Prayer can help bad relationships at work – especially if prayer is combined with spiritual ways to cope with toxic coworkers! Spiritual wisdom can be applied to most work problems, including negative coworkers, demanding bosses, or gossips.

“We all need to be each other’s heroes – generously doing good for each other and treating one another with the respect and dignity that each of us so richly deserves,” writes Lillian Glass in Toxic People: 10 Ways Of Dealing With People Who Make Your Life Miserable.

And, the biggest heroes and heroines are the ones who show love and compassion no matter how they’ve been treated by others…including toxic coworkers. To learn more about toxicity at work, read Surviving the Toxic Workplace: Protect Yourself Against Coworkers, Bosses, and Work Environments That Poison Your Day. And, here are five ways to apply spirituality to your work life…

5  Spiritual Ways to Cope With Toxic Coworkers

Finding soulful ways to cope with toxic people at work not only improves your work environment, it increases your self-confidence and future career growth.

1. Remember why people are toxic. Toxic people may have been hurt, betrayed, and somehow scarred by life. If the root of all toxicity is jealousy due to insecurity and a lack of self-esteem, then toxic people need to be handled with love, compassion, and kindness. No matter how nasty, unkind, or negative your coworker is, it’s important to stay calm and collected. And it’s easier to stay cool if you remember that the toxic person is in pain. She feels empty, unloved, and full of self-loathing – and that’s why she spreads toxicity around the workplace.

2. Practice love and kindness. If you express love and kindness, you may hear the person’s tone soften, her body language loosen up, and her words change from harsh to more pleasant. If you let her know you’re on her side, she may respond with softness and gentleness. Cope with a toxic coworker by reaching into your spiritual depths and pulling out your highest thoughts, behaviors, and interactions.

3. Be honest with your coworker. “One of the reasons toxic relationships become toxic is that the parties involved did not confront each other with what was on their minds,” writes Glass in Toxic People. “They held back because they either didn’t want to hurt the other person or didn’t want to ‘make waves.’” Are you avoiding confrontation? Use your spirituality and wisdom to be honest about how you feel. Spirituality is about honesty and authenticity – not about suppressing or hiding your feelings. Something as simple as, “ I don’t like how you spoke to me in that meeting. I felt incompetent and foolish,” can be effective.

4. Take time to reconnect with your soul. What’s the source of your spirituality? To bring your soul into your workplace, you need to bring your soul into your workplace. This can mean saying a quick prayer while writing an email or doing a short prayer or meditation on your lunch break. Or, you could read a passage of the Bible or one of your favorite books at lunch. Make it a point to bring the things that connect you to the source of your power into your workplace.

5. Pray for toxic coworkers. Prayer softens your heart and changes your attitude towards people – especially difficult people! Praying for a coworker can affect how you see her, which affects how you respond to her. And this in turn affects how she responds to you. You don’t need to be best friends with toxic coworkers, but praying for them can change your heart and mind. Remember: you can’t change your coworkers, but you can change yourself.

Do you have any questions or thoughts on these spiritual ways to confront toxic coworkers? Please comment below…