| Spiritual Business Practices Lake Harrriet's Soul | by Lynn Woodland Editor's note: This is the debut of a regular column that will be written by representatives of Lake Harriet Spiritual Community in Minneapolis. For many years, I have operated my business in a way that many people find surprising, inspiring or foolish, depending upon their point of view. I lead groups and workshops on spiritual empowerment for a living and set no prescribed fee for these services, instead asking people to give whatever amount feels right. This has resulted in offerings ranging from zero to thousands of dollars. I didn't come to this way of doing business because I believe that "spiritual" work shouldn't be paid for, or because I think it's wrong to make too much money, or even because I don't want to have to deal too directly with money. Rather, this approach to money enforces a heightened consciousness around both the giving and receiving of money that makes money part of the spiritual work rather than something separate from it. It forces me to continually trust in a way that has been a powerful catalyst for healing my own attitudes around money and extending that healing to the people I serve. I first began exploring alternative ways of doing business in the early '80s, when I was director of the nonprofit Baltimore Center for Attitudinal Healing. The Center reached a financial crisis point where our funds weren't stretching to meet our needs. As director, I was the head fund-raiser and agonized over the burden of this responsibility: I worked harder and harder to make ends meet; I whined to God about the unfairness of there being insufficient funds for the work that felt like my highest calling; and, because my salary wasn't getting paid, I panicked and frequently lost sleep worrying. In my clearer moments, I meditated and contemplated on why this was happening. What was the lesson in it? My reflections led me face-to-face with an enormous, and previously overlooked, double standard I held about money. I thought I believed in the principles of attitudinal healing -- that everything is love and that giving and receiving are the same -- but I lived as though these spiritual principles didn't apply to the "real" world of finances. In my meditations, I kept getting the message that if I wanted to create more of something, I needed to give it away unconditionally. The specific suggestions that came from my inner guidance were to eliminate all fees for the Center's workshops, which provided the organization's only revenue, and instead to ask people to give whatever amount felt right, as a voluntary offering rather than a mandatory fee. My guidance told me this would result in the givers prospering, as well as the Center. I was also directed to tithe 10 percent of my personal income to whatever I felt to be my source of highest inspiration and to tithe 10 percent of the Center's income, as well. At the time, this guidance was startling and frightening. It brought up a host of "rational" reasons why it wouldn't work. Yet, there was something about it that just felt right. When I presented my ideas to the Center's board of directors, I was met with even more "real world" resistance. Somehow, though, in spite of virtually zero support for my plan, they allowed me to implement it. What happened was truly miraculous. Not only did people who attended the Center's programs give generously even when they didn't have to, the amount of people coming for courses doubled. While some people didn't give as much as the full fee we used to charge, some people gave more, so the average per-person collection remained about the same. As I gave away my own money in the form of tithes, for the first time in my life I began to receive large and unexpected gifts of money from other people. They often shared with me later that they had felt a strong inner guidance to give me the money. The gifts I gave frequently opened doors to new opportunities and linked me with people who helped me in many ways. As the Center began to give tithing gifts it also began to receive large donations of money. The people who had stepped beyond their scarcity fears in the process of giving to the Center started having equally miraculous experiences. Many shared feeling an initial discomfort with having to determine their own fee and fear when their inner guidance directed them to give a larger amount than they believed they should. But their doubts were quickly transformed into blessings. One man almost didn't attend a workshop because he had no job and felt so badly about not having anything to give. At the end, his inner guidance directed him to give an amount much larger than he could immediately pay as an unemployed person so he promised to pay it in small incremental payments over time. Two days later, he found a job at a much higher salary than he had expected and was able to pay his promised gift very quickly. Then there was a married couple who attended a workshop together. Neither of them had very much money, but at the end of the workshop when they consulted their inner guidance about what to give, each felt directed to give the same very large amount, which was about double the average contribution for this workshop. Neither knew what the other had come up with and when they conferred immediately after, they were horrified by the amount they had been guided to give as a couple. They debated for a few moments about what to do and finally decided to trust their initial instincts. As soon as they committed to giving, a friend of theirs who was also attending the workshop came over to them and, not knowing anything of the private debate they had just had, said his inner guidance had directed him to pay for both of them. Not only was their workshop paid for, but prosperity seemed to follow them home. Shortly thereafter, the man was given many thousands of dollars worth of equipment and grants for a community service project he had been wanting to start. The woman found ways to quit her job and pursue her creative interests full-time and found that money was no longer an obstacle to her doing what she wanted. I highly recommend creatively applying spiritual principles to business practices both for growing a small, struggling business as well as for prospering a strong, established one. However, I've seen numbers of people use my self-determined payment policy in their own business with bleak results by failing to communicate clearly what they want, by devaluing the worth of their service and battling feelings of guilt when offerings were high and resentment when they were low. In my groups, before closing, I announce the amount that I want to average in fees per person per session and my intention to do this in such a way as to allow each person to give exactly what is right for him or her. I direct my intention up to Spirit rather than horizontally toward individuals. Then I let go. For me, letting go means not keeping track of who gives how much (and making judgments accordingly). It also means trusting that I will be paid, and possibly in very unexpected ways. If I don't receive what I want from a particular transaction, I may find my income increasing in other seemingly unrelated ways. Or, I may receive very little in contributions for several months and then, suddenly, one participant is guided to give a very large financial gift. Anything, including miracles, can happen with a self-determined fee system. The original seed of insight that became the cornerstone of my business -- that whatever we want to magnify we need to be willing to give unconditionally from a place of love -- is a principle that works on all levels. Whatever feels scarce is invariably what we most need to give--and give lovingly rather than grudgingly -- if we want to experience increase. The limited perspective of the material world suggests that to have something we must hold it and not let it go. It's so easy to debate with the inner voice of guidance that urges us to give. We try to bargain and promise to give more as soon as we have more: "I will start tithing just as soon as I get out of debt," "I'll give more as soon as I have more myself." It is, however, just at these times of greatest poverty that we need to let go, to open our hearts and trust; to give and thereby start abundance flowing again. I recently led a Sunday service at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community where I gave away $1,000 of my own money to 10 people who were willing to take $100, grow it bigger and use it as seed money to help others. I thought this would be an effective way to magnify the good $1,000 could do. Many felt it was bold and courageous of me to give so much money away, but I knew from past experience that it would quickly come back to me. And so it did. Over the next few weeks, the offerings in my weekly group were so much bigger than usual that I easily netted $1,000 over what I had been averaging in just a month's time. What's more, over the next few months I attracted all kinds of unexpected money -- and other beneficial opportunities into my life. This is trusting in the benevolent nature of the Universe in practice and it isn't just spiritual rhetoric. It's a powerful and effective way to do business. Lynn Woodland is a ministerial guide at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community. She leads a weekly group on spiritual empowerment and numerous other events. For more on her work see www.lynnwoodland.com or the LHSC ad in this issue. Copyright © 2004 Lynn Woodland |
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May 2004 |
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