So I’ve been struggling along working on what to do next.  I need to make some changes to move forwards with my life.  There are many possibilities, and one I am quite excited about.

You see most of the options I have been considering involve re-organizing and refocusing my work in a much more commercial way, so I can focus more on earning money under the rules of the standard economic system, and it may be that I have to do that as just part of dealing with the realities of life.  To be honest I feel a bit depressed thinking about it though, because I feel like if I do then I won’t have fully given Give Freely Receive Freely (GFRF) the chance it truly deserves.

You see I had a dream, or a vision of being able to live in a way where my interactions with others are financially free. Where my services and efforts do not come with a price attached, but simply as an expression of my care and love for those I serve.  Of course in order for me to do that and meet their needs and wants, I would also need their care and support in return in order to meet my needs and wants.  What an amazing life that would be living with such free and purely motivated exchange. But I have only managed to do that partially so far… I haven’t managed to go 100% GFRF.

Well there is one option I have been considering that might allow me to do that, at least for a time.  To be fair, I don’t know that I would manage 100% GFRF. The necessities of dealing with the world might not make this possible, but I might be able to do 90% or something like that.

So what is this crazy idea? It is to go on a Give Freely Receive Freely World Tour. I would travel the world teaching qigong workshops on a GFRF basis for a year, and see if I can manage to live that way.

This would address some of the issues I have mentioned previously holding me back from going 100% GFRF, namely having to pay substantial amounts of money for a lease to rent premises and also on other expenses.  By travelling I would largely free myself from this (there would be some fixed costs I would still need to meet even while I am away, but these would be greatly reduced from what I have to meet now), of course travelling can be expensive too though, so I would be relying on generosity and reciprocal giving in return for the teaching I would offer in order to keep me going.  As well as this some people might also help to reduce my travel costs by having me stay with them and feeding me and maybe even transporting me on some legs of my journey.

A world tour would also be an opportunity to communicate more about GFRF.  Doing it 100% (or close to it) might catch peoples attention and make them interested to learn and think about it.  And as I would be purely focused on my GFRF efforts, I think I would have a lot more time and energy to put into communicating about it as well.

Also awhile back I spoke to the guys at the Horse and Humanship centre (you can find details for them in the directory) about GFRF, and they said that they found it very hard to make it work in New Zealand, but much easier overseas – specifically in Europe. Perhaps part of my struggle has been my environment, and if I try it in another environment I will be more successful in living my GFRF dream.

If such a tour was really successful it might even help me to start to make progress towards some of my other ambitions.  I would like to be able to set up a retreat centre for learning qigong and other health practices.  And then again it may not be successful, but still I think it is something I would like to do.  I feel like GFRF is something valuable for the collective consciousness, and I would at least like to make what might be one last effort to live this fully and communicate it more widely.

I won’t make a decision about going on this GFRF tour just yet. I have committed to carry on with what I am doing (particularly with my kung fu school) until at least the end of the year.  And thinking about packing up and going is actually quite daunting.  There is so much that I will need to organize and put in place in order to do this.  I really want to leave my students well prepared and supported in their ongoing training. But it feels quite exciting. A chance to rekindle the dream, to see the vision again of living truly free.

So what do you think crazy, or a good idea?