Category Archives: Uncategorized

My Travels and GFRF – Report

Posted on by

So I have completed my travels for the year that I have mentioned previously on this blog. I travelled and taught qigong workshops on five different continents during the year.  Also as I have mentioned previously in the blog, in a sense the whole trip was done GFRF, in another sense only part of it was.

planeworld-1301744_960_720

Where ever I went I left it up to the local people organizing the workshops to decide how payments would be made and how much and so on, with GFRF being one of the options they could choose to use. From this there were a few places where the workshops were run purely on a GFRF basis, which was great. Many other places there was a set charge, or a price with the option of GFRF as well. So in that sense – only part of the tour was GFRF.

The other way in which the tour was entirely GFRF was that I committed myself to going wherever I reasonably could, without any expectation of a certain level of financial return, but to just show up and teach whoever came to the best of my ability. So my focus was totally on the giving… while being open to receiving what may come.

So how did it turn out?

Well I did the travel in three ‘legs’. The first was to Australia. The second to North and South America. The third was to Europe, Egypt and South Africa. My expenses were kept to the absolute minimum at all times, relying on hospitality of people who hosted me for places to stay and also many meals and at other times sleeping in the back of a car to minimize costs.  Taking the cheapest flights – even when it meant significantly longer travel times and so on.  And financially when everything was totalled up, in the end each leg of the tour still cost me more in direct expenses than I received from the workshops, and that in no way takes into account the indirect expenses during the time preparing for the travel, or all the time involved etc…

So what can I take from this?

Well I had some amazing experiences along the way, seeing different places, experiencing interesting energy, meeting cool people and making connections. So there was definitely value beyond the financial, but in the end the finances have to balance or by definition it is unsustainable as there will not be enough resources to continue with it.

So… what for the future?

  1. Well, it is possible to look at this first tour as just development for future tours and assume that more people will come to workshops in the future making it more economically viable. And I think that is true. I think that at many of the places I taught workshops more people would come to workshops in the future now that the ice has been broken.  Other places I am not so sure… One way or another it would need to bring in a LOT more to be truly viable though.
  2. I could look to reduce costs. Well… as I mentioned costs have already been kept to the bare minimum. The only way to reduce costs would be to simplify the travel arrangements and not go to the places that did not yield as great a financial return as others. There were quite a few places that definitely did at least cover their portion of the travel costs even if they were not outright ‘profitable’ as such, and other places where the return was very low or non-existent. By eliminating the low return locations and focusing on just going to the places with a higher return there would be a greater chance of financial viability.
  3. I could look at the tour as a way to generate interest in other money generating activities, and balance the finances in that way by bringing in more money in those other areas. But there are a few wrinkles with that as well, as I am doing basically everything else on a GFRF basis as well, which may also need to change…  I will write about that more in the next blog post.
  4. I could completely give up on the idea and put my efforts into something else that will bring in enough money to pay my costs and support me… more on that one in the next blog post as well…

In the end, I think the answer is probably a combination of numbers one, two, and three. I think the workshops in different countries will grow as I return again to the same places. I may also need to look more closely at the economic viability of going to different locations as part of this. Not that I want to stop going to places just because they may not cover the costs of getting there… my passion and desire is to share the benefits of qigong with people no matter what their financial circumstances, and some of my coolest experiences have been in places and with people that have very little money. But… I may need to weigh things up a little, and not go to every place, but be a bit selective in trying to balance out the finances overall. And… even give both of those things, I may need to still create tie-ins that will bring in further money if I want to make this viable and to be able to continue to do it.

I am not inclined to go with option 4 at this stage, much as it is very tempting at times… again more on that in the next blog post.

Til next time,

John Munro

Universal Law – Learning From Bad Experiences

Posted on by

I am on my way back from my North and South America qigong teaching tour.  The workshops have been offered on a GFRF basis wherever possible, but I have also left it up to the local organizer to make arrangements as they see fit. This has led to a range of different systems including some where they have had a ‘minimum’ donation and encouragement to GFRF as well, some with a set price and others with a price or option to GFRF instead.

Good Experiences

I have had many wonderful experiences meeting generous, thoughtful and conscientious people of high personal integrity. For these people GFRF works well and is a wonderful way to interact. The exchange may be great or small, but the freedom of it has a certain beauty and authenticity which I think benefits all parties involved. Freedom is to be highly valued and I think helps those participating to truly engage with what they are doing on a deeper level and thus derive greater value from it.

Bad Experiences

Unfortunately have I also had many experiences which were not so good, with people who just decided that GFRF meant something for nothing, or for very little or far less than what they would pay for other things.  I find this attitude a little puzzling as if it is really of low value – why would they waste their time on it?  I would go further to say that there were several instances where I was used, abused and seriously taken advantage of.  There seem to be a lot of people that simply cannot (or choose not to) engage with the concept of GFRF with integrity.

Over the years I have been experimenting with GFRF I have encountered this with increasing frequency.  When I began to offer my clinical services on a GFRF basis, for the most part people gave about what they would have previously, with some giving a bit more, others a bit less, or even a lot less due to their circumstances – which is kind of the whole idea of GFRF, with only the occasional person ‘taking advantage’ of the system by giving very little when they could clearly afford much more.  And that was to accept a little of the bad with the good, as it enabled me to engage with people in this more authentic and beautiful way.  But over time the frequency of these more ‘negative’ experiences increased until they actually started to outnumber the good ones!?!~?!/!?!

The same goes for the online training that I offer. I get so many emails from people saying how they love what I am doing and they are planning on donating soon… … … … … and then they never do.  I wonder why they bother sending me the email of their plan to donate if they are not going to follow through? Almost all of those who are going to donate, just go ahead and do it! I then hear from the AFTER they have donated, or maybe not at all.

I have had so many conversations with people in various contexts saying how much they love what I am doing, how high the quality of my services are (whether it be clinical treatment, online instruction, or after a workshop) and even how much better they are than other services that they also use, while in the same conversation they also tell me of the quite large sums of money they are paying for these other services or other things, when they give me a very small fraction of this… Where is the disconnect???

My commitment as part of my working with the GFRF concept has been to accept whatever comes in the form of payment/donation without judgement. This has been very difficult at times to converse with someone calmly without judgement who is blatantly taking advantage of me. Emotionally the ego wants to respond, as the other person is in a very real way undermining my wellbeing. Sometimes it feels like an actual attack on myself and even physically and psychologically painful, which it is in away.  They have taken what I have to offer – which is usually my time, skills and knowledge, but really this is no different from taking my physical possessions, and by not giving in return for what they have received they are taking away my ability to provide and care for myself. They are also taking away my ability to continue to provide my services to both themselves and others.  What is not cared for and treated with love and respect withers and dies – if not immediately, then eventually.  We see this all the time in the world around us – one example being the natural environment… Yet I have been committed to persisting and accepting without judgement.

Learning from bad and sometimes painful experiences

I was having one of these types of conversations with someone after a workshop (for which they gave nothing), staying calm and neutral and trying not to pass judgement, when I felt something ‘click’ in my head. It almost felt like an actual click. There was a specific moment when suddenly something felt different inside. I didn’t immediately understand what it was, but I continued to ponder on it and realized that I had finally opened a new perspective and a new understanding on Giving and Receiving freely.

I realized that this person would not, and in fact COULD NOT receive the benefit from the workshop that they had just attended, because they had not given in return for it.

Universal Law

In my qigong workshops I often talk the laws of physics and that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, for every force an equal and opposite force, as I explain how the exercises work and how we channel and direct these forces within our bodies for our benefit. I am now convinced that there is a Universal law that on a what could be termed ‘spiritual’ level we can not receive what we do not give in equal measure for. If it were not so, the universe would be out of balance and come apart.

The amount given has nothing to do with it, it is the value of what is given to the giver that determines the value what they are capable of receiving in turn. The classic example in the Christian Bible is of the widow’s mite where a poor widow donated two mites (the smallest of coins) to the treasury of the church and Jesus pointed out that relative to here means she had given more than the wealthy who had given large sums of money.  This in turn meant that she could receive more. The giving needs to be relative to the means of the giver because it then reflects the value that they are investing on a deep level into the giving.  Without sufficient investment they cannot truly receive on a deep level.

Sometimes people seem to think they are ‘giving’ by thinking nice thoughts about something, or by talking about it. But most of the time they are fooling themselves when they do this. They are creating an illusion within themselves that they have given, and so the nature of their receiving will be illusory as well. If they want to receive tangibly, they need to give tangibly according to their means as well.

Focus on the Receiving?

This has given me a new perspective on GFRF. I am currently giving my all, and have very much wanted to focus on this giving without focusing too much on the receiving.  But I now realize that for my giving not be in vain I need to also focus on how to have others give sufficiently so that they can fully receive the benefits of what I am offering. I have struggled a bit with this in the past as I have been very aware that by working in a GFRF way, I am reducing the number of people that I reach with my skills and knowledge as so many people are too uncomfortable with the idea of GFRF to engage with it – so they don’t take up my services. And yet I have still wanted to work in a GFRF way to find those who do ‘get it’, and also for what it does for me. It helps me to purify my intent and motives. It means I focus on the underlying real intrinsic value of what I am doing instead of focusing on the sometimes false or distorted financial value. I can do things for the right reasons based on love, instead of for the sometimes wrong reasons based on fear and insecurity.

It has also given me a new perspective on setting prices. I believe that those people who choose not to engage with my services due to discomfort with GFRF are usually people with personal integrity, but with fear of interacting outside of the normal price based system. They don’t trust themselves to get it ‘right’. They want to respect and value what I do and pay me fairly, but they also don’t want to give more than they should/can, and considering this becomes too difficult, so they just opt out of it all together.  I would like to encourage these people to trust themselves more and fear less and give GFRF a try. I think the world would be better for it.  But if they will not engage on these terms, then having a price gives them a way to receive value in a way that they are comfortable, but it also perhaps puts a cap on how much value they will receive as they then will usually only give the price set and not more, which in turn stops them from receiving more.

For others having a price can even perhaps work as a kind of Karmic/Cosmic protection. If the upside benefit of receiving is limited by how much you in turn give, then surely there are also negative consequences for those who do not give as they should. Whether this be through carelessness or outright using and abusing, I am sure there are consequences in order for the universe to remain in balance. By having a price and using this to prevent people from using and abusing, in a way you are protecting them from these negative consequences.

These insights are valuable to me as I now feel much more comfortable about putting a price on things if I need to, because with this perspective I can now do this out of love for the other person and with their wellbeing in mind, rather than out of fear and thinking about myself getting enough.

But what then about those beautiful, magical free interactions with people who do understand and ‘get’ GFRF? What about those who only have ‘two mites’ but for them this is a lot? What about those who have a lot and can receive more by giving more?

I wonder if there is a way to have essentially a two tier system. A price for most people, but a way for those that ‘get it’ to interact using GFRF. This might not be so far different from how kung fu and qigong teachers operated in the past, where most students had to pay a set price, but those with a particularly close relationship instead just gave ‘gifts’ reflecting the value of what they learned and their relationship. Over time students could move from one group to the other.  Something for me to think about…

It isn’t over

I haven’t given up on experimenting and trying work with GFRF. I am committed to continuing to do as much GFRF as I can through the rest of this year, and particularly as I travel teaching qigong in Europe and other parts of the world. I feel I have more to learn and experience yet.  I am greatful for the insights I have received though, because as it stands each leg of my travels so far have cost me more than I have received in return (and I have kept my expenses to the ABSOLUTE minimum), so it is likely that I will need to change how I do things in the future, as by definition something that costs more than it returns is unsustainable in the long run – I simply won’t be able to continue it in this way as I won’t have funds to pay my expenses. I have kept living in hope that I will find enough people who ‘get it’ so that I can continue to work in as pure a GFRF way as I can, but given my experiences to date this seems unlikely. Those who ‘get it’ seem to be outnumbered by those who don’t by… I’d say about 100:1.  If any of you reading this are the ones that ‘get it’ I would like to thank you for being you and the GFRF interactions we have had, you are truly a rare and precious individual. There is still time to learn more and find different options of how to do things… I will see what the rest of the year brings.

Writing about negative things

As you can probably tell, the negative experiences I have had using GFRF have built up over the years. I have been hesitant to write too much about these as like most people I prefer to focus on the positive. And I think that is the right thing to do. We draw towards us what we focus on. This sometimes leads people to take a fanciful view of things though. There are many people who just assume that everything is going wonderfully and must be great because I am using GFRF – these are usually also the type of people who say they are going to donate ‘soon’…

But part of my commitment to GFRF is to right about it honestly, so that others can learn from my experience. Even if I don’t succeed, others can gain inspiration from my efforts, or even just lessons on what to do differently. So I feel good about letting people know that it isn’t all moonbeams and stardust, and rainbows and unicorns (the more practical minded already know this, those that do donate tend to assume that the whole GFRF is bloody hard but they at least respect me for giving it a go), particularly now that I can in a sense turn these bad experiences into a ‘good’ through the insights I have had about Universal Law.

Is the universe out of balance, or have I received?

So if this giving and receiving thing is truly a Universal Law, is the universe still in balance? Financially I have not received anywhere near what I need to survive for my efforts in my clinical work, online training, and many of my workshops and travel, but have I perhaps received in other ways? I think I certainly have. I have met wonderful people who I otherwise would not have. I have had many insights about my own qigong practice that I also think I would not have otherwise had. And as I have traveled I have had marvelous experiences interacting with and working with the earth’s energy in different geographies. Some of these experiences I think have come as a direct result of my commitment to giving freely. If this were not the case I think I may have been able to experience the earths energy but not interact with it in the way that I have. This has led to further enhancement of my abilities which I don’t know if I could have achieved in another way. In a way I think this is a gift back from the universe, keeping things in balance. I just hope that somehow financially things are able to come into balance in the future as well.

A bit long and rambly, but this is where things are at with my experimentation with GFRF 🙂 I’m sure I will have further updates in the future.

 

The Four Horsemen – Really good documentary about the financial crisis and the big picture of our economic system

Posted on by

I think this documentary is really worth a watch.  It points to a need for a rethink of how we operate economically as a society.

Some great quotes in there:

“One person may not be able to change the system, but they can change themselves”.
“Debt is now thought of as normal, its not. It is a form of slavery”.

I’m not sure I agree with all the conclusions, but there is some really good information in there.

 

What happens when we give to much?

Posted on by

Sometimes people who are naturally giving by nature, or people who are opening themselves up to being giving, fall into situations where they give to much.  What do I mean by giving to much?  They give to the extent that they become tired, drained and worn out, to the extent that their own wellbeing suffers and their ability to continue to give is reduced.  Giving starts to feel like a chore or a burden, maybe an obligation or even resented, instead of the joy that it can ideally be.

I have seen this, and experienced this myself many times in different situations.  One such situation is serving in non-profit organizations – I’m going to save discussing that one for another blog post though, as there are some other issues to do with that dynamic that I would like to bring out.  Another more recent situation has been in hosting couchsurfers.

Couchsurfing

If you haven’t heard of couchsurfing I suggest you check it out – there is a website at www.couchsurfing.org  Basically it is a network for travellers where people can meet locals and request to stay with them short term during their travels.  There is no cost, and requiring payment is explicitly prohibited.  I think the underlying spirit of couchsurfing fits really well with the principles of Give Freely Receive Freely.

I have been hosting couchsurfers for the last year or so.  At some times during the year I get TONS of requests, and there have been times when I have taken the attitude that if I have space to fit someone in I would take them.  That has been fun at times, but then there have also been times when I have taken people in, and I have had too many people in a row, and some of them haven’t been entirely considerate as guests and it has taken up too much of my time and started to get in the way of my day to day activities and things that I need to get done.  These times have left me feeling a bit jaded with couchsurfing, and it has even been a bit stressful at times.  So I stopped hosting people.

End of the story?

The story could end there.  That could be the end of my couchsurfing story.  “I tried hosting people for awhile, then I had some bad experiences and it became a bit stressful so I stopped”.  Too often that can be what happens when we give too much.  We get drained and have bad experiences, so we get put off and think maybe its not such a good idea after all and stop doing it.  Fortunately with couchsurfing I didn’t take this approach.  Instead of stopping completely, I just stopped hosting for awhile.  I took a break so I could have time to myself and then came back to it refreshed and better able to manage my hosting so that it doesn’t become overwhelming and wear me down too much.  I now say ‘no’ to far more requests than I previously did and am much more careful to not host people at times when it may cause problems with my other activities, and also to just allow myself more down time when I need it.

I’m glad that I did this and didn’t just give up on couchsurfing, because I have met some really cool people since then through doing this.  And from time to time in the future I will continue to take breaks from hosting when I need it so that I can come back to it fresh each time and continue to enjoy the experience.

A bit like Italian parsley?

This reminds me a bit of an Italian parsley plant we had in my mothers garden.  Often parsley plants are quite small, and after picking from them a few times, there isn’t much of the plant left, but this plant was amazing.  It was allowed to grow until it was quite large and then when we picked from it, a few days later it seemed that it had regrown to the same size again.  We picked parsley from that plant again and again for several years.  In fact if we didn’t pick from the plant the leaves would start to get too long and the quality would deteriorate, so picking from the plant actually made it healthier.  There were times when we picked maybe a bit too much from the plant and then it would be left a bit bare and take awhile to regrow, but if we took care of it and gave it the time it needed without taking mare from it, regrow it did back to its former health and lushness.

I think each of us is a bit like the Italian parsley plant.  Giving makes us healthier and more lush, but we sometimes need to make sure that we manage the level of our giving so that it doesn’t make us weak.  If we do find that we have been giving too much, sometimes we need to take a break and take care of ourselves to let ourselves recuperate so that we can get back to giving joyfully.  When we do this we help not only ourselves, but also those we give to, as we are better able to give when we are healthy, strong and happy ourselves.

A GFRF Rickshaw Driver

Posted on by

This video is about the inner transformation caused by giving.  It has a lot of nice stories in it, including one about a rickshaw driver who essentially is running his business ‘Give Freely Receive Freely’.

Sometimes it is hard to operate using GFRF.  People are often so unfamiliar with it or even suspicious of it that it sometimes seems easier to just operate in the way that is the ‘norm’.  Stories like these help to remind me of the bigger picture though, and certainly I have experienced these sort of inner changes myself as I have worked in this way.

Posted on by

This guy has some interesting views on charitable giving and how charitable organizations should be run.  I think he makes some good points, but he also suggests that these organizations should be run like big businesses, with what seems to me like an underlying assumption that people will work better when motivated by how much they can GET for themselves.

Maybe that’s a pragmatic assumption, but I think you then just end up with more of the same problems.  I would like to think that instead it is possible for big businesses to operate more like charitable organizations, with people working motivated more by what they can GIVE to the world.

Anyway, what do you think?

 

Libertarian ideas

Posted on by

This video is presents some interesting libertarian ideas from a guy called Stefan Molyneux.  I really liked his ideas of volunteerism vs violence and that his emphasis for changing the way the world operates is to live according to the principles you believe in yourself and let others follow if they like the results they see.

He also points out that we have made a lot of progress towards freedom in our thinking and living as a society.  I agree.  While there are lots of things that aren’t working fantastically in society right now, in general I think we have progressed hugely over the centuries and millenia.  I don’t think we need to be negative about our societal institutions, for the most part I think that they have done a lot of good, the question is how can we do even better.

I don’t think this guy necessarily has all the answers, and neither do I.  But I think it is great that there are people out there discussing these ideas and thinking about our next step forward as a society.  I also like that he seems to practice what he preaches – he even makes his books available for free.

Extrinsic vs Intrinsic Rewards

Posted on by

Wow wow wow wow… great video about extrinsic vs intrinsic rewards and how they relate to business practices.  Basically when dealing with complex problems, intrinsic rewards are far more effective.  A powerful case for us to try to take money out of the equation as a motivator if we want better results and to solve the complex problems each of us face in our lives and as an entire world.

Pure risk reward motivation seems to only be effective for the most rudimentary or mechanical of tasks.  For anything requiring higher thinking (in fact the terminology used in one of the studies discussed is “even rudimentary cognitive skill”) it is in fact detrimental.  Want to be like a machine or a robot – base your thinking and life around a risk reward philosophy.  Want to experience a truly rich, truly ‘human’ life – you’re going to want to look towards intrinsic value as your primary motivator.

The guy in this talk even gives some really excellent examples of how people are using this concept in the world of business and getting great results.

I think GFRF is another way that implicitly removes the extrinsic rewards from the equation and focuses instead on the intrinsic value of work and achievement while still providing a way for us to exchange with each other – and if it works properly each have what we need and collectively be far better off.

If you want a happier more successful life, you’ve got to check this talk out – its FANTASTIC!

 

A couple of interesting recent experiences

Posted on by

I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences recently related to GFRF.

First, in the clinic last week I had an appointment with a client who was new to the clinic but had previously come to some of my qigong classes.  At the end of the session she said “How much do I owe you, I know you’re going to say its by donation – but how much should I give you”.  Obviously a little uncomfortable about it.  I told her that she was paying me, she could just choose how much to pay.

This simple explanation seemed to make her much more comfortable and she quickly decided how much she wanted to pay for the session.

Second, I went and watched some acrobats performing on a yacht in the viaduct in Auckland.  It was billed as a free performance or by donation.  Quite a few people turned up to watch and it was a pretty good show.  At the end of the show the female performer talked to the crowd and explained how long they have been doing what they are doing and that the way they are paid is by the money that people give, she then tried to describe that maybe people should think about how much they would pay for a ticket to a show and give that.  It was a little bit awkward.

I don’t know what proportion of people gave money to the performers afterwards, or how much.  I suspect quite a few just left without giving anything, but at least a fair few did donate (including myself of course).

Both of these recent experiences made me think about the challenge of helping people to understand GFRF.  I think people often have an idea around donation that something should be very cheap.  This makes them uncomfortable if they feel that something is of significant value (such as treatment in a clinic).  Also if something is free or by donation, often people seem to assume that perhaps someone else or an organization is paying for it – so their contribution does not matter/there is no real expectation that they should contribute for the benefit that they receive.  This was evidenced by the performers need to explain that the donations are how they are paid.

I think this is resolved by people understanding that what they give is actually payment for what they receive, they just get to choose how much that is according to the value they perceive, what they can afford and so on.  This seems to take quite a lot of explaining for a lot of people – and even then it doesn’t seem to fully sink in for a lot of them.  I think this is simply because it is so different from what they are used to experiencing in their other interactions with people around them.

On the bright side though, I continue to see more and more examples of people doing things in this way.  As this continues, more and more people will be exposed to it, and become comfortable with it.  They will not need long explanations and will understand it more readily.  This will make it easier and easier for people to operate Give Freely Receive Freely.

Also on the bright side – the acrobats I mentioned have been travelling the world doing their shows like this for several years.  So even now while it takes a lot of explanation for people to understand, it is inspiring to see people managing to operate in this way anyway.

When Bankers Were Good

Posted on by

I just watched an interesting documentary which looked at some historical bankers who took rather a different approach to their industry than a lot of what we have seen recently.  I would like to think that there are still some, maybe even many bankers that are good – but the documentary provided some interesting food for thought.