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Live as much as possible as if you were doing the things you love to do and experiencing the things you have to do in a way that allows you to love that time too.

See what living this way tells you about both your Self and Work. Notice whether, when you really pay attention, you really those activities you think you love. Track the effort you have to exert to do things you love to do. See what the benefits are, as well as the difficulties, when you take time to do what you love.

Do this no matter what your week is like, no matter what your pressures. Some people find that stopping to take time to do something they love gives them renewed energy for the work they have to do. Time changes for them. They get into "flow".

Every time you do something you love, you experience the space of renewal. You can practice this on four levels of increasing depth:
 

1. Do Only What You Love

2. Love Everything You Do

3. Be Conscious of Your Experience

4. Get into the Flow

You can learn more about how to Do Only What You Love, Love Everything You Do just by paying attention to critical incidents in your life that connect you to what is most rewarding for you.

Your true nature comes out when you feel strong: emotion-when you love or hate what you are doing. By looking at these critical incidents in your life, you can learn which of your inner qualities resonate with those activities you love and are missing from those you hate. And with that information, you can acknowledge and bring those qualities into everything you do, thereby achieving true prosperity. Look at many critical incidents, many meaningful activities, many moments of joy and love, and many qualities that represent who you are at core.

So now, or when you can set aside an hour or so to discover ,your own prosperity, try the following exercise. (At a minimum, read it now so that you are attuned to the ways in which your highest goal appears when you do what you love.)

I . In a column on the left side of a blank page, make a list of at least twenty activities that you love to do, activities that meet at least one of the criteria that were mentioned in the live-with description. Have fun with this-keep adding to your list and enjoy thinking about these activities you love. As you make this list, leave enough space on the right side to write as many as four words.

2. In a left-side column of a new blank page, list activities you hate to do. (These are activities that meet the reverse of at least one of the criteria for the live-with: They are without intrinsic meaning, feel uncomfort­able and unnatural to do, make time drag, and so on.) Try to get at least twenty and plow through the task, even if it is difficult. Think of it as an opportu­nity to vent. Remember, again, to leave space on the right side to write as many as four words.

3. Using the Qualities list shown here, write next to each love-to-do activity the quality or qualities you get from doing that activity.

4. Again, using the Qualities list, write next to each hate-to-do activity the quality or qualities that are absent from that activity.

5. Count the number of times each quality occurs on your lists. Tabulate this across the two lists. You will find that the same quality that makes you love activi­ties is also missing from the activities you hate. You'11 also undoubtedly find some qualities that come up relatively often, but just on one of the lists.

6. Notice not only the number of times each quality occurs, but also how they might group together: For example, Energy, Creativity, Enthusiasm, Vitality might form one grouping; likewise, Calm, Wholeness, Simplicity might combine to form another. You may find a number of these groupings for yourself. Begin to get at the richness of who you are

If you can discover the qualities of what is most rewarding for you in this way, you then know the qualities you must have in your life work to move toward the highest goal. You also will have learned the qualities that you offer in anything you do-any job, any relationship and any service you perform. Not only does this build your faith in your own inner resources, but it also gives you a way to stay on purpose and meaning in every part of your life. In other words, the more you bring these qualities into your life, the richer you become in a larger sense.

What's more, it doesn't matter what activities you are doing; the qualities you get and give are what make a difference. We all know, if we consider the matter even a little bit, what we love to do. We may love to walk on the beach and watch a sunset, to fish, to play a particular sport, to dance with friends, read engrossing novels, or get up early in the morning and gaze at the sunrise while sipping coffee.

But, you might say, knowing these things doesn't help much because you can't make a living by walking on a beach. And what service are you providing to the world by reading an engrossing novel or playing a game? How are you helping by doing these things?

Perhaps you can answer these questions for yourself now. Now you know you don't have to do these specific activities to make a living, to serve or to help. You simply have and bring the qualities you get from these activities into what you do to make a living, to serve and to help. If you know your qualities, you can stay right where you are and use them to make your work fulfilling. With this knowledge and this approach, you can do what you love, and you can transform the things you have to do into activities you love.

How do people put these discoveries to work in their lives? A systems analyst who now brings spiritual concepts into everyday life using the web and teaching, found that discovery, freedom and wonder were the qualities she needed to be truly prosperous. Once she understood this, she was able to bring them into every part of her life. "I have finally been able to put into words what I feel when I have experiences that I love," she says. "And by taking these qualities into the things I have to do, which I love a great deal less, I have literally discovered a way to live with discovery, freedom, and wonder."

Even simple experiences became richer for her. For instance, she always loved the feeling of wind on her face, though she could never explain why. After doing the love/hate lists exercise, she realized it has the qualities of Freedom, Renewal and Beauty. "For me, it is exhilarating and relaxing at the same time," she says. "But most important, it is the sense of Freedom I feel when I have the wind in my face." At work, her heightened sense of discovery magnified her enjoyment.

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