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Category Archives: Inspiration
Other People Doing GFRF
I just received an inspiring email. It is from someone who came across my online qigong courses and has begun using them.
Her name is Michelle, and she also uses the GFRF concept in her work!
I always find it inspiring to find and hear about people doing similar things. I often find it challenging dealing with so many people who think the Standard Economic System way and who struggle to understand GFRF, but whenever I find other people using GFRF or similar ideas – it is an affirmation to me that I am not alone. Other people are also thinking in this same way, and not only that – they are putting their thoughts and aspirations into tangible action.
For me each of these people are like little sparks of light brightening the world. As more and more sparks appear, the world becomes a lighter place and it becomes easier for all of us to see a world of love and compassion.
Michelle recently wrote a blog post on here website about GFRF (she calls it pay what you like – as I often do too when describing it to people) where she mentions some other businesses and people using these concepts as well. You can check it out here.
I have also listed her services in the directory page here.
GFRF in nature
I came across this video clip from a comedy show where the guest pointed out that GFRF is the natural order of nature. It is so great to see people discussing these ideas and also doing things to live more in this way.
I thought it was worth a watch, so here it is.
This is water
Some food for thought in here. I would suggest that you can go further than changing your thoughts and awareness into changing your actions and interactions as well. Give freely receive freely can be part of that.
Inspiring Video – GFRF Music?
Here is a great talk about someone using GFRF principles, particularly in the music industry, but she also talks about her earlier experiences with it as well.
Some of the big points she draws out are about asking, not being ashamed and making real connections with real people. I found it very touching and inspiring.
I think a lot of us including myself are often better at giving that we are at receiving, but Give Freely Receive Freely has two sides and we are missing the power of it if we don’t learn to receive as well. To do so is very humbling…
Enjoy!
The Overview Effect
Hows this for some inspiration to rethink how we view ourselves and our relationship to others?
Low cost markets
This isn’t really Give Freely Receive Freely, but I found it inspirational.
The World’s Poorest President
Some refreshing and interesting perspectives here from the President of Uruguay…
Violin experiment
I saw this on facebook. I don’t know if it is true, but I have no reason to believe it is not true. In fact this type of situation is fairly common in my experience. I’ll leave some comments below of how this relates to ‘Give Freely Receive Freely’.
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“A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that 1,100 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace,
and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried up to meet his schedule.A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping, and continued to walk.A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried, but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”
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In our busy money driven world I think that most of us are missing all sorts of things everyday. In fact I think many of us are completely missing ALL of the most important things in our lives. Our sense of value and in a related way our sense of self is so skewed by the realities of our current economic system – we often end up valuing what we are ‘told’ we should value rather than what is truly worthwhile.
‘Give Freely Receive Freely’ addresses this in two ways. For the person receiving a good or service, they are left to value what they are receiving for themself without being ‘told’ what it is worth. This means that they have to engage in thought about value and what is valuable to them. Encountering this in even a few interactions/transactions can lead to that person thinking about value at a deeper level in all of their interactions.
For the person giving the good or service, offering things in this way helps you to focus on the true value of what you offer rather than just a monetary value. This can help you to tap into deeper sense of inspiration and meaning in your work.
GFRF is not without its challenges as a way of exchange, but I think it has a lot to offer in the lives of both the giver and receiver.
Support for Give Freely Receive Freely
I had something really nice happen yesterday. Someone gave me some money for the GFRF website. I was very touched.
I know the website isn’t much yet, but I do hope that it provides some inspiration to the people that come across it. I know that at least a few people have been influenced by what I am doing and my writing about it, and this has given them inspiration to try to do things differently in their lives. I am always pleased to hear about these stories and hope to continue to hear more in the future.
It is so nice to have these sorts of things happen, whether it is receiving support for what I am doing or hearing about it making a difference to people.