American baby-boom women in today's workforce achieve at higher levels but experience greater dissatisfaction. Women's dissatisfaction is linked to: (a) a 1950's employment structure not suited to today's environment, (b) a division between women's outer lives and their inner values, (c) an association between a woman's work and her identity, and (d) an expectation of something better. Women feel pressure to achieve financial goals that are counter to their true nature, but Zen Buddhism's practice of meditation can lead practitioners to become aware of that true nature and to see their interrelatedness with the universe. Zen Buddhism teaches that pain is inevitable, but it is one's perception that creates suffering. By living in the present moment, women bring greater mindfulness to work activities and are inspired to see work anywhere as a spiritual activity and to live in a way that affirms all life.
