Every year, I wait for the biannual Uniqlo cashmere sweater sale, and hop in like a hungry little bunny, scooping up v-necks in a rainbow of colors at $59 dollars a pop. Add skinny jeans. This has been my luxe-y discount wardrobe for the last three NYC winters.
I’m an expert at surfing Kayak.com for airline deals, and berate my dearest who uses an old-school travel agent. They locate a seat for $100 more than any ticket I find, plus their service fee. I berate him about it. Every. Time.
Trader Joe’s? LOVE it. Hotels tonight? Groupon? Costco? Bring it on.
Hey, c’mon, I mean, who doesn’t like a bargain?
But, my loves, there are some things, for which we should always, always pay full price.
In all the hundreds + hundreds of spiritual events I’ve hosted, from two souls in an empty loft to 500 in a hotel’s convention room, there are always the people who want to pay nothing. Come for free. Some offer exchange of service, and some just expect a free ride.
(Although let it be said that volunteering is not the same as seva. ~selfless service~ Volunteering in exchange for entry is just work. Seva is sitting outside the door and notseeing the guru, or helping out when it’s free for everyone anyway, and divine goodies are gifted laters… but I digress.)
If a person or people truly cannot pay, or the exchange is made elsewhere, (of course) join us, we will work it out.
However, there is one place that I personally will never, ever skimp. Never negotiate or ask for a discount, and that is in the realms of anything spiritual.
I’ve been to meditations in much bleaker financial times with (not kidding) under 3 figures (as in less than 100 bucks) in the bank, and still chose to give over a ten spot as an offering.
Do you know why? Because then the message, the soul code, the vibe-y resonance my cells are singing to the Universe is:
This is the most important thing in the world to me.
This LOVE is the greatest gift that can be shared.
I value my Self + know this experience is a conduit to that Realization.
I have faith that this will return to me a thousand fold; I can afford to be generous,that is how rich + sparkly my own Spirit is.
I AM quality. I got this, no problem.
It doesn’t matter if the person in front of you is guru, master, expert, or a shaky little someone, recently returned from her 1st trip to India asking for a “love offering.”
Honor the teachers that came before you. Do not discount your soul.
What you give is who you are. If you go to an event, carting a $11 green juice or go out for $14 vodka sodas later, and leave $2 as a donation for the organizer? Sweets, I hate to break it to you, but that is D-bag material.
There’s a scarcity mindset in spirituality that needs to be overturned. As though authenticity always needs to be wrapped in poverty. That’s such ridonkulous hooey. On the other hand, we could get into a whole debate about the over-commercialization of spiritual culture, but that’s off topic. The always fantastic Babarazzi do it so well, I will leave it to them.
The richest people I know are the most generous. And I don’t just mean rich as in wealthy, I mean holistically rich. Of the folks I know that make 7 or more figures, there is without a doubt a correlation between generosity and happiness. Miser: not a great word, prolly not a great life. “You get what you give.” A cliché for a reason, darlins.
We are the one fabric. The spirit and intention with which we do anything is how it resonates back to us. That’s the Golden Rule. You know it is! It does not extend to one area of your life and not another. Obvs.
Now you might mention amazing hugging Amma and how all her programs are free. Well you know why her programs are free, sunshine? Because there are some very abundant and not-so-abundant people who donate millions and millions of dollars to get her all over the world, and She in turn donates to small and large major disasters, builds hospitals and housing and saves stuff all around.
As tapped in to the God Stuffs as Ammaji is, I still haven’t seen any pix of rupee leaved trees at her ashram. Money is just energy, and she’s giving so much out, it literally floods her.
Tonight we have a very wild, wonderful event and guest in Manhattan, offering a special meditation. My teachers ask that no one working on it is paid for it; not the organizer, facilitators or anyone else. It’s to preserve the purity of the experience, but guess what? We’re still allowed to charge because rental lofts, cab fare, flowers, airline tickets, all cost money.
And that event may lead people who want to tap into the juju a little bit more. The peeps organizing those events will be your friends, brothers, acquaintances, and they need to pay rent and go to yoga and drink green juice (just like you) and keep themselves going in all the sparkly ways that make you want to be near them.
Because then we’re sparkly together. And that’s the whole darn point isn’t it?
Give more. Not just because you can. Give as a practice. Give as a way of saying:
I am not sure that I can afford this, but I am willing to try. I am willing to hold the belief that blessings will be showered elsewhere.
Because let’s face it. As much as we all like a discount, don’t we love blessings in every shape and form, a heck of a lot more?
Om + Namaste. Forevs. x
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if ya wanna “like” or share if ya like this, that would be rad. thank you.
more of this in person: (in other words, super power stuffs)
I’ll be here tonight: http://ominnyc.eventbrite.com
next weekend in nyc, awakening course:
http://margaretnichols.com/awakening-course/
super super special Vermont retreat (1st ever togetha!) w/Catherine Scherwenka:
Sept 12-15th: Good Commons
http://margaretnichols.com/september-retreat/
