Everyone says they wish they could win the lottery and just retire to do only things that are meaningful to them. They can say this because they know the chances are so low of it actually happening that their poverty consciousness beliefs about money aren't threatened one bit.
You know the beliefs I'm talking about. The ones you were taught as a child that say things like:
- No pain no gain
- Hard work is the key to success (Tell that to the poor parent working 2 full-time jobs, but still on food stamps.)
- Suffering is a virtue
- The Devil makes work for idle hands
- If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it (meaning it isn't)
I could go on and on like this. I'm sure you could contribute quite a few similar sayings you grew up hearing too. (Feel free to in the comments.)
In your experience, looking at the wealthiest people enjoying the greatest access to health, education, freedom and opportunity, would you say that they are people who have suffered their way into all that they have? Are they the hardest working?
Now here and there you will find the new rich who made it building a tech empire with grueling hours and many years living on ramen noodles. But that's not how most rich people got rich. I know, because I was educated with the children of the truly rich, and I can tell you that most wealth is inherited. Period.
How convenient that the poor and middle class are taught that endless labor is a virtue and the secret to financial abundance, while the financially abundant are taught that labor is best as an interesting hobby. Some are expected to work hard enough in school to be able to succeed at challenging universities, and work of some sort, whether creating films, or investing in good companies, or some sort of political service, that is also expected of some. But for most, life is about keeping oneself entertained when you've done it all by the age of 15.
I say all of this to make the point that there is absolutely no relationship whatsoever between how much you suffer on the weight of excessive labor and how much financial abundance you will enjoy in life. Idle people strike it rich. Idle people wind up homeless. Hard workers build successful businesses. Hard workers go bankrupt. Got it?
About Receiving
What I have been able to see as a consistent pattern, is that those who are good at receiving good things in life, do. And those who think they haven't earned it yet, don't.
So which bucket do you want to be in?
Which bucket ARE you in?
Sometimes we have to re-train ourselves, because we've been raised with belief systems that serve the elite by keeping the vast majority of people occupied with laboring endlessly to serve them. They want us thinking we deserve less than they do, that they are morally superior, so that we will fight to protect their wealth in their armies and not engage in civil unrest. Basically, "stay in our place."
But what is your true place?
Were you not born under the same sun as they were? Did your parents not work as hard? Did they not love you as much? Are you less loved by God?
Or maybe you don't believe in God. Maybe your "religion" is science. Is your DNA inferior to that of the child born to wealthy families?
Examine your conditioning that makes you suspect anything that sounds "to good to be true" and gravitate toward things that promise hard work and tough odds. Also examine anything that over-promises the way a ponzi or pyramid scheme does.
An odd thing about those raised with poverty consciousness is that they also gravitate toward that extreme! It's because poverty consciousness also teaches that since so much is against you, the only way you're going to make it is if you somehow "get over on someone." You need that inside tip. You need that opportunity that ultimately cheats someone, because you aren't worthy of well-being in your own right.
What is needed is simply a healthy and accurate assessment of your self-worth. You have intrinsic value. You deserve to live according to your highest principles AND live in financial abundance and ease. How about that? Can you let that in?
A Couple of Things
I love the idea of basic income (sometimes called UBI, GBI, MBI etc. for universal, guaranteed, minimum, etc.). It affirms the right of each person to basic sustenance like food and shelter if we are to call ourselves a civilization. I agree with that idea about what civilization is, and that I want to be a part of one. So I believe in the assurance of these minimal requirements for survival. I don't think any child especially should be denied these things, regardless of any qualities about their parents. A child is not the property of his/her parents. They are a part of our civilization, and we all have an equal stake in their healthy development for the well-being of our civilization.
The problem I usually have with basic income programs is that I just can't make the math work to be sustainable. They always seem to rely on some government extracting taxes from labor to redistribute regardless of absence or presence of labor. Still the completely wrong idea. The idea is to decouple sustenance from labor completely!
But then how do you "pay" for it? How do you get the resources to give this food and shelter to all? And then there's also education and healthcare, most civilizations consider these also important for the thriving of the civilization. So how?
I don't have a complete answer to this at a global level, but I do see some really good progress happening in the crypto space. Here are just a couple possibilities available to you this very minute.
Mannabase
The simplest form of UBI is to ask for free coins and be given free coins. That's how it works with Manna. You do have to provide your contact information to verify you're a real person. So it's a 3-step process:
- Sign up with your email address at Mannabase Signup
- Verify your email address in your inbox to login and go to the dashboard
- Within the dashboard, enter your mailing address to verify you're a real person
That's it. After you do that, every week you'll receive free Manna coins. The coins are traded on exchanges also, and right now are valued at $0.02. The value can of course go up or down like any crypto. You can also trade Manna with other Manna holders for goods or services. The internal exchange feature is being developed still. I signed up a few weeks ago, and the weekly payouts come like clockwork. And when the internal exchange feature is developed, I would definitely be willing to trade for goods and services, in either direction.
Steem Basic Income
Another cool basic income program based in crypto is SBI. In this case you have to do a little more than with Mannabase. You can read all the details in this post from the founders, but in a nutshell:
- You send 1 STEEM to @steembasicincome on behalf of someone else you put in the memo
- This gets both them and you one share in the pool each
- Thereafter you will each receive an upvote on each of your posts
- How much the upvote will be worth will depend on several factors, such as how often you post, whether you upvote the posts from SBI, whether you delegate any SP to the overall pool, etc.
- You can buy up to 100 shares in any one pool by sponsoring up to 100 people getting SBI
Now this one can sound a bit like a ponzi, so I suggest you read that overview post with the details I linked above. It goes over all the math way better than I could. Essentially it is actually a diminishing returns situation, so they have to counteract the dilution of voting strength as new members join by buying delegated SP to try to at least stay even. And they have to cap the number of members per pool.
Are You Going to Try One or Both?
So here's the defining moment. Are you willing to give one of these a try?
With SBI, you do have to sponsor someone with a 1 STEEM initial contribution, so maybe that one has too high a barrier of entry for you. That's about $2 right now, and maybe even a lifetime of upvotes for you and a friend here on Steemit just isn't worth $2 to you. I think it's a great deal, but I'm already investing in my future income on this platform by buying STEEM, so it's an easy yes for me.
If not SBI, then certainly Mannabase should be worth your taking the time to sign up.
Now recent events with Facebook may have you a little extra cautious about the idea of giving anyone your contact information, but let's be real. How often are you already giving that out to get not much of anything in return? And it's not your birthday, friends list, buying habits, etc. like with the FB fiasco. It's not much more than what it takes to download one of those free PDFs when joining some mailing list.... Only they don't seem to email much. And they definitely don't send postal mail. That's the verification method; no KYC documents required.
Well, the ball is in your court right now. If you don't do either of these programs, I hope you'll find one that you will do.
I hope you can get to practice allowing yourself to receive without feeling you have to first earn it through hard labor and sacrifice. Or through ripping someone else off to get ahead yourself.
I invite you to join me in the world of win-win situations, where we rise together, and get to play and exchange with each other with no one needing to lose. I give to you. You give to me. We each receive. And around and around it goes. Sound like fun?
(Photo source: Pixabay)
Here are some other articles of mine that you might enjoy:
- What if nothing has gone wrong?
- Want to HODL your crypto AND spend the cash?
- Offering the Gift The World Needs to Receive
Resteems always appreciated!