Carnival of Courage (Issue #9)

Welcome to the Issue #9 of the Carnival of Courage: A Cavalcade of Superheroes!

Greetings, All!

We have fewer carnival posts than usual today but if you have been interested in the subjects of money and the Law of Attraction, these will definitely get your brain stoked. I took up a bit more room than a typical carnival host would with my own report of a courageous act this week but it's so in line with the whole vibe today that I hope you will forgive me.

And speaking of stoked, Spring is definitely around the corner if the young bucks in my yard are any indication. They are JUST getting their first set of antlers breaking through and I get the impression they are getting some powerful feelings that they haven't quite figured out what to do with just yet. Right now they are just running. And running and running and RUNNING like Speed Racer and Racer X all over the marsh.  (If you are driving around deer country the next few weeks, you may want to take special care until everyone's hormones settle down.)

While my posting has been a little leaner here recently, I've been up to my elbows preparing taxes, digging out of post vacation backlog and getting BLASTED by Julia Cameron and friends with The Artist's Way at Work.  VERY interesting process to be doing taxes and reviewing one's spending over the last year while working on the money chapter. Rest assured I will share thoughts on the psychology of spending as I have experienced it in my own life once I get some breathing room here to write a longer post (or perhaps a series of them).

Between recent rants on "The Secret", wincing at questionable interpretations of the "Law of Attraction" popping up in various places, reading new research on the psychology of money, feeling generally disgusted with sales, marketing, out of control consumerism and what constitutes celebrity status (in people and products) in our culture and seeing my own poor spending choices (yes, I have had a few) I have been looking very deeply into this topic and hit paydirt today (no pun intended) in my morning pages (ala the Artist's Way process). I was struck with a clarity that I have NEVER had about money and my own relationship with it. It may be that my insights are not true for the general population, but I know they will resonate with a few of you so I'll be happy to put out my own foibles for you as a warning/lesson for others.  As we have already established, I happily bleed for you people.

And that brings me to my own act of courage this week. 

While out in the desert reflecting on many things, including money, I found myself journalling about a secret wish to have a joy-based coaching business.  I help you in ways that you need and that make me joyful to assist with and you pay me what you can JOYFULLY give. 

Sounds simple, yes.  But is it unrealistic, naive and simply too utopian to actually serve as a business model? I'm not sure.

Personally, I have had a number of times in my life when it was a joy to pay for a product or service I received. Times when I felt so good about the person and what they did for me that my only regret was that I couldn't pay them more.  Part of this was due to the person on the other end clearly being joyful about their part in it, too. You can tell when someone loves what they do and puts their heart into it. That passion adds an energy that transcends the actual interaction as it might look "on paper".  When I see people who really show up to their work and infuse it with love and commitment I have no problem paying well for that (as well as I can at that given time, at least).

What if we named our own value on the consumer/receiver end of the equation and paid accordingly?  Could we live like that as providers of products or services or would people just want whatever they could get for the lowest price and take advantage of the situation?  Is it true that people will try to get something for nothing if given the chance?  I don't think I would but I didn't really know and didn't know what others would do in such a circumstance. So, I have decided to run an experiment and to use joyful exchange of resources as my business model with a new client. 

My client wanted me to come up with a rate for him for hands on work I am doing to help him implement the Getting Things Done system.  I had no idea how to come up with an amount.  I mean, when I go there I'm part janitor, part mom saying "you can take a break after you take three more chunks out of that stack", part coach, part professional organizer, part life coach, part secretary, part juggling instructor.  And I don't know any coaches, let alone another PhD trained therapist, who would do this in a million years so I am also a rare commodity.  I think most "professionals" would look at crawling around and schlepping boxes full of nine year old dusty stacks of who-knows-what around as beneath them. But on my side of the equation, it is a pure joy to be there. (Read Deborah Moore's carnival submission below for more on that).

I did not know what to charge for this service and the truth is I just might do it for free for all the warm fuzzies I get from working hard. The thing is, I can't pay the bills with warm fuzzies and I do see that he benefits significantly from my help so I have no problem thinking that money should be a part of the equation here.

So I told my client that I can't name the value I am bringing to him because it's not clearly one thing. He has to name the value (and it may be different every time I go) and then he can pay me what he can joyfully pay in return (and that may be different every time, as well).  I want us both to feel good about the relationship. I want joy on both sides.  He agreed and he'll send me a check for a mystery amount for what I've done so far.  It's a fun experiment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what value he places on what I am doing. The more I write about this, the more fun I am having with this whole thing because for me the work was the reward. I can't state that strongly enough. The work was the reward for me that day. (Talk about a "Secret"!!) The rest is just icing.

Being a single experiment and still having bills to pay, I'm not prepared to make this my business model just yet though I love the thought of moving in that direction.  For now, with this one person, it feels like the only way to "do business" because really what I am doing is LIFE.  We talk a lot in coaching about work-life balance, and work being play and all that, but in the end we set rates and have contracts and there certainly are boundaries.  And for as much as I talk about integration and I do bring various parts of myself to bear in my coaching and at my blog here, this "warehouse cleaning with coaching on top" is the place where this is REALLY happening in a mighty pure way.  ALL of me walks in the door when I show up there.  I am seriously grooving on that.

I'll let you know how the experiment goes.  At my website, I call myself a "collaborator-for-hire".  This is what I meant by that.  I've secretly harbored a desire for a long time that I could do work that truly let all of me, in real time, in real space, do what I do best, even though it's hard to name what that is concisely. 

Now, I have my first collaborative client.  Juggling and cleaning while, check it out, listening to the audio version of Getting Things Done. Go ahead and chuckle. I know I blow GTD a lot of shit sometimes, but it really is a good system, and my client is making good headway (in a babystep kind of way right now) with it.  It was fun to listen to it with him and pause it and discuss it while I was making labels for his files. Real time implementation with someone to help you! Come on, some of you are way jealous now, aren't you? And juggling instructions, to boot?  Heck yeah.  Of course, the GTD system isn't a replacement for a life, but implementing it will give him the freedom to actually think straight so he can dive into that deep stuff later.

But, this is actually supposed to be a carnival, so let's get on with the show...

Money, The Law of Attraction and Loving What You Do

On the topic of money, ironically, and bringing all of you to what you do, I have a fun read for you that even includes a recipe and some great images of the American West.  It is my pleasure to present GP, an eco-friendly bed and breakfast innkeeper in Montana (by way of New York!). She has contributed here before and submitted I Shoulda Been a Cowgirl for your reading pleasure at Fish Creek House - INNside Innkeeping .

And, for those of you who have been following the trail of The Secret and have wound up at The Science of Getting Rich, Debra Moorhead is doing an in depth series of articles on the book for you.  She's got a great blog and she is cooking down the chapters of the book for you to extract the nuggets and key points so if you are kicking the tires on this who attraction and wealth theory do check out “The Science of Getting Rich” Evaluated, Part One posted at Debra Moorhead.com. Even if you aren't into the book, this post contains a really lovely story about her cousin who is a very wise and inspirational Buddha in the unlikeliest of places.  A beautiful tribute to him.

Do you have the courage to change the world? If you haven't picked up on the trend by now, the Law of Attraction is showing up yet again in this next submission.  Personally, given the diversity of posts I usually receive, I'm really intrigued by the way these all clustered together today, without any prompting from me on this topic.  And given my own diving in to this issue behind the scenes the synchronicity is not being lost on me.  Nneka adds her thoughts saying, "It’s time we start using the Law of Attraction to create the world we want to live in" in Waiting On The World To Change posted at Balanced Life Center.

And finally, I got such a kick out of this last post. I have to tell you I've started playing with Rebecca's method as well and if nothing else it is making me smile (and if it does more than that, I'll be sure to let you know). I can just picture her student with the new found ease with his math problems in my head and it makes me grin every time.  Rebecca Newburn presents Asking Why? Can Change Your Life and Transform Your Class posted at Information Age Education. She addes, "This is a tool so that people can be their own heros and create a happier more joyous life." (I almost didn't include this because it's more instructional than a story of courage, although there are certainly examples of people stretching in this post. It's just so novel and made me smile by the playfulness of it that I had to share it.)

That concludes this issue. Thanks again to all who submitted! (And don't worry, I wouldn't take up so much space the next time with my own post. Thanks for indulging me, today.)

Ready to join us?

Next carnival is due out on 3/3/07.You are welcome to submit any courage related post you like, whether it's your own act of bravery, big or small or that of someone who has inspired you. Share your tales from the trenches as you wrestle with those things that are stretching and challenging you.

SUBMIT TO THIS CARNIVAL by March 1st.

Because I am so awesome: I know several of my readers do not have blogs but do have stories to share. If you feel inspired to share, please e-mail me your spell-checked and well-written submission for me to consider posting on your behalf. I want to give everyone a chance to participate but I'm a one-woman show here so pieces that require heavy editing will be returned to you for fixing.

For more on me, visit Wellspring Coaching.

Comments

[Kristie]

Hi L,

While reading your personal report of a courageous act for the week, the word value was a trigger for me. I wondered what numerical value could be found in the words joy, joyful and joyfully. You know how I enjoy playing clue, so I dug out my dream book as a resource guide and decoder and promptly matched the letters with numbers to experiment myself.

Joy = 167 adds up to a 14 breaks down to a 5, meaning change taking place now or very soon. Your secret wish to have a joy-based coaching business reflects a wonderful intent for drawing clients in and assist with their changes and transformations as they take action.

Joyful = 179 adds up to 17 breaks down to a 8, meaning cosmic consciousness, infinity, with your intent to use a joyful exchange of resources as your business model with your warehouse guy. Tapping into cosmic consciousness must be like having a google mind, the resources are infinite! :-) You do have that!

Joyfully = 189 adds up to 18 breaks down to a 9, meaning completion, ending of the old, sounds perfect for the client who has now undergone a transformation and who will joyfully give back as the old way has ended and completion is at hand.

I thoroughly enjoyed your postings and sharing the submissions of so many wonderful people. As the tune starts playing in my head, "Joy to the World," recognizing change is upon us, transformation is joyful, may we all dig through our warehouse of treasures stored in our soul to joyfully exchange with others.

Love K

[Jerry Q]

L,
The problem is that most of the time when I have a financial arangement with a trusted advisor I could never afford to pay what I it is worth to me. How can any one put a dollar amount on deep and lasting insight? I do try to add value back by showing up working hard and sharing the insight.

[Laura Young]

Kristie, ah, I have to say, the completion thing for "joyfully" may be as much for my client as for me. I'm getting BLASTED lately with new insights and discovered a few particularly sneaky dragons that are not heading for the hills (I let them live because they amuse me, but they can't live here anymore). Much more to follow but I swear I am going to start podcasting SOON because it's too much to write and will be much more entertaining if I can just tell it like I see it, literally.
And Jerry (!) yeah, I know that about you. And I agree, that energy exchanges happen on so many levels. I find that I was willing to play with that and have the exchanges in just about every way BUT financial. Why should that be held to a different set of rules? Funny how we are with money. But more on that after I learn about podcasting. Next week I think!