

• Every day for 30 days, set aside 10-30 minutes to discover how you can earn, save, invest and share your money with more integrity, purpose and joy.
• Every day, act more from your deepest guidance about money.
• Every day, take small steps to anchor your personal economy in money sanity, money harmony, and money consciousness.
• Every day, share a portion of your increase with others in a way that empowers them to create money sanity, harmony and consciousness.

At the end of this challenge, I hope we’ll all have a richer relationship with money, measured in spiritual, emotional and financial terms. I believe that participating in this challenge can support us in creating an economy that works better for all.

This 30-day challenge was birthed during a meditation at the November 2008 meeting of the Spirit and Work Resource Center at Unity of Berkeley in Berkeley, California. A few of us have now begun meditating and/or dialoguing about money every day. I’ve started this blog to share my thoughts about money for 30 days, as often as I can. Sometimes colleagues and friends will add their thoughts.

Your comments are welcome here with some simple caveats: no direct requests for money or a job; no stock tips, specific job leads or network marketing opportunity; and no putting down of another’s thoughts. Do speak from your heart and your own experience.

Feel free to join in the challenge at any time, maybe starting with the oldest post and working your way forward. Take as long as you wish to work with each post, and feel free to bring your friends into the dialogue.

What will happen to this blog after the 30 days? I don’t know yet. But I do know that taking on any challenge is a lot easier and more satisfying when people take it on together. That includes common dialogue, sharing tips or inspiration, and encouraging each other to do the things that we can only do ourselves.

Your action today and every day of this challenge, if you so choose: Spend some time alone, thinking and praying about your relationship to money. In your journal, note your insights and understandings. If you receive guidance, write it down. As you discern what is right for you, follow that guidance until you are clearly called to go in another direction.

Talk with other people who are interested in exploring their relationship to money. And start reading, listening to and watching wise people. Here are some recent words from Bill Moyers:

“[Our] self-correcting faculty, even in the darkest hours, is the best thing we have going for us. That and the knowledge that nothing we face in the months ahead is more than was asked of our parents and grandparents in war and depression.

“This giant of a country is bleeding badly from savage self-inflicted wounds, but what happens next is still our story to write. We can be thankful for that.”

Finally, be sure to bless your money journey every day. Here’s my blessing for this moment:

May everything I do to earn, save, spend or invest money be done for the highest, deepest and broadest good. May I always be grateful for the gifts of learning and growing, even when times are tough.

Come back real soon with your own insights and inspiration,

Pat McHenry Sullivan

p.s. To comment, click on the word “comment” below.