Welcome back to Budability.

We're on break for the next two months, but excited to share a special Q&A mini-series while we take a break from interviews.

Each week, we'll answer one question that a listener asks about any aspect of Buddhist practice

or how to apply Buddhism to daily life. I'm your host, Ji Jhaji Jali. So here's today's question.

I'm starting a new job soon and I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about stressful transitions in life.

We actually got quite a lot of questions about work stress or challenging professional situations,

so I'll try to answer the question and touch on what Buddhism says about work more generally.

Let's start with an idea I absolutely love from Buddhism, which is about

beginnings and endings. Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda explains that it's very important

to both end things well because how we end one chapter sets the tone for how the next one

begins and to begin things well.

Often, the first three months in a new role dictate the success of that role.

In other words, it's important never to escape a situation without making an earnest effort

to win exactly where we are, because most of the time, our suffering, be it a job or circumstance,

comes from our karma. And if we just try to run away from it, hoping a new environment will be better,

chances are our karma will manifest itself there too. In Buddhism, making an earnest effort to win

means chanting sincerely about our situation,

determining to be victorious, and if we do indeed feel taking a new job is the best step for us,

then doing so without harboring negativity about the environment we are leaving is crucial.

Similarly, when we start a new job,

it's important not to be lax about our role,

take it for granted, or wait to be told what to do.

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