Dana

In Buddhist philosophy, dana was the spiritual practice of giving that helped to reduce the imperfection of greed in a person and improve their karmic score. Hindus give dana and have very elaborate rituals over what type of gifts will produce what type of karmic benefits. Give a gift of sesame seed to a temple and you get a karmic bonus of fertility. Beyond giving a gift, the recipient also has certain obligations. They must respect the act of the giving as a sacred act, just as the recipient offers it in that same attitude. If the gift is not respected, it is said to lead to the downfall of both the giver and the recipient. Also, giving certain types of gifts actually boomerang on you karmically, rather than raising your karmic score.

It is also suggested that you should not give gifts to people who are not in your spiritual lineage. Some traditions say certain people can only receive gifts. I’ve even heard of other teachings where women must always give, but never take. In Hindu gift-giving one should try to seek out Brahmins to gift as the act is considered “rightful giving” and reaps many spiritual benefits, unlike giving to someone who uses the gift but returns no spiritual teachings to a community. Obviously, I’m not here to argue over whether these traditions are correct or not. I am just suggesting that the act of giving is intrinsic to spiritual wealth, but it comes with some responsibilities. It also has to do with why so many people land into debt.

Generosity

There are supposedly five stages in the Buddist practice of dana. In the conditional giving stage, you give something because you expect something in return. That is not considered bad, but merely somewhat ignorant. You are expected to do this practice until you can give without expecting anything in return. In America, this amounts to our ideal of “earning one’s wage” or even a fair business transaction. It is tied into our beliefs about integrity and work. We expect that everything we work at will yield some result. However, that’s just not realistic. There are plenty of hard workers that never get the fruits of their labor, for various reasons. I am not about to dump more on them to suggest that they have bad karma either. There are plenty of people who give of their time and efforts working for companies that destroy our environment, steal from people with usurious interest rates, and generally have unethical business practices. And, they make a fortune at it while they’re doing it. I’m not going to suggest they are due bad karma either for doing it. For one thing, this type of teaching has no effect on people who willfully sow bad seeds and it does nothing to help those that have sown good seed, but failed to reap a harvest. Thus, for me at least, gift-giving is not about bettering my karmic odds at all.

Maybe I’m a Miser

I admit that I have no patience for a consumerist Christmas, whether it is giving out tons of presents or sending out Christmas cards. The earth is not going to jump up and down for joy because several forests were decimated over the practice of giving out Christmas cards. I don’t like the unspoken obligation that stems from our puritanical roots that when you get a gift, you’re supposed to give one in return. For one thing, some families have no understanding that the annual Christmas-giving frenzy is a horror for single individuals, with or without children. One family of four (a couple and two children) can give one present of high worth to one individual, but the expectation is that that individual should give back four presents of similar worth each because “the kids are too little to give.” This is despite the economic inequality of that family earning twice as much as the individual that is now responsible for four “gifts” of similar value. In a commercial and “equitable” way of looking at things, the gift recipient is a miser for not giving gifts to everyone on Christmas of similar worth. In a spiritual sense, the GIVER is the one committing a sin against the sacred act of gift-giving. Regardless, that gift-giving act then becomes something that puts both people in debt. The kindest thing one can do then is to opt out of this madness.

Proper Gift-Giving

Do I know what the proper way is to give a gift or receive one? I really don’t think our American culture has an inkling about that. It is something we need to learn from Asian or other similar gift-giving cultures. I know that I have plenty to learn in this area. For one, I have learned over the years that it is not proper to give for altruistic reasons alone. One MUST consider how the gift will be used and who is getting it. I suppose that’s rather judgmental of me, but I consider a gift given to a stranger of far more value than one given to someone who will feel obligated to return something to me. I consider my time at work a gift and that means that sometimes I don’t give as freely in some projects that I consider will produce a negative community result or uphold ideals that will bring down the company or harm others – despite them being framed in altruistic terms. On the other hand, sometimes I give way more than is expected because I know it will be of benefit to others, even when it is framed in commercial terms. In this respect, I do not believe giving one’s life in a fruitless war is appropriate gift-giving unless it is to defend a nation’s peoples. Similarly, some people who work in companies that are unethical are there to plant good seeds in a field full of thorns. You really can’t tell the wheat from the tares until it’s time for the harvest. You might think that an individual or company that gives lots of money to a specific cause is generous and altruistic, but later you find out that they are trying to “greenwash” themselves to fool buyers into trusting their brand. They may give with the right hand a little and take back way more with the left hand – causing tremendous damage to the community all for the sake of hidden greed.

For instance, the IMF has been accused of giving loans to struggling countries only to later use those loans to bankrupt and take over an area. This trickles down to farmers losing needed credit to farm their lands and losing a heritage that might have been in their family for generations. The bank takes the lands and it is not even worked or harvested. It is used to amass wealth and control territory and gain political power by buying politicians. That same land may end up being “gifted” to people in support of the corrupt political system as a thank you for their support. This is a prime example of gift-giving at its worst and the giver and the recipient land both in debt. Ultimately, I think that if we figure out the proper attitude towards gift-giving we may be able to heal what is wrong with our capitalistic system. After all, how many experts have said for years that we are headed for a “gift economy”? Yet, we still have no idea what the proper way is to give and take in a responsible fashion that does not harm others and creates abundance for the community.

How a Person of Integrity Gives a Gift

These five are a person of integrity’s gifts. Which five? A person of integrity gives a gift with a sense of conviction. A person of integrity gives a gift attentively. A person of integrity gives a gift in season. A person of integrity gives a gift with an empathetic heart. A person of integrity gives a gift without adversely affecting himself or others. – http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.148.than.html

*This is the first part in a series I am going to be doing on gift-giving and the gift economy.

24World-Renowned Speakers Come Together for the 7 Graces Telesummit

In February 2008, at the start of the global economic recession, Lynn Serafinn’s television blew up. Six months after she made the decision not to replace it, as she watched everyone around her become more and more stressed about their finances, she suddenly realised she shared none of their anxieties. In fact, she realised her spending had gone down, and that her financial situation had actually improved. She began to wonder if there was a connection between this and the fact that she was no longer consuming a daily dose of the nightly news and television advertising.

It was then that Lynn started asking the question, “Is marketing making us ILL?” And by marketing, she included anything that was in the business of “selling ideas,” including politics and the nightly news.

This began a two-year journey for Lynn, as she researched and wrote her new book, The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell. She wanted to discover the unspoken marketing mechanisms that were making our society, our economy and our environment ill. But most of all, she wanted to discover how we human beings could create a new paradigm for marketing, business and living that could heal both humanity and the planet.

And now, Lynn’s ground-breaking book The 7 Graces of Marketing is finally coming to Amazon and all major retailers on December 13th, 2011.

To celebrate the launch of The 7 Graces of Marketing, an illustrious panel of 24 of the world’s leading minds are coming together to discuss how we can bring back ethics and values into business and marketing, so we can start the change the world together at:

The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

A FREE 7-Part Online Happening!

December 6th-9th, 2011

Register FR*EE at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

Over the course of four days, you will hear seven dynamic 90-minute discussions on the “7 Deadly Sins” of marketing and their corresponding “7 Graces” from Lynn’s book:

• Part 1: Disconnection vs. Connection
• Part 2: Persuasion vs. Inspiration
• Part 3: Invasion vs. Invitation
• Part 4: Distraction vs. Directness
• Part 5: Deception vs. Transparency
• Part 6: Deception vs. Transparency
• Part 7: Competition vs. Collaboration

And take a look at this fabulous panel of guest speakers:

1. Joe Vitale – world-renowned media guest; appeared in the film The Secret; bestselling author of The Attractor Factor and dozens more

2. Greg S. Reid – Film maker, speaker, bestselling author of Think and Grow Rich: Three Feet from Gold and many others

3. Eric Pearl – World renowned energy healer, Founder of The Reconnection; author of  The Reconnection: Heal Others, Heal Yourself

4. Dan Hollings – mobile marketing expert; the brains behind the marketing campaign for the film The Secret

5. Pamela Slim – Award-winning author of Escape From Cubicle Nation; speaker; media expert

6. Liz Goodgold – Branding expert, author of Red Fire Branding and DUH! Marketing

7. Allison Maslan – Life and Business Mentor; founder of 9 successful businesses; bestselling author of Blast Off!

8. Suzanne Falter-Barnes – Business and Marketing coach; Co-founder of The Spiritual Marketing Quest

9. Tad Hargrave – Founder of Marketing for Hippies

10. Richard S. Gallagher – Communications skills expert; bestselling author of What to Say to a Porcupine and How to Tell Anyone Anything

11. Ward Vandorpe – International marketer; Founder of Expert Marketeer

12. Misa Hopkins – Consultant, author of The Root of All Healing; Spiritual Director of the New Dream Foundation

13. Barbara Altemus – Producer of The Calling; author of The Gift of Pain

14. Andrea Conway – Attraction Marketing Coach, marketing executive

15. Renee Baribeau – “The Practical Shaman;” Director of Desert Holistic Network

16. Renee Duran – Graphic designer; web developer; former advertising art/creative director; designed the book cover of The 7 Graces of Marketing

17. Michael Drew – Book marketer; speaker; Founder of Promote a Book

18. Jeffrey Van Dyk – Business and Marketing Coach; Co-founder of The Spiritual Marketing Quest 1

19. Chris Arnold – Award-winning creative innovator; expert in ethical marketing; author of Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer

20. Kate Osborne – PR at Solarus Foundation; resident author for More To Life Magazine; former editor of Kindred Spirit Magazine

21. Tanya Paluso – Empowerment mentor; community leader; Leader of Tribal Truths

22. Shelagh Jones – marketer and Founder of Spiritus Spiritual Marketing Directory

23. Paula Tarrant – Transformation and Transition Coach; Founder of Inspired Women Work

24. And, of course, Lynn Serafinn, author of The 7 Graces of Marketing

This special 7-part telesummit is Lynn’s FREE gift to you, to celebrate the launch of her book, which is coming Tuesday December 13th, 2011.

Register at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

During the broadcast, Lynn be telling you how you can receive a complete library of beautiful free gifts, kindly offered by dozens of her friends and colleagues, when you buy The 7 Graces of Marketing in paperback or Kindle from Amazon on December 13th. AND when you buy the book on the day of the launch, Lynn will also give you the complete set of MP3 downloads—that’s 10 hours of content-rich audio from 24 international thought leaders—absolutely free. And as a special gift, Lynn is also offering a full 1-year membership to her new 7 Graces Global Community starting in 2012, where you will be invited to hear exclusive interviews with thought leaders throughout the year, so we can all work together to shift the paradigm of business and marketing. If you can’t make the live event, do register anyway, because Lynn will send you the links to listen to the audio playback. This is a topic that is so needed in this transitional point in our history, this event promises to be THE online event of 2011. I hope you will join us online on December 6th-9th.

Again, the link to register free is http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/free-telesummit

Google

Has anyone noticed how Google is trying to “corner the global market” using multiple strategies aimed at convincing people that doing business with them will be more profitable than doing business with someone else? That’s the core principle of capitalism: self-interest. However, more and more people are awakening to the fact that healthy self-interest has nothing to do with the monetary systems. True profit comes when engaging a business model increases sustainability of a community and the freedom to engage a wider community without penalty. It really is anti-monopoly, whether that monopoly is a business, a search engine, or a political government. Any business strategy that seeks to corner the market on anything in “the pubic interest” is actually an enemy of true capitalistic values as our founding fathers understood it. The establishment of any monopoly is just a hair away from converting to a dictatorship. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be the United States, we’d be the Federal Government of America; Free commerce across state lines is essential, but each state has the right to set up their own rules voted into effect BY THE PEOPLE, not via Federal mandate.

What We Can Do

Take the profit motive out of it. Yes, it’s a radical idea for a capitalist, but it is important if we want to maintain our freedoms. Granted we all need to work within the system, but there is a portion of our time or income that can be tithed into putting forward the foundation of a different system. Capitalism strictly run on the profit motive is not a balanced way of life. It leads to greed, bullying, and ultimately spits out control freaks at the top of the system who aren’t willing to give a penny without two or three back. However, you can use the idea of the parallel systems architecture to remove the old and establish the new with very little conflict or warfare. It means more work on our side, as we have to engage two systems at once, but it can also mean a peaceful way to overthrow a monopoly from the ground up by taking daily actions that encourage new systems to grow that are cooperative, not competitive, and that remove borders to actual free market dynamics.

Here are a few ideas on how to engage simple actions to overthrow “monopolies” in your life:

• Engage more than one social network, don’t let a single one monopolize your time or attention.
• Include a few American made products in your shopping cart, so they can compete with those made in China.
• Reduce your debt as much as possible, so it won’t matter what the money lords decide to do or not do.
• Engage peer-to-peer lending to circumvent bank monopolies on lending.
• Be your own global soloproneur and use PayPal to take transactions from overseas.

What actions can you take to have a true global market and not just one that enriches the 1 percent?

Are We Entitled to a Cup of Coffee?

I was still mulling this funny happening and I mentioned it to a couple of friends I came with to the market. You would have thought I told them that someone had taken a child from me. All sorts of belief systems I hadn’t bothered to engage suddenly entered the conversation. One woman thought the guy was “rude” but I never said he did it on purpose. We were standing in a crowd, he just may not have noticed there was a line. Another woman wanted to know why I didn’t tell him he cut the line and demand “your cup of coffee.” Again, it was a carafe set in the middle of a crowded market place and my name wasn’t on it.  Was the man selfish or just sharing a good thing with friends? Was he cutting a line or did he just not notice it? However, for some reason the fact that I desired a cup of coffee was paramount in my friends’ minds and they decided that I should have insisted on getting one, even though I mentioned to them before the whole thing started that I preferred tea, but was thinking maybe coffee would be good. I had already prepared not to receive the cup of coffee as I had volunteered it to the couple waiting. In my mind, I had not lost anything, no one had been rude, and it was just something funny that happens when people get together in a confused setting.

Twisted Leadership Values in America

I guess my reaction was just too laid back because all of a sudden I was told about the proper way to “demand my cup of coffee” in an assertive manner and suddenly I understood why our species loves to make war. There are so many beliefs about what is mine and what is yours, and it is all based on desire first. I had a desire for a cup of coffee, and for some reason that means I claim “dibs” to it. What a childish view of the world. In my mind, the coffee was a resource to be shared and I was happy to share it and let others enjoy it, even if I wanted it. All the more reason to share it and not get any of it. I know it sounds odd, but knowing others are enjoying it is enough of an “experience of coffee” to satisfy me since I prefer tea, anyways! It wasn’t like there isn’t coffee available in the pantry at home, I can’t find another cup somewhere else, or having it right at the moment was more important than sharing it – even if that sharing is what others perceive as “theft.” For that view of the world, I am now looked on as not having sufficient “leadership” qualities or that I am not assertive. They’re right. If they think I will ever argue over a cup of coffee, insist on rules of behavior, and engage judgments and morals for a sharable resource that is to provide enjoyment to people in the end, then I make a lousy leader. I prefer to view life differently. I am not the type of leader that would ever wage war over a cup of coffee.

Underlying Energy Expressions of Leadership Values

This ideal that a leader is the person who gets what they want all the time is really nothing more than veiled greed. The ideal that I should make the decision for others on how to act is another word for control. These two energies, if I were to put them into action would do nothing for me in the end, and would end up destroying those around me. You see, I know how energy works, and I know how to create my reality. Just because I choose not to have a cup of coffee does not mean I don’t know how to lead. I was asked once how I lead, and I gave a methodical answer of hierarchy. Why? The reason is that leadership, the way I exercise it, is practically an unknown model right now. It relies on understanding energy and that is a concept that would take way too long to explain in one blog or one interview. I cannot explain a high level concept like that when the majority of people right now are willing to fight over a cup of coffee – completely missing the energy this puts into place! Frankly, I don’t have to lead, in the traditional sense, to get what I want. I also do not need to be in a position of authority to lead. I exercise leadership only when I am trying to get what others want for them. It is completely voluntary, not appointed, and sometimes, I may choose not to lead as an example to people around me on what happens when they refuse to balance the energy relying on me to do it for them, instead. In that situation, I may turn from being a very warm and helpful person to a flat, cold, mirror and you can expect havoc, but it’s not my fault. It was not my energy that caused the problem, I merely withdraw my energy and watch things break down. Of course, people like it better when things are balanced, but I won’t balance an environment if all it does is give people an excuse to fail to balance their own energies. That would be counter-productive. The minute I leave, things would fall apart, anyways.

Demands are Victim Beliefs

Now, I’ll let you all in on a secret. What’s the real reason I didn’t demand that cup of coffee? I rarely demand anything because I know my needs are always met. Only someone who believes they are a victim makes demands (whether they are in a position of leadership or not) – someone who doesn’t trust that the universe can provide for them what they need. Someone who engages war, not peace. There is a lot of talk about why the Wall Street protestors are not issuing demands. There is also talk about how this movement is ineffective without a traditional leader. Just sit still for a while and listen. Listen to the energy being expressed. Listen to the belief structures falling. Listen to change finally coming in from people who actually get it. It will not even matter then that they aren’t even firing a shot or demanding their cup of coffee – or maybe it matters more than ever. The universe will mirror back that energy and it will express itself in objective imagery suitable to people engaging their Divine Creator matrix that does not even acknowledge that there ever was a victim in the first place.

Balance in Nature

I am going to say something that is not popular with women because I’ve noticed that more women are indoctrinated into this belief of fairness than men. Women are taught to “play nice” and always give a little to get something back. Men are taught to take advantage and grab as much as they can and that is seen as “leadership” skills and a healthy dose of aggressive competitiveness. I was watching Master Chef the other night and four contestants were taking the elimination test, where one of them would be eliminated. Only one was a woman. When questioned about who she thought should be eliminated, she mentioned one of the men, as that was her only choices besides herself. What the judges didn’t understand, or maybe they did, was that this sort of staging is detrimental to women. It sets them up to have to perform far better than their peers simply to get a “that’s okay” from them, while the men take every advantage. Not surprisingly, the other two men sided with the first man she picked and said she should be eliminated instead. Is it fair to gang up on a woman because she answers a question they don’t like? No, but it was staged that way from the get go by the three male judges and the three other men who were competing. It simply isn’t a fair test for a woman. Yet, when I ask women about promoting women on the basis of their gender, they’re horrified because it is “unfair.” Unfair for whom? What needs to take place is not fairness, as that value is obviously gender-biased. What needs to take place is balance. For that to happen, we need to be willing to level the see-saw with the right amount of opposing weight, whether we feel it is “fair” or not. Only then can we really see the changes we need to see in working relationships.

Balance is Inherently Co-operative

When you end up with a balanced system, you find that it is naturally self-sustaining and co-operative. In nature, the predators are never allowed to decimate the prey too much because it leads to a destruction of the ecosystem. They do not have sufficient restraint, so Mother Nature sends in diseases for population control when populations get too high. In this way, a certain set of energies remain in balance and life goes on and remains productive. Unfortunately, human beings don’t seem to understand that need for balance. Maybe because they have so many beliefs about life being more fair for humans that for anyone else. There is a sense of entitlement that we get to change everything and decide what is fair for others and it doesn’t matter who we affect or what system we unbalance. That’s JUSTICE, not balance and it leads to a whole lot of misery, in my opinion.

What is a job?

Simple question, right? In fact, we have numerous beliefs about what a job is such that we even create graduated income structures based on what we think are “more valuable jobs” than other jobs. A pizza delivery guy does not make the same income as a database programmer. That is one influence of what we believe a job to be. At the very basic level, a job is a transaction between an employer and an employee whereby the employee trades their time and skill for money.  That’s why people who work for themselves are called “self-employed” and are not considered to hold jobs. There must be an element of transaction between employer and employee and it must involve a trade of skill for money and it falls under the relationship belief systems. If your skills are difficult to obtain, then an employer might compensate you more. If you have no training you are considered to have “few skills.” One of the oddest influences of this belief system of commerce is that people are born needing tons and tons of schooling and training just so they can be “skilled employees.” This, I believe, is the basic belief system we are addressing in a new economy. We are challenging the idea that we are born as “blank slates” that are only valuable as human beings based on whether we can learn some skill an employer finds valuable. So, the belief system of employment actually has various influences from personal value, self-fulfillment, achievement, education, money, and social organization structures, but usually in relation to some other person or entity. It is a relationship belief system.

The Alternate Reality

In order to create a different reality, one takes a belief system, like employment, and uses different aspects of it to “reconfigure” energy to create a new reality. It is done on a individual basis and the more people adopt different aspects of the same belief system, the more chance it has to end up being a mass movement. Consider for a moment that instead of going to school to learn the skills for a job, that you realize that you came into this incarnation with a specific set of skills you are already expert in – your job is actually to discover your talents not be trained to fill someone else’s job description. That reconfigures numerous aspects of the job scenario and intrinsically how you also relate to what you perceive as “other.” This is why learning your life intent is so important. It is you recognizing that you really did come in knowing all you needed to know to engage life. It does not mean you won’t want to engage conventional learning, if later you want to create a different reality that engages those beliefs. Next, and this is the toughie, you have to understand your choices in value judgment; your preferences that have limited your choices up to now. Every aspect of a belief system has a gradient of value from “evil to good” and depending on who we are, there are things we are willing to do and other things we refuse to even consider. The more we understand why we make certain choices, the more we widen our reality to include other choices.

A Case Study

For instance, I am an essence that has defined my life intention as “making the hidden visible.” Life intentions are generally wide and open-ended and not specific, however utterly simple. Practically every action I engage has this theme behind it. I engage actions that make and clarify hidden concepts, structures, beliefs, whatever, and make it visible so that others can gain insight. That theme is throughout not only all of my experiences, but encoded in my choice of body also. My DNA has numerous recessive genes that I bought to the forefront to make visible in my physical manifestation. I do not actually look like my family heritage, and yet it is part of that heritage, just hidden. I can engage that life intention in numerous professions, and I have. When I worked as an engineer, my work consisted of analyzing networks to reveal problems with their delivery system. When I worked as a computer programmer, I used hidden computer languages and converted these into new software applications that allowed others to decode the framework for their proper use. As a freelance writer, I have engaged that intention to educate and enlighten readers. As a teacher, I have used that intention to provide insight to struggling students. The intent is always the same, regardless of the title I hold. I don’t even think I could get a job that did not have something to do with my intent. However, none of those jobs would have been possible if I were not near where that job was available, whether that was physically or in virtual space. The most recent jobs were also not in my immediate reality prior until now due to my value system that I had to work 40 hours a week and make a certain wage to make “enough money.” After I addressed those beliefs, I engaged a different reality. I now actually work fewer hours, but I engage far more of my intent in very creative ways. I have a sense of self-fulfillment that is far more than when I worked in technical areas. I also make a similar wage on an hourly basis, although the hours are fewer. In fact, when I first started writing, I did not believe I could make a good amount of money, but later as I addressed to that value system, my income increased. I’ve also engaged new influences of old belief systems that have widened my opportunities. Have I destroyed any of my beliefs about employment or earnings? No. All I did was notice them and then shifted them into areas that were more productive for the area I lived in, which currently has a high unemployment rate and negative hiring environment.

Leadership

The past’s ideals of leadership have become a true modern nightmare. While it is true that there is a certain amount of cooperation we need to feed and organize our societies, there is a difference between distributed leadership and hierarchical leadership models. The ideal of centralized authority took hold, even in jobs, and hierarchy was born which worked well for a while. There’s nothing wrong with centralized forms of organization, however, it is when they control the resources instead of merely managing them that they become mini-dictatorships. Think about any centralized board right now that was set up initially to just manage something, and you see gross abuses of power because of the power abdicated by members to these centralized boards. We get mad at banks for foreclosing but many seem to agree when homeowners’ associations do the same thing. Even if you don’t have a homeowners’ association you can still get sent to jail if a local city government does not like you growing vegetables in your front yard.  Workers in France have gotten so fed up with leadership abuses they’ve taken to kidnapping their bosses and threatening to blow up factories! Companies still want the same level of commitment and loyalty from their worker’s but they do not want to reciprocate in wages or benefits. Many companies will drop health benefits for their employees and pay the fine to the government rather than add mandated healthcare to their employee roster. Thus, a job is no longer what we once thought it was. It is no longer defined by a 40 hour work-week, compensation for good work, benefits, or even security. Instead, it is being completely defined by ideals of leadership and authority, which are crumbling left and right. As Facebook poster Mike Winters suggests, “it should not be amazing in a country where a woman can be involved in the murder of her 2 yr old and get away with it…this woman [with the vegetable garden in her front lawn] will probably get time in jail while casey anthony goes free…the world is all screwed up in it’s thinking.”

We Need Social Leadership Models

There is a paradox in business right now. Management is actively trying to recruit employee participation, but the only thing left in their arsenal of persuasive skills is the word “job.” Jobs are scarce, right? Maybe they are not so scarce,  instead think of scared. Jobs and bosses, in terms of authority and leadership, are scared. Large companies that they thought were rock-solid have vanished into Wall Street dust. What’s left of other companies is being scavenged by the corporate government and con artists. People in other countries are rising up and taking back their own industries. It’s not a good time to be a boss. The incentives used to motivate good behavior have disappeared. The incentives for bad behavior have increased and the penalties are almost non-existent. What’s left are organizations where bosses instill insecurity so they can control their resources (employees) better hoping to make them more scared than they are. They are hoping to keep them from doing the inevitable in such a situation. However, the paradox is that this tactic never ever gets participation, it instead triggers revolution or complete non-participation and their subsequent demise. Positive participation only happens when both sides have something to gain by cooperating, in which case it is no longer a boss/employee relationship, it is more of a relationship between equals. I bet that the Founding Fathers understood that principle quite well.

Hot Potato

Finding a job can be like a game of hot potato. Someone has to have that potato before you can take it from them, but you’re standing in a circle with seven other people hoping for that potato and the intent of this game is to not only find it, but keep it. If you were in Ireland during the Great Famine, odds are it would have been pretty hard to come up with some good potatoes. However, maybe if you lived in Peru, you could still find some good potatoes. Similarly, there are different patterns of job scarcity all over the United States and elsewhere. China has numerous jobs becoming available, while the United States is hemorrhaging jobs. Now, if you are in the United States and jobs disappear, what happens? If you were in the Great Potato Famine, you would most likely hoard potatoes when you had them so your own family wouldn’t starve. If you were a farmer, you would sell the potatoes you did get at a higher price or demand more for them, since they are scarce. Or, if you really got sick of this Hot Potato game, you’d emigrate to a better place – like the United States – and forget about the famine all together. In other words, if you want to “find a job” you had better be willing to move to a place where it’s easier to “find.”

Location and Job Creation

Now, if you create your own job, you won’t have to move – but it may still be beneficial. Why? It’s a question of influences. Everyone around you is creating their own reality and if the mass consensus is that jobs are scarce, you will have to engage numerous influences of that belief system and unless you are a reality creation ninja, any one of those influences can become your next obstacle. They may not be a part of your belief system, but working with others mean you engage these influences via their energy projection in your immediate vicinity, and if your energy is moved by these influences, you end up creating obstacles. You will have to spend an enormous amount of focus and attention on remaining neutral, yet accepting; a very delicate balance that even a trained Buddhist monk would have trouble doing. If you simply move to an area with different cultural and social beliefs, you eliminate negative influences working in contradiction to your energy flow with far fewer effort on your part. Another way to do it, is to stay in the area you are in, but find a group of people who are creating the way you want to create, and engage similar belief systems and influences, so that you can create a vortex of protective energies in a hostile environment. It’s the difference between sailing with the wind or sailing against it. If you really have to sail against it, you’d better have a really good team to help you navigate the bad weather. You can still create your own job regardless of your immediate environment, it just may simply take more “work” on your part and far more awareness of how the wind (energy) moves. Of course, if your intent is to show others how to create despite negative influences, you may find yourself unable to move because it does not align with your Higher Self. Instead, you may find that you are constantly challenged to create positive thing in the worst of conditions. So, consider where you are as well as what your intent is to create your next job.

Continue to Part III…

People Want to Know

I am not a job counselor. I can’t tell you that crafting your resume in a certain way will get you to the top of the pile. I won’t have any advice on what to wear to your interview or what to say once you are there. I do train people for added skills that can get them into other jobs, but again, it is up to the individual how much they learn and how they apply those skills. Yet, despite this, I can’t tell you how many people have asked me how to get a job or at least work like freelance writing that can give them sources of income. The answer I give them is something they don’t expect. You don’t look for a job, you create it. Then, they want to know how to create a job. The answer again is not that simple. You can have 20 years of experience in Information Technology (IT) and I still won’t recommend that you go out and wallpaper IT companies with your resume. It’s a pointless approach because you still haven’t addressed the reason you don’t have a job. Do you know why you don’t have a job? Odds are, you don’t. The reason you don’t have a job is because (and please don’t shoot the messenger) you haven’t aligned your energies properly to create your new job – it has little to do with the economy or the President. Your job only appears when all your energies are properly aligned. If you hate IT and you are convinced you can’t get another well-paying job in any other profession, you keep engaging behaviors to try to get a job in a field you don’t even want to be in, consciously and subconsciously. You keep bidding on IT jobs and the likelihood of generating another IT job is minimal until you find that you appreciate your IT skills more and that choice more. This is not all conscious reasoning, unfortunately. The higher Self has an agenda and it may want you to go somewhere else, but you are so focused on one path that you don’t listen to what your inner guidance says, and you lose opportunities.

Start with Your Life Intent

One woman who asked me for advice wanted to know why she couldn’t get another retail job as hard as she tried and with the experience she had. I told her it was because she had constantly told me how much she hated retail work and it most likely did not align with her life intent. People forget they are here to realize an intention and the more you uncover about your life intention, the more you work in alignment with the higher Self goals. I gave her an exercise that I had received from my own teachers to discover her life intent. It’s simple.

1. Review your life from your first memory to now – not just your previous jobs.
2. Find a common theme throughout ALL your experiences.
3. What do you think you are attempting to learn or do via these experiences?

That’s your life intent and that is also your point of power. That’s where your next job lies. For this woman, she said all her experiences dealt with many different people in a specific function and role. All the time. Yet, that role was not available in retail. The only thing that matched about her life intent in retail was the fact that she was interactive with many different people, a part of her intent but not the whole story. So, we discussed other jobs that might suit her life intent more, she went and applied for them and within a week she was employed again at better pay and in a position she actually wanted. Why? She consciously went out and created that job in alignment with her higher Self goals and the Spirit said, “Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” You may find that your ideal job is not what you had before or even previously envisioned, but there is no doubt that everyone has the ability to create their own job, as long as they are in alignment with their Higher Self. It may not be as simple a skill as posting your resume on Monster.com, but it is a skill that will get you at least moving in the right direction. It is not the only step towards creating a job, but it is definitely the first step.

Continue to Part II…

One Choice Among Many

Recently, I had a water heater break on me. It’s a standard 40-gallon gas water heater that is located centrally and distributes how water throughout the house. I called the gas company to come and give me an estimate  ($1300), which they did. I then scheduled them to come and replace the water heater and all of a sudden when the second people come, I’m told the water heater can’t be replaced due to improper venting. That I can’t put it where it was before and my only other option is to place a tankless hot water heater somewhere else, costing me thousands more due to some new regulation on gas hot water heaters that did not apply to the old one. Of course, I turned them down. I decided to look at a different system and started with solar, moved to electric, and then realized: “Why do I even think I need a central hot water heater?” The house is small, it’s pretty much just me and an occasional visitor and I don’t need gallons and gallons of hot water heated day and night. It’s overkill. What I need is a distributed system that heats only the water I need when I need it. Come to find out there are point of use mini tankless heaters I can use that will work fine for my needs. They cost about a couple hundred bucks. Instead of having one central heater, I am opting for multiple tiny heaters around the house. Why? It’s less expensive to install and replace. I would never bother repairing, just switching out. When one dies, two others would still be working, hopefully.  There would no longer be a huge tank  somewhere ready to rupture at the worst possible moment – making me shut off all the water to the house because of a faulty shut off valve. It’s the idea that a distributed system is going to be far less expensive, and much more robust for the minimal needs I have, easier to repair, and far less dangerous or destructive.  Just as I reasoned that out, I understood why we are now establishing connections all over the world on the Internet. Distributed systems are far more practical for sustainable living and we’re mirroring that in all aspects of our lives, even friendships on Facebook or Twitter.

The Effect of Distributed Systems

So, what happens when we start to adopt a distributed system in some area of our lives? For us, it can change our preferred patterns of behavior. If someone else notices, they might mimic your choice. If enough people notice, and choose a distributed system, like mini tankless hot water heaters, the gas company’s very existence is threatened. We might begin to wonder about our furnaces next. When we choose a distributed social system, instead of hierarchal we begin to move in ways that are healthier for us and the planet. We stop thinking we have to listen to the experts at some company because we’re all experts. We generate more creative solutions and begin to figure out that the idea that our choices are limited is a fallacy. They’re only limited if we’re tied to systems that limit them. If we opt  into newer systems, we generate greater freedom. When we friend someone new, we’re opening new avenues of creativity and potential. Every person is a treasure to be discovered. Even our ideas of family are changing. It is no longer just who birthed up, it is also more distributed with step-families, adopted families, and friendships that are completely virtual, at times.

Are We Really Standing Still?

Our movement on the planet appears to be slow. The Great Recession has felt very stagnant for numerous people, with movement into new jobs and new opportunities appearing limited. However, it’s probably a mirage. If we are truly opting out of hierarchal systems to a more distributed approach, what we need to look at is micro-movements now, not major shifts. It’s not about whether one large company falls – it’s bound to as things get more and more distributed. Those systems will appear stagnant and broken, however, underlying that there must be a literal foaming sea of movement as individuals create distributed lives that are far more sustainable in their very micro-movements. Maybe it’s a tiny movement like opting out of central hot water heating. Maybe it has to do with opting into something like Twitter. The pattern of our very lives are changing, but not in physical structures, it’s in a movement of choice and awareness. Once you start to realize that, you realize that world is literally vibrating with excitement and new choices as every individual takes up a Creator role.