spirituality
How to Determine Your Fees and Get Paid What You Are Worth [Part 1]
One of the challenges I see so many coaches and solopreneurs struggle with is what they should charge for their services. Most do not know what they should charge. Many charge what they think they can get. Some charge whatever the next coach or practitioner charges. That is–”the going rate”. Many charge what they would be willing to pay themselves. Most charge less than they are worth–while improving the lives of others dramatically.
But why? And what are the solutions to this travesty of value?
The Benefit of a Spiritual Practice [Part 2 of 2]
Be sure to read Part 1 of this article here.
Taking Responsibility
The more you take responsibility—for your emotions, your actions, your life the more you build self-esteem. It is not the person who upset you, it is that you became triggered—or that you lost facility. It is not that the cost of living is too high; it is that you are not generating enough income. It is not that someone treats you poorly; it is that you are ineffective at drawing appropriate boundaries. The locus of responsibility—and therefore power—is within you. Nothing is external. To blame someone is to give them tremendous power over you. When you forgo blame in favor of responsibility, you give up comfort, but you reap tremendous rewards—gaining power and building self-esteem.
Evolutionary Sales: Episode 1 and 2: Your Foundation for Your Success
As I have written recently, there has been a shift in the marketplace. In the 20th Century marketplace sales people talked about “closing deals” at best. At worst they talked about “shooting their prospects down like they were ducks in a shooting gallery”. This is not exactly a metaphor we should be living into as we evolve as a culture–and not a metaphor the leading edge of the marketplace will any longer support in the profit centers of the global marketplace, or the Functioning Core, as Dr. Thomas Barnett would say.
The 21st Century Marketplace
Welcome to the 21st Century Marketplace.
There has been a shift afoot in the marketplace for decades. A shift that is approaching critical mass. Consumers of products and services have so much choice and so much access to information that they are now free to choose those providers who most suit their preferences.
This…is good. It creates competition and depth like never before.
Spiritual Capitalism: Prosperity Through Purpose : Living Consciously
Part 1
Part 0 can be found here.
[Note to reader & disclaimer: as this series is comprised of excerpts from a book draft, is it not meant to be complete. Some ideas will be developed and others will be left for a later time. Moreover, some of you who are familiar with my work will wonder why I am not covering a certain concept or other. I am leaving pieces out intentionally. however, it is my hope that in revealing these excerpts free to you, that these I.D.E.A.s may begin to make a difference in your life…even now.]
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Living consciously is an infinite and life-time endeavor. Often in the West we think of being “conscious OR unconscious”. That is, we are one or the other. And, unless we are asleep or in a coma, we are thought to be “conscious”. Are we really? How many of our actions are conscious? How much of our existence is managed consciously? Do you order yourself to breathe every breath? Think every thought? Make every movement? Of course not. And it would be impossible to do so. Our conscious minds are not equipped to manage the millions of actions that are taking place at the cellular and molecular level. It is a good thing that this is all happening “unconsciously”.
What about those things we are supposed to be consciously controlling or at least consciously aware of? Driving, walking, eating, making love, conversing, our surroundings…have you ever been driving on the freeway and passed your familiar exit and it was miles before you realized it? We all have. Have you ever been driving, arrived at work or home and can not remember large portions of your drive because you were lost in thoughts? We all have.
However, living consciously is not just about being aware and being “present to” your surroundings or what is happening, although that is certainly part of it and good practice for your mind. A practice we will cover later. And it is not a binary experience—not digital, but rather it is analog. That is, it is not a question of whether we are living consciously or not, but to what degree.
Living consciously is about making conscious choices; choices that will increase the likelihood of our long-term happiness regardless of [and at times, in spite of] our short-term desires. In order to do this we must first define our values consciously. This is simple and easy enough to do, but is seldom actually done. How does one define their values? Define is actually less accurate than “discover” or “distinguish”. We can do this by asking ourselves a simple question repeatedly:
The type of answer we are looking for will be an abstraction—a nominalization—that is, it will be a process stated as a noun. Some examples are:
- Contribution
- Family
- Security
- Prosperity
- Love
- Freedom
I am not sure what they are for you, but we will soon discover them. The type of answer we are not looking for is a static noun. Examples are:
Spiritual Capitalism: Prosperity Through Purpose
Part 0: Introduction
“When people are free to act, they will always act in a way that they believe will maximize their utility, i.e., will raise them to the highest possible position on their value scale. Their utility ex ante will be maximized, provided we take care to interpret “utility” in an ordinal rather than a cardinal manner. Any action, any exchange that takes place on the free market or more broadly in the free society, occurs because of the expected benefit to each party concerned.” –Murray N. Rothbard, Power and Market
“We must not be afraid to be free.”–Justice Black
Human beings have an inexhaustible spirit. Through wars, pestilence, oppression, disasters, genocide and personal tragedy, human beings continue to express creativity and ingenuity to the very degree that they are allowed the liberties to do so. It is an unquenchable and inexhaustible Spirit. It is the best—the Divine—within each of us that makes it so. And while at times, we have varying degrees of access to the divine within us, and sometimes the light is dim and flickers, the fact remains that there is a god or goddess in all of us waiting to come out and play.
What if we could integrate our work and our play? Our spirit and our finances? Our economics and our purpose? Our job and our internal worship? The mundane and the divine?
My assertion is that not only is this possible…it is necessary…for the conscious evolution of the planet and for our survival and thrival as a species. Not to mention our personal happiness. As many of us our satisfied–that is we have all the nice stuff. Cars, houses, fine clothing, computers, iPods, great relationships, money…but we remain unfulfilled.
KPOO — Liberation Through Mediation with Adam Coutts
If you missed our August 18th Reality Sandwich on KPOO 89.5 FM with my co-host Martin Matthews, it is now available for you to stream in your browser.
We interviewed Adam Coutts, veteran meditation instructor, who can be found here. To listen to Liberation Through Meditation, click here.
His classes begin in September, so be sure to go check out his site while space is still available.
Collapsing Behavior and Identity—Mistaken Identity and Spiritual Practice
Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? Do I “know” you?
The ultimate spiritual practice is dis-identifying with that which we think is us—objects in our awareness. It may be our possessions. It may be our finances. It may be our looks. It may be our intelligence. It may be our social reputation. It may be our behaviors, our sexual orientation, our beliefs, or ideas. And yet we are none of that.
KPOO 89.5 The Key is in the Darkness
For those of you who missed the radio program–Reality Sandwich on San Francisco’s KPOO 89.5FM–today, you can download it here: Key in the Darkness [33MB MP4].
We had a lot of fun, and as usual, Mark Michael Lewis was an incredible guest.
UPDATE: the file has been fixed and should now stream in your browser.
E[go]volution
Ego is the source of most of the ills in our society. It is the thing to dissolve as you become more spiritual. It is something to be noticed, sought out, fought, and destroyed. Ego is bad.
Or is it?
Ego is largely misunderstood in our cult-ure. As Eastern Spiritual traditions are imported into the west with greater and greater rapidity, it is misunderstood even further. Rather than looking at it and understanding it for what it is, it is further collapsed, fused, and maligned into one mass of experience generally labeled “it-is-bad”.
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