I could use your help

I’m doing something rather unusual today… I’m asking for help.

I have a couple of amazing opportunities coming up in the next two months, but I could use your help to get there. Here’s where I hope to go:

1. Gather the Women Global Matrix annual gathering in Lake Tahoe, California (September 22-25). Last year I co-hosted this beautiful circle of women in Peterborough, Ontario and became a committed member of the global community. Their goal is simple and clear – spread women’s circles around the world. While I was there last year, I found out that my mom’s cancer was back and there was no longer anything the doctors could do. At the end of the gathering I said to the women “by the time we meet again, I may not have a living mom.” That beautiful circle women wrapped their arms around me and have been supporting me ever since. THIS is the power of circles.
2. Patti Digh’s Design Your Life Camp (October 3-6). When I first heard about what Patti Digh was putting together, I was captivated. “Wow,” I thought. “Just the kind of people I’d like to go to camp with.” On a whim, on the very last day that they were accepting submissions, I sent in a proposal to offer one of the Spark Sessions on “The courage to lead differently”. I didn’t think much more about it… until the lineup was announced and mine had been selected!

These both feel like incredible opportunities to a.) be supported by people doing similar work in the world, and b.) expand the reach of my own work.

The problem is… I don’t have the financial resources to pay for all of the travel involved. (Back to school season is expensive when you have three daughters.) My registration is covered at both events, and the accommodations are already paid for the first event, but I need to pay for the plane tickets, accommodations at the second event, and (possibly) accommodations in between.

I have been wracking my brain trying to think of ways to come up with the money. In the end, this thought kept coming back to me… “Why don’t you ask your readers to support you?”

Gulp. For someone who’s been raised with a healthy dose of self-sufficiency and has a lot of trouble swallowing her pride to ask for help, that question took a lot to digest. And yet, it kept coming back to me.

What I realized is this… Those of you who show up faithfully at this page, those who leave comments and send beautiful emails to let me know what my words mean to you – all of you WANT to see this work spread further into the world, or you wouldn’t show up as open-heartedly and generously as you do.

And then this thought kept coming to me… “If I want to live in a gift economy, I need to give people more opportunities to offer gifts to me so that I can spread my own gifts further.” Since many of you have already received some version of gift from me (in the form of blog posts, coaching sessions, free ebooks, etc.) I want to now offer you an opportunity to live in the gift economy with me.

There are three ways that you can help support my trip to Lake Tahoe and Atlanta:

1. Purchase something that I sell – namely a coaching session, registration in Lead with Your Wild Heart, registration in Creative Writing for Self-Discovery (local to Winnipeg), or registration in the yet-to-be-announced Mandala Discovery: 30 Days of Mandala Journaling.
2. Help me find a way and place to generate some income in the week between Lake Tahoe and Atlanta – somewhere in transit between those two places. Perhaps a workshop could be offered for an organization or community group, in-person coaching sessions could be made available for staff or community members, or consulting work could be done? I’m open to creative suggestions.
3. Offer a financial gift, free of any attachments, with the understanding that your gift will help me to spread my gifts into the world, and the gift economy will spread. Here’s a handy donate button if you want to give by Paypal, or email to offer other possibilities.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for being part of my community. Whether or not you are able to support this dream of mine, please know that you are valued and appreciated and I wouldn’t be here doing this work if it wasn’t for you.

Note: I need between $1500 and $2000, depending on flight costs and whether or not I need to pay for accommodations in between events. If, perchance, I should receive more than that in gifts, you can be sure that the additional funds would be put to good use in growing my work. For example, I am beginning to feel a real need for a space (office/studio/classroom) where I can do coaching sessions and offer workshops.