Monthly Archive for June, 2008

Denver Meeting Notes: June 2008

Published on June 30, 2008 in Denver Events by Susan C. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

We had a fruitful gathering at Susan’s house this month, including a fantastic presentation by Elizabeth Weiland from the Insight Speaker Series. Elizabeth shared her story of how she came to found an organization devoted to bringing world renowned speakers such as Desmond Tutu, Isabel Allende, and Charles Barkley to Denver. Please see the Insight Speaker Series website at www.insightspeakers.com for event information.

Through announcements we connected individual needs with individual gifts. Here are some of the highlights:

Taj is engaging with Elizabeth on help with his business card

Melissa will consult with Susan next week to help her plan retreats that foster joy and fun

Susan found dance community mentorship through Paul, the Director of Ballet Arts Theater

Elizabeth will assist in editing Susan’s Laundromat Project Business Plan

Elizabeth engaged the entire group in a brainstorming session on how to sell tickets and outreach for the Insight Speaker Series

People needed to eat and people brought great food!

NEXT MEETING
Our next meeting will be Wednesday July 23rd. Please come prepared to tell us about your passions, discuss your needs, and share your gifts to the group so that we can support each other in leading inspired lives. Invite your friends, co-workers, or anyone else you think might enjoy what the Abundance League has to offer. If you can, bring some food to share. I also invite you to join our online social network if you haven’t already. Our web site for tAL // Denver offers an easy way to keep in touch with other members and hear the latest announcements.
http://denver.abundanceleague.org

What: the Abundance League
When: Wednesday July 23rd, 6:30 pm
Where: TBA

Taj + Susan

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Money Can Make You Happy…If You Give It Away

Published on June 30, 2008 in Abundance by Neal Gorenflo. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

New research by Havard Business School shows that spending on someone else, either on a friend or a cause, can lead to increased well-being:

“Our findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations—as little as $5 in our final study—may be sufficient to produce non-trivial gains in happiness on a given day.”

The cool thing is that it isn’t how much you give away that influences increases in happiness, it’s the percentage of your income you spend on others that matters. Apparently, this phenomenon works on a sliding scale. The higher the percentage of your giving, the more the gains. Those able to give thousands or millions of dollars do not have an advantage here.

An interesting backdrop on this recent research is the well-known finding that there’s a big lift in happiness once someone moves out of poverty into the lower-middle class, but further increases in income do not lead to increases in happiness.

The implication here is that to continue getting happiness gains relative to income, you have to begin to give when you have just enough to give and increase the percentage of your giving as you’re able.

The other interesting comment in the article indicates the importance of intention:

“Intentional activities—practices in which people actively and effortfully choose to engage—may represent a promising route to lasting happiness. Supporting this premise, our work demonstrates that how people choose to spend their money is at least as important as how much money they make,” the researchers explain.

This is really interesting. While governments have arguably had mixed results in promoting social justice by redistributing wealth using mandatory taxes, it seems that individuals have a built-in psychological incentive to redistribute on their own once they have enough. What if we created a society that leveraged this opportunity in human nature? For instance, bigger tax breaks for charitable giving, an efficient market in philanthropy, and a robust culture of generosity.

In any case, I think intention and choice really matter when it comes to how we contribute to the common good. I’m inclined to believe that the most good is done on both the giving and receiving side of the equation “when the giver actively and effortfully engages.” Our gifts have more power when they’re voluntary and aligned with our passions. And this way of giving is more personally satisfying.

Any comments on these ideas?

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San Francisco Meeting Notes: June 2008

Published on June 30, 2008 in San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Big thanks to David Gross our speaker, our host the SOMA Creativity Center, all who contributed, those who brought yummy food, and all who helped clean up after a great event.

Details about the meeting are below, but first some housekeeping. We’re in need of a new meeting space starting in July, so please reply to this e-mail if you have an idea for a space or can host a meeting. We’re very grateful to have had the Creativity Center as a meeting space, but Revi of the center is going on sabbatical. She will not be booking events for at least three months. Thank you Revi and have a great time!

Our next meeting is Thursday July 17th and will feature Michael Vav. Michael will talk about lessons learned from his many social experiments, which are part group therapy, learning lab, and social art. Stay tuned for meeting details.
Learn more about Michael’s experiments here.

Below are member announcements. Please glance through them. They’re a chance to get help or give help. Feel free to reach out by e-mail.

–

MEETING NOTES

David Gross took us through his personal journey of becoming a war resister by lowering his income below the federal tax level. He legally pays no federal tax so that he avoids financially supporting the war in Iraq. There were many lessons from his life transforming act of conscience. Here are few:

-The big message was that lowering your income dramatically does not lead to a life of privation. When you put your energy on the side of your priorities, life becomes more rewarding.

-After quitting his well paid corporate job, going indy, cutting his salary by two thirds, and working less, he’s convinced that his time is worth far more than the money he was earning for it when he was an high paid employee.

-That when you economize, you do more for yourself and learn new skills like cooking. This way, you can satisfy yourself to a greater degree than paying for someone do a service for you.

-That about 40% of the US population live on income below federal tax levels. David was not doing anything strange by cutting his income. He was joining a large cohort of folks.

-That it does take some planning to get your income below federal tax levels. The key is to figure out the most you can make so that when all your deductions are taken, your gross taxable income is below the federal level.

More about David here:

http://sniggle.net/Experiment

–

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Name:Lucci
Passion:Expanding the cohesiveness of my circles and society
Needs:research allies for developing network context and strategies for all social development endeavors
Gifts:strategic design and planning in public benefit efforts, strategic life mapping (mentoring), 501(c)3 sponsorship, development planning venue.
E-mail:lucci [at] well dot com

Name: Ray Tobey
Passion: Changing our model of leadership from Machiavelli to Gandhi & Martin Luther King
Needs: Advice from anyone who’s attended the “Writers for Change” workshop, PHP programming
Gifts: I speak HTML, PHP, C++, Asm. If you want to win a seat in local Govt, I can make that happen
E-mail: green [at] bionictoad dot com

Name: Andrew Gentile
Passion: Shifting paradigms toward consciousness around interconnectedness of all people and the connection between people and the planet (and cosmos). Helping people to live fearlessly and with unlimited vision. Connecting people to others and to resources. Creating deep heart-centered community.
Needs: An evolving planet, open minds and hearts.
Gifts: Hypnotherapy, spiritual perspective, massage, web design, writing.
E-mail: gentile.andrew [at] gmail dot com

Name:kim Connector
Passion: san francisco’s creative scene
Needs:new artists, designers, cafes, stores in your nieghborhood to include in my tours
Gifts:orginization, social networking, cooking
E-mail:thebrainpoolconnector [at] yahoo dot com

Name: Mary
Passion: food, wine, gardening, helping people get involved in things that make them happy and are good for other people/the planet, etc
Needs:
1) Please help spread the word about www.iowafloodreliefauction dot com It’s a volunteer effort to raise money to help rebuild an animal shelter destroyed in recent flooding in Cedar Rapids
2) Communications and PR volunteer energy to help spread the word and get people involved in Indy Arts & Media www.artsandmedia dot net
Gifts: Fundraising expertise, opportunity to publicize your art project, organization, band, etc at the Expo for Independent Arts… early bird registration ends soon: www.artsandmedia dot net
E-mail: mary [at] maustinfuller dot com

Name: Nicolay Kreidler
Passion: Photography, Intentional community
Needs: a cutting edge team of paradigm shifters
Gifts: sharing
E-mail: nicolay [at] avalonsprings dot org

Name:Diego Gonzalez
Passion:people, international development, world cultures
Needs:come up with a project of sustainable development for latin america
Gifts:financial modelling, excel, languages: French, Spanish
E-mail:postdiego [at] hotmail dot com

Name: Jim Herbst
Passion: friends, family, my career
Needs: to provide support to entrepreneurs who need help putting numbers to their business. If you are passionate about your idea, please contact me.
Gifts: Accounting, cost analysis, financing, project management, product management
E-mail: jherbst [at] gmail dot com

Name: Bonnie Scherek
Passion: Making friends, good food and wine
Needs: Money
Gifts: Massage, organizing, humor
E-mail: bonniescherek [at] gmail dot com

Name:Skye Worthington-Bunn
Passion:Industrial Design/Screen Printing/Asian Cooking/Wine
Needs:
Gifts: Concept development/Cad/ Engineering Drawing/Screenprinting Baking delicious stuff
E-mail: skye.wb [at] gmail dot com

Name: Rob Ford
Passion: The Peace Garden Project (www.thepeacegarden dot org) — creating a visual link of inspiring connections for peace, community, connection and service — in the “Garden of Humanity”
Needs: video-tech-savy advice — for camera and editing shopping; community grant-writing inspirations for filming individuals in urban pioneer settings and beyond — more immediately I have a big need for work in any fields of outreach, healing arts (I’m a massage therapist) or any non-profit working with enviromental causes that can help me anchor these other, long-term goals
Gifts: Connecting people…one to anothher, and within…to to hidden strengths and deep joys
E-mail: idolgossip [at] yahoo dot com

Name:Angela Privin
Passion: recycling, adventure, dogs,travveling and different cultures
Needs:find a career path
Gifts: writing, cooking, Spanish, Russian, Alternative medicine
E-mail: angelaprivin [at] yahoo dot com

Name:Dmenace
Passion:People
Needs:Help with my attitude toward money
Gifts:motive and inspire people
E-mail:dmenacesf [at] yahoo dot com

Name:Emily
Passion:improving the way people work together
Needs: paid employment
Gifts: written word, org dev
E-mail:egshurr [at] yahoo dot com

Name: Neal
Passion: creating a culture of generosity, collaboration, and civic engagement
Needs: consulting gigs in strategy, research, and social enterprise
Gifts: encouragement, different perspectives, an open mind
E-Mail: gorenflo [at] gmail dot com

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The Short History of Consumer Culture

Published on June 25, 2008 in Abundance by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , .

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cO9X4NMb4&hl=en]

A recent Orion article is the best little primer on the origin of consumer culture I’ve read. “The Gospel of Consumption” highlights the key individuals, groups, documents, and events that shaped the culture we live in today.

The protagonists in this article – manufacturers and conservatives – sought to change the underlying assumptions about what constitutes the good life in order to create a more business friendly environment. In their self-serving view, the good life meant consuming as much as possible (so that they could keep their factories busy) within a free market society (so that they could unburden themselves of any responsibility to citizens and country). They used a tidal wave of commercial advertising, brilliant public relations, and relentless political propaganda to do this.

A classic example is the 1939 World’s Fair, which the video above promoted. This massive public relations effort helped define the good life in seductive terms that served manufacturers and articulated the cornerstone of conservative economic thinking. As the article says, it laid the ideological groundwork for postwar consumer society.

What strikes me about the fair are the lengths the promoters went to physically manifest this vision. The fair was something you could walk through, touch, and experience directly with your friends and family. It engaged all the senses. It expressed an ideology that was consistent with American values yet interpreted them in a new way that cast business as the hero in an narrative about liberation. It’s a vision packaged with the care and skill of a P&G marketer. The completeness and scale of the effort persuades by itself. It’s a testament to the determination and long-term thinking of the business elite of the time. There is much to learn here, but I’d be careful to borrow their strategy wholesale.

A key architect of this spectacle was Edward Bernays, one of the fathers of public relations, and not coincidentally, Sigmund Freud’s nephew.

It took business interests less than 50 years to change the mind of a nation. They have been spectacularly successful. So lopsided is their victory that it comes at the expense of almost everything else – our environment, our health, our happiness, our freedom, and in increasing numbers, our livelihoods.

This Babbitopia we live in has got to be one most soulless dreams come true in history. More than that, it’s vision so potent that it could destroy the earth’s ability to support human life. Nevertheless, our society is nowhere near coming to terms with it’s destructiveness. It’s the elephant in the room no one even knows is there. But that’s natural. It’s at the root of our problems. Symptoms are so much easier to identify with. Save the Whales.

What might be new in the Orion account is that it tells of a viable and saner alternative available at the birth of consumer culture – almost brought to you by Kellogg! Seriously, the founder of the famous cereal company was a social visionary. He offered employees high hourly wages and short work weeks (30 hours). His goal was to hire more people in the company town of Battle Creek who’d have more time for the pursuit of happiness. This seemed to work for everybody. Happy employees were more productive. Employees loved it because they could spend more time on things they loved. This helped create a successful company, and an environment where the citizens of Battle Creek had the time to cultivate mind, body, family, and community.

Unfortunately for employees, the company was sold after WWII. The new owners tried to abolish Kellogg’s visionary policies by offering incentives. The changes were widely resisted, though management was determined and eventually won out. However, they couldn’t claim complete victory until the mid-eighties when the last of the holdout departments succumbed to the 40 hour work week.

What encourages me about this story is that a happy, sustainable society is not bad for business, as the Kellogg example shows demonstrated 50 years ago. And that if consumer culture was consciously created, then something more wholesome can be created in its place to serve us and the planet better. It won’t be easy, but as this history demonstrates, it’s definitely possible to change the mind of a nation.

And it might be easier to do now now that each of us can be a TV station, a newspaper, and an community organizer in our spare time at no cost – thanks to the Internet. Being able to easily create and broadcast media and organize ourselves means that we can deliberately create culture. We can change the underlying assumptions about what the good life means and organize ourselves accordingly. This is not only possible right now, it’s absolutely necessary right now.

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San Francisco, You’re Invited: Thu 6/19 6pm – David Gross + Legal Tax Resistance = Abundance

Published on June 17, 2008 in San Francisco Events by Neal Gorenflo. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Dear Abundance Leaguers,

Please join us next Thursday, June 19th, as David Gross leads a discussion
about his experience in legal tax resistance and how it inadvertently
lead to a life of abundance.

In March, 2003, David Gross quit his $100,000/year job and has since
kept his income below the federal income tax line so that he would no
longer be paying for the Iraq War.

At first, he worried that this would mean a life of deprivation and
struggling to make ends meet. But he found that paradoxically, his life
became richer, fuller, and more fulfilling.

True abundance, it turns out, has more to do with being able to put 100%
of your energy on the side of your priorities and values than it has to
do with having a big salary.

Gross will discuss some of what he has learned along the way, the theory
behind tax resistance, and how you can live an abundant life on a
below-the-tax-line income (even — especially! — here in San Francisco).
Check out David’s blog here to learn more.

And as always, come ready to talk about your passions, needs, and gifts
(in under two minutes) during announcements so that we can help each other
create the lives and communities of our dreams – right here in reality.
Members Lucci and Emily will be facilitating.

MEETING
What: The Abundance League
When: Thursday, June 19th, 6:00-10:00pm (you can come and go anytime during the meeting)
Where: The SOMA Creativity Center, 81 Langton Street, Suite 13, San Francisco
Learn more about the SOMA Creativity Center here:

http://www.somacreativitycenter.org

AGENDA
6:00 – 6:30 – Mingle
6:30 – 7:15 – Member announcements (your passions, needs and gifts)
7:15 – 7:30 – Break, nosh, mingle, exchange support
7:30 – 8:30 – Presentation & discussion
8:30 – 10:00 Nosh, mingle, exchange support, clean up

Learn more about our meetings here:
http://www.theabundanceleague.org/2007/08/about- abundance-league-meetings.html

BRING
-Yourself, your friends!
-Healthy stuff for the potluck, there is an Urban Harvest Market nearby at 191 8th Street (between Howard St & Natoma St)
-Shares: books, CDs, DVDs or anything that you’d like to loan or gift at the meeting.

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