A New, Old Way “The Gift Economy” ~ Pam Grout

by Todd Alan | Jul 11, 2013

My guest on the show July 9th, 2013 wrote this amazing blog post about “Gift Economy” I so resonated with it, mostly because Life Mastery Radio is all about bringing messages and thoughts to improve the lives of those that tune in to the show,  and I ask for nothing in return. I asked Pam for her permission to repost it here on the site. Enjoy!!! Let Pam or I know what you think about this new old idea. www.pamgrout.com

“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”–Lao-tzu

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.”–Mary Oliver

Some people go to superhero movies. I prefer to BE a superhero. And by that I mean I actually dress up in a cape and bright costume and go out and perform good deeds.

In fact, in early October, I will join a whole band of bike-riding super heroes with names like “The Zing” and “Love Ninja” for a week of humble and spontaneous service. We’re meeting up in St. Louis.

And in honor of Ethan Hughes who started the International Superhero Headquarters and the Possibility Alliance on a 220-acre farm in northern Missouri, I’d like to re-run this post that ran last December.

Monetize, Schmonetize: the real juice is in the gift economy

You don’t need Alex Trebek or “buzzwords for $5000” to know that the internet’s top trend right now is “How do I monetize my website? My blog? My twitter feed?” Even YouTube offers monetization to prolific video uploaders.

Since I’ve been accused of being a “subversive presence on the planet,” I want to talk today about the exact opposite.

How do you un-monetize your life? How do you go against the culture’s dominant paradigm of wanting to “always get, get, get” and practice what’s known as the gift economy?

The gift economy, a philosophy more than a financial practice, is one in which people refuse to believe in scarcity and fear. Instead of always trying to “get more,” a gift economy is for those looking for ways they can give. It’s so radical that most people can’t even understand it.

I pitched a story about the gift economy to my editor at People magazine. She loves heroes, good news, and heart-warming human interest stories. But even though I gave her three specific examples of people working solely in the gift economy, she couldn’t understand it. “But how does it work?” she kept repeating.

It works, although I could never explain this spiritual belief to her, because once you give up your incessant fear and belief that it’s a dog-eat-dog, every-man-for himself world, abundance can’t help but show up in your life. It’s actually the reality of the human condition, but as long as we’re “monetizing” and erecting walls of fear, we block abundance.

Perhaps the best example of the gift economy is Nipun Mehta, a guy I consider my hero, the guy I begged my People editor to let me profile. In April 1999, when he was 25, he gave up his lucrative paycheck at Sun Microsystems to become a full-time volunteer. A fan of Gandhi, who said, “be the change you wish to see in the world,” Mehta started “giving” as an experiment. He started with money (he gave to charity), moved to giving of his time (volunteering at a hospice) and then decided he’d go full-time, giving of himself unconditionally with no strings attached. Thirteen years later, his experiment has been a huge success.

He started a free restaurant, a free inspirational magazine and has given away hundreds of millions of dollars in free tech services. He’s a Stanford-trained engineer who was raking it in during the dot.com heyday. But he wasn’t sure that’s where happiness lay. He works with a network of more than 100,000 volunteers who operate on 3 principles:

1) Everything is strictly volunteer. Money is NEVER charged

2) No one ever ASKS for money. Many charities do good work, but they all ask for donations. They do endless fundraising. He says that forces people to be in a needy space and he comes from a space of believing in abundance and the goodness of mankind. And indeed, money has shown up in spades (from the billionaire founder of Sony, as just one example) and from anonymous donors who send in checks for $10,000 or more. But Nipun and crew NEVER ask or expect.

3) They focus on small actions. “You just take care of what you can touch, give to whatever is in front of you,” he says and the ripple effects have organized into what he calls their own magic. “I can tell you story after story.”

The Karma Kitchen that he and fellow volunteers started in Berkeley (there are no prices on the menu and the check reads $0.00) spawned karma kitchens in Washington D.C. and Chicago.

“We don’t charge for anything, nor do we advertise anything. The project is sustained by anonymous friends who donate what they can, not as a payment for what they have received but as a pay-it-forward act for someone they don’t know,” Mehta says.

In place of financial capital, Mehta and his network of volunteers are building social capital, synergy capital and a type of subtle capital beyond definition.

Another one of my heroes is Ethan Hughes the guy I mentioned earlier that started the Superheroes Alliance, a group of 700 living, breathing superheroes. Everything he and his wife Sarah grow on their farm at the Possibility Alliance, they give away. They’ve given away goats, fruit bushes, seeds, soil and compost. They’ve given trees to every major city in Missouri. Most importantly, they host more than 1500 people a year who come to their farm from around the country to learn about permaculture. Permaculture classes normally start at about $1500. But Ethan and Sarah give them away free.

“At first people are shocked. So few mainstream Americans believe someone would actually give something away free with no ulterior motives. We’re in a cynical society that rarely trusts someone who says, “hey, I just want to help.”

The Hughes and their network of volunteers have helped build a library, bucked hay for a fellow farmer, cleaned up city parks and donated something like 50,000 hours of community service…all with no expectation.

“It’s really important to me to create access, and the gift economy is about access,” Ethan says.

Another example is Dr. Binal Shah, a naturopathic doctor with a biology degree from Rutgers, who offers a gift economy medical practice. She calls it the Karma Clinic and says it’s not about giving away “free” healthcare. It’s about sharing an experience of generosity that has the potential to shift both the giver and the recipient.

That’s why I say, “forget monetizing.” Think about something important, like what gifts do you have to give.

Pam Grout is the author of 16 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality.

Reposted from: http://pamgrout.com/2013/07/10/when-you-realize-there-is-nothing-lacking-the-whole-world-belongs-to-you-lao-tzu/

Thanks Pam!

How ADHD Stimulant Medications Work ~ Laurie Dupar

by Todd Alan | Jun 26, 2013

On the show 6/25/13 with Laurie Dupar we touched on the subject of medication. Laurie gave me permission to repost this about how ADHD medications work. ~ Todd

ADHD is a medical condition where the brain is not producing enough of the neurotransmitter Dopamine.  The brain is no different than other organ of our body, such as our heart, lungs, kidneys or pancreas.  In fact a good analogy to help understand how ADHD medications work is similar to how insulin helps someone with diabetes.  In diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Sometime this occurs in childhood…sometimes it happens with aging.  Either way, management of diabetes includes learning about the condition of diabetes, making changes in lifestyle habits, such as eating certain foods, and increasing exercise.  However, one of the most important ways to re-balance the body’s insulin is with a pill or an injection of insulin.

ADHD is the similar.  With ADHD, the brain is simply not producing or utilizing enough Dopamine. You see most of the Dopamine in our brain is made in the middle part of the brain.  Without sufficient amount of Dopamine, there is not enough of it to get to the frontal lobe of the brain so it can do all those “executive functions” such as pay attention to things that are less interesting, or filter out environmental stimuli or pause to think before we act or say something.  We don’t know the exact cause of ADHD, but research is showing that it is probably genetic.  It is passed from one generation to the next.  So, when a person takes a stimulant medication such as Ritalin or Adderall, those medicines work directly on the brain to help those Dopamine neurotransmitters either produce more Dopamine or utilize it more effectively.  What they are “stimulating” and only simulating is the Dopamine! Viola’! Stimulating the Dopamine receptors increases the Dopamine available in the brain. With an increased Dopamine level the brain is now better balanced and ready to complete the tasks of the day!

Here is the link to Laurie’s website