The challenge of the Gifting Economy in our fixed western capitalist culture. I realise I am so conditioned to be in this box that the breaking free of it has been challenging. Every time I think I have moved past one thought in my head I come up against another conditioned belief that is a bit like a brick wall.
Here is my initial post on my gifting idea.
I considered different options and nothing particularly seemed to speak to me. I spoke to lots of people IN REAL LIFE too and mostly what people came up with was the bartering type system and that the value of my skills was X per hour and that I therefore needed X amount of coffee beans and avocados in return. There is a local scheme where people can pay X amount per month and access a bartering type community but this didn’t feel right for me and also it costs X per month which I literally don’t have.
I have now sold my car and this gives me avocado and coffee money if I am careful for maybe a year. I live in a town so it isn’t the end of the world.
So in the end I got to this. I can value myself and still give my time freely. There seemed to be the implication that people might ‘use’ me if I did that. That I was under valuing myself or my skills or undermining the current ‘market’.
I have a simple Gift site on Substack that is private so I I have to approve anyone who asks to see it.
Here is the premise. I gift my time to anyone I choose. I put up a page explaining what I am doing. I put up a page that Manifests what I need. I make it very very clear that nothing is expected. Will people believe that? How will I feel if they give me nothing? Well, lets see shall we? Let’s see how the experiment goes. I am on a learning journey with my own healing, my own journey to understanding and in effect they WILL be giving me something because they are allowing me to gift to them and learn from that.
Here is my wording for the ABOUT ME page. What I want to know is does this sound right? Does anyone have ideas or thoughts about it?
If you are here then you will already know me! I think the chances of anyone finding this website ‘by accident’ are remote.
Please do not share it with anyone. This is a gift for you.
I am on my own journey with healing and finding a way forward in a world that seems increasingly hostile to those of us who want to explore alternatives to the main stream. How do we move forward and how can we help each other? These are the questions that prompted me to explore what gifting my time might mean.
I am a qualified Reflexologist since 2005 and had a successful business until 2020. I am a Reiki Master receiving my final attunement from William Lee Rand in 2010. I have qualifications in Anatomy and Physiology, Life Coaching (Foundation Degree Level), Chinese Medical Theory (Degree Level – 4 years of study), Emotional Freedom Technique (Level 2 practitioner level), Dowsing for Health, Diet and Nutrition and Energy Healing for Animals.
You can look at each page separately and see what treatment you might be interested in. But let’s discuss! We can WhatsApp, email or zoom.
Here is what I would like you to know about my situation.
I am a carer for my husband. I am therefore not able to do a full time job. My money comes from a government allowance for this caring. I have all of the skills and qualifications mentioned above and I would love to still use them as part of my own journey too.
I want you to understand that my time to you is a gift. I have chosen to give this gift to you and I DO NOT expect anything at all in return. This does not mean that I am under valuing myself. I have chosen to take the ‘perceived’ value of my skills in the current ‘market’ away from my time. Instead I value myself hugely and I am honoured to give you these skills as a gift if they can help you on your own healing journey then all the better.
What I need will come to me. I feel strongly that this is the case. If you would like to do anything you can look at my page of things I might need. I do not need to know your financial situation. You do not need to explain to me that you would love to give me such and such but you are unable to right now. Nothing like that. This is not bartering. Let’s experiment with this together. We are conditioned to believe that we should give something in return. Please know that I do not want gifts – I mean this with the greatest respect. I have spent a lot of time and effort getting rid of belongings over the last few years and now I own very little. Honestly if I need something I will put it on my manifesting page. The thing I have the greatest problem with is affording good food. You can gift me an avocado or a food supermarket voucher if you like. I am not equating the value of any gift (or no gift) with my time.
I know this is an unusual concept for our Western culture but I do not believe it is so unusual for other world cultures. Let’s see if we can get past this. Are you able to accept this gift? I am ready to give you this gift. Shall we see what happens?
Right, then comes the tough bit because I also want to put out there ‘into the world’ things I do need or would like. I feel it is important that I do this because I would like to give people the opportunity to gift to me if they choose. I remember seeing a documentary on Buddhist monks going into the village every morning with their bowls and the villagers giving them food. The concept is that the monks are doing the good thing because they are giving people the opportunity to feel good about themselves by giving. I think I have that right. I will feel great for sharing my knowledge and gifts so my manifesting page is the tough one to get right because I do not want people to feel obliged. Let’s see what you think of the wording on this one.
Manifesting Page:
To my lovely gifted Fellow Human of Earth
First, I would like to thank you for accepting your gift. Our culture places such monetary value on everything that we seem unable to break free from this. I am hoping that if I give from my heart that the Universe will help me in the guise of my fellow humans in the community in which I live.
Let’s first discuss the Elephant in the Room. You DO NOT have to give me anything. You are free. I have made my choice to give to you and I am grateful for that opportunity. It is helping me on my learning and healing journey too so you have already given me something in return okay! You will not be judged by me and since this is just between you and I, you will not be judged by anyone else either.
Right, refer back to that paragraph as necessary.
On this page I intend to update what I need, and here is the reason I am doing this. I am being clear about what gifts I would like the universe to give me. With the greatest respect, if you give me a lovely ornament from your house when I have just spent the last 3 years selling and gifting most of what I own, then you are actually giving me an anti-gift. I will repeat the ‘with respect’ part here as it sounds so ungrateful, especially written down and so without my facial expressions to soften it! I then have to give that away to the charity shop or take the time to sell something. (I am so so DONE with eBay - exhausted in fact).
So this is sort of a wedding gift or christmas gift list. It can guide you if you wish to gift to me. I do not know or need to know your financial situation. You may be richer than I am or poorer than I am. We do not need to share this information. You do not need to feel embarrassed or guilty. Those are things we are trying to get past as they are the conditioned thoughts of our cultural upbringing. Let us 'let go' of them together.
So, with all of that out of the way, here is what I would like in my life.
1. I am hugely grateful to anyone who becomes a Subscriber on my Substack. This is FREE, all my writing is FREE, you need to nothing other than suffer the emails in your inbox when I have written something, (but comments on posts are always welcome). I write diverse posts from Short Story fiction and poetry, usually an Audio version, to essays on philosophical thoughts and Anarchy poetry if you are brave enough. Please go to this link and sign up as a Subscriber. Thank you to everyone who does this. Writewhalley.substack.com. If you are able to recommend a friend to my writing then that is excellent too.
2. If you wish to recommend me to someone for treatment then you are able to do this. NOT by sharing my gifting website but by giving them my phone number and telling them to say that you have recommended me. I have a possible way forward for treating people in a professional space (not at my home - local yoga studio) in which they will pay the business owner for the use of the space and the business owner will help me with vouchers for local supermarkets. I believe the cost of this will be approximately £25 for a 50 minute treatment. I am trying to keep that as low as possible. I would be really grateful if you can talk to me first about the person you are recommending me to, before you do so. Thank you if you are able to do this.
3. My biggest issue financially is being able to buy decent food. I did try a local foodbank situation but I felt extremely awkward as the majority of the food was either bread (as much as you want!), sugar products, processed food or old vegetables. I felt like I was being a princess by saying that I don’t eat these things. The implication was, 'if you are hungry enough you will'. I am a fussy eater, I like fresh veg and fish and good chicken. I like fresh fruit and nice cheese. I like avocados, full fat greek yogurt, non-dairy type milks and real butter. Maybe I am a princess? 🤴😱 If you wish to get me a voucher for any local supermarket or an avocado then thank you.
4. My last addiction is coffee. Coffee beans use up far too much of my weekly allowance. I know this… and yet…. well, my other addictions were so much worse, so…. You can give me coffee beans, Arabica is favourite. Or you can Buy Me a Coffee using this link here.
So - how does that make you feel when you read it all? Have I got the right tone? Comments, helpful thoughts, pointing out typos, all welcome. I will of course keep you posted on how the experiment goes (once I can suss out wtf is going wrong with the wordpress site - sigh. Boomer life.)
Thanks for reading. Have courage friends, ever onwards we go xx
I think your gift economy idea is a great, April. And I think it is one of those things where it is only because we are all so conditioned into a different way of doing things that the idea would even seem strange to some people.
As far as suggestions go, you could maybe make the explanation of what your doing a bit shorter - only because people have such short attention spans... but then again, because we are so conditioned to think about things in a different way, maybe the explanation needs to stay as it is to really help shake people loose of their conditioning...
Sorry that wasn’t a very helpful suggestion haha — good luck though!
I have tried the gift economy in various contexts and to me, the only vigilance to have is to whom we are giving. Since our energy capacity is limited by the mere fact of existence, our ability to give is limited and I have noticed many situations where the gifts were fueling seriously dark outcomes. Fortunately, when the people involved are aiming toward more or less the same goals, the gift economy truly can do wonder and can work on the long term too. There is also the kind of gift that have very little chance to foster anything wrong for the gifter, quite the contrary, such as sharing thoughts online, hence why I do it too with no hesitation.