Tuesday, 11 March 2014

Money, Spirituality and the Art of Give and Take

I'm writing this quite cautiously today as I don't want to give the wrong impression and I also know that for many, money is a touchy subject fraught with personal beliefs and for a lot, a sense of attachment.

The reason that I'm writing is simple: I've noticed whilst running my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/MeMySoulAndEye) that both my page and other spiritual pages often do our work for free. To start with the page is ran for free. So, someone, somewhere, is giving up their time, usually to part with snippets of wisdom and hopefully to help others to be more spiritual, positive, facilitate healing or whatever the objective (those are mine). What you get in return is a lovely community of people whom you will have helped in one way or another. This is enough for me for now but I also know I can't keep up the working free forever.


Giving to others is one of my favourite things, but there has to be limits

As part of my page on FB, I often do free energy readings for the members. The reasons I do this are that it's fun, it gives me an opportunity to keep honing my skills and it provides guidance to those that might need it. However, more recently I am being bombarded with emails from strangers asking for a free reading. I just want to make a comparison here: let's just say I run an electricians page....can you imagine anyone ever emailing me to ask to fit a light fitting for them for free??? Why not? Why is it OK to ask me and other spiritual people to work for free, but not others? Genuine question. 

In part I think it is my own fault for sometimes giving my work away for free. If I've given the impression that my work is not of value, I'm truly sorry because it is of great value. 


From Templeofthegoddess.org
There must be give (female) and take (male) for balance

I'm going to share what you pay for with spiritual services/products (based on my experience), though it is not a comprehensive description. 

For about 18 years I started saving what little money I had, never going on holiday, rarely going on nights out, not smoking / drinking, not getting beauty treatments the sort of thing that most full-time workers can and do afford to do. I lived in a tiny un-furnished and un-decorated rotten damp house, though I badly wanted to move out.  When in work I pushed myself to my limit so that I would get a performance bonus and when I did, I never spent it. 

All this meant that when I lost my job about one year ago, I was in a position that I didn't need to go straight out and get another job. Instead, I chose to use my hard-earned cash and redundancy money on learning a new way of life and ultimately a career. That career is a spiritual one. I'm predominantly a healer, but I can also read energy and speak to other dimensions. 

We are all born with the ability to do those things. The difference is, I work day and night at perfecting them. Though this might seem fun and easy work to some, if it's done properly with real dedication, I can assure you, it is far from easy. I don't take breaks - I often don't get lunch, weekends are not down time and I don't stop because the clock says a certain time either. I have to pay for courses to further progress, tools and books to help with this....there is a lot of personal and monetary outlay needed. I don't get benefits as I'm not classed as seeking a job. I only have my savings and any money I make from my work. 


It's a brave person that goes on a true spiritual path, 
as you must face your darkness over and over again

Many days I'm so exhausted from giving healing and my spiritual practice, I can't do anything except sit vacantly on our couch, void of conversation. People will still ask me to send positive energy their way/pray for them/send healing/give reiki/reiki a problem for them/do a reading all for absolutely nothing in return. I honestly don't think it occurs to them that I might have my own 'stuff' going on... like a very ill dad, a mother-in-law hospitalised indefinitely, my cat and my grandad at the end of their lives, a bereavement, no income, a sick son having lots of tests, I'm sick myself and having tests...I could go on...

It's not just the spiritual workers who get this either, I've noticed artists suffer too...photographers expected to display work for nothing, musicians expected to play for free (for "exposure"), makeup artists told they'll be given lunch (that's all), tattoo apprentices to work for the experience (no pay). At what point did people become so unwilling to pay for talent just because they perceive it to be a natural talent? Where has good old fashioned give and take gone?  

A very wise lady said to me recently that it isn't reflective of the value of the work, it is reflective of the persons self esteem. So, people won't pay because they don't think that they themselves are worth it. Perhaps that is true and perhaps, as everything we see outside of us is a reflection of what is inside of us, there is a lesson there. 



I best stop worrying about money and book that hairdressing appointment, which I've needed for 8 months but not been able to afford. As a certain well known brand would say "I'm worth it". Note: I haven't emailed my hairdresser to ask for a freebie!

On another page on FB I saw someone saying they don't pay because they can't afford to. I do understand this (very well) but what they forgot to think about was whether or not the person doing the work could afford not to charge. It's my experience that healers and artists etc don't earn much at all.



Ultimately, being spiritual shouldn't mean going without, yes, we shouldn't be attached to material things such as money, but we can have money and still be spiritual. After all, the more money we have, the more people we can help, the better we can become and the more things we can offer for free.

Of course we could continue helping everyone out for free and wait for the Laws of Attraction to pay us back three or ten fold. Is that fair though? A proper exchange of energy is surely fairer? If you genuinely want something but can't afford it, make an offer or do something else in return. It doesn't all have to be about money. 



As I'm quite an insecure person, the money side of the work I do, does worry me. I genuinely can't carry on without an income much longer and I do wonder if I'll ever make a living from healing. It is my life purpose to facilitate healing in a number of ways and I don't want to forsake that. I completely understand that if something is offered for free, people will take it for free, after all everything seems to cost these days. All I'd really like is that when people can afford it or if they don't really need it, they don't take advantage of the kindness of spiritual people (or any other people).

I genuinely don't mind people emailing and asking for help with things. I think it's a compliment that my light shines so bright I attract people and they know they can turn to me for help. Should you be one of those people, please don't feel you can't ask me for help, I just ask that in return you consider what you could offer me. A fair exchange. There is only so much of me to go round. 

If you've followed my blog a while now you'll know I take responsibility for everything that happens in my life. I include being asked to work for free in this. It is 100% my responsibility, but this is me signalling to the universe - it isn't happening anymore. If you think I'd be able to help you, great, but I won't do it for nothing and nor should I.






No comments:

Post a Comment