Breanna Newhouse was a full time member at L'Atelier when she was working on her thesis project around workplace spirituality. What she was working on exactly was a bit of a mystery to our community but now that her thesis has begun to take shape, Breanna can finally share the results of her work and her take on how we can connect compassion, meaningful work, mindfulness, and transcendence to our everyday workspace practices.

 

Mystic & Logic is a research-based web-platform that bridges logical research in psychology with mystical wisdom in order to create a secular language of spiritual thriving for individuals, teams, leaders and organizations.

In short: We are boldly bridging spirit and science at work.

I think the most important thing to note about Mystic & Logic is that it is secular, meaning not affiliated with any religious ideology. One of our primary aims in the development of Mystic & Logic was to effectively communicate the experience of spirituality at work in a fashion that is inclusive to all religious and spiritual backgrounds. The best way my team and I found to do this, was to look at workplace spirituality as a universal human need composed of universal spiritual themes, or virtues. The spiritual virtues that we landed on both encompass the experience of workplace spirituality and are supported by existing research and ancient wisdom. They are as follows: compassion, meaningful work, mindfulness and transcendence.

Since I can remember, I've always thought that there was something missing in organizations. As a young girl, I craved more compassion from my friends and teachers. In my first job, I wanted to know how scooping ice cream was contributing to the greater good of society. In my undergraduate work, I sought out professors who gave me an opportunity to express my own connection to a higher power in my assignments. In my first professional jobs, I realized that processes, procedures, compensation, wellness initiatives and benefits still left me feeling incomplete.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to work in a role within an organization that made me feel more alive than ever before. As a result of this role, I began to shift the way I viewed the work from a transaction between time and money to an opportunity for thriving. I became very curious about this epiphany and wanted to know more. A year later, I applied to and was accepted by Adler University in their Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology program, where I have begun to understand what makes work more powerful, more impactful, and more human.

When it became time to choose a subject to write my thesis on, I began looking into different angles on workplace wellbeing and stumbled upon the field of workplace spirituality by accident. After reading a few articles, I realized that the feeling of aliveness I had experienced in my previous role had already been described by these scholars as... spiritual. I became very curious and set up a meeting with my advisor. In that meeting I felt a deep well of emotion, a knowing that this work could greatly improve the way that we do work on this planet. As I began the process of starting my thesis, I spoke to many friends, acquaintances and strangers about my topic and realized that other people feel as if there is a missing element in their working world, too.

Mystic & Logic was created to engage my curious audience from around the globe - the family, friends and future collaborators who are dying to know more about how they, too, could address their innate human need for spirituality in their workplace.

Throughout history, human beings have consistently engaged in spiritual practices in community. Now that we are in an age where the average person spends more time at work than ever before, fewer people are attending organized spiritual gatherings, and stress levels are at an all time high, the question must be asked: Could spirit help?

From my preliminary research, there is evidence that cultivating workplace spirituality results in very positive individual outcomes such as improved psychological well-being and reduced stress. At an organizational level, reductions in turnover and stronger levels of commitment to an organization have been noted.

Many organizations have provided resources to assist employees better manage their mental and physical health in recent years, and I think the next step to making work feel better is to also provide resources to foster the spiritual needs of the workforce.

Being around other people! Even if they are doing their own work quietly, their presence makes me feel like the work I do is part of something bigger.

Being ready for my work day. Feeling mentally, physically and spiritually prepared for my work is huge for me. This looks like: adequate rest, meal planning, making space for practices that connect me to a higher power (my faves are yoga and journalling), and making sure I make time for exercise.

Inspiring and being inspired by others. I love hearing about people's new ideas and I also love to help others see their thoughts and ideas from multiple angles. This type of collaboration provides me with a great deal of satisfaction in my day-to-day and I seek it out in the projects I choose to work on.

That despite sounding like an expert on workplace spirituality, I view this project as a collective effort and I would love to know your thoughts, feelings, and perceptions about the subject.

I think its fantastic that there is a growing trend in Vancouver for people to indulge their wildest ambitions and dreams on their own terms. I know that good work always comes when there is an alignment between person (personality and preferences) and job (role and environment) and so I think this landscape provides an opportunity for people who maybe couldn't align to a more rigid way of working. There is also research to support that when people find person-job fit they experience higher levels of well-being, which can spill-over into other areas of life such as creating healthier social bonds and communities. I love Vancouver, and I want to see our communities in work and lifestyle continue to thrive so I am grateful for this entrepreneurial space and I hope to see it grow!

Mystic & Logic is in it's infancy. My team and I are currently conducting research with organizations in North America in order to determine the exact architecture of how the virtues of workplace spirituality manifest for individuals, teams, leaders and organizations. For example, if you have a boss that is radically compassionate, but your organization does not support any spiritual virtues, can you still experience workplace spirituality? Data collection will commence in Summer 2017, and we are very excited to see what picture the data will paint. Stay tuned for more Instagram posts (@mystic__logic), blogs (www.mysticandlogic.work), consulting services and opportunities for collaboration in the coming seasons.