I’m not really an “altar” type. When I lived in an ashram and again when I was studying shamanism, I made an effort to place objects with special meaning in a designated sacred space that ideally I would meditate in front of. Mostly, my altar collected dust. However, when Chris Guillebeau closed the 2012 World Domination Summit (WDS) by gifting me and 999 other attendees with $100 and charging us to do something meaningful with it- lo and behold, I thought about creating an altar once again.
How else could I recover from the gratitude stupor? There we were, at the end of those three days, already grateful for an extraordinary conference. And through this bold gift, Chris displays his gratitude for and trust in us, which we in turn beam back magnified, creating a tidal gratitude loop. Ultimately, the gesture modeled everything that Chris and WDS stands for – community, giving back and thinking broadly outside the business-as-usual box. It was a triumph of marketing and brand, as the offer immediately encouraged me to read his new book The $100 Start Up and put his theories to the test.
I have a few ideas on how and where to invest WDS’s investment in me. But I want those ideas to bake. And that is what inspired me to return to the magic and beauty of creating and using an altar. I aim to put the money where my mantra is and vow to take ten minutes a day for thirty days to sit in front of it and meditate on the question: “What is the best possible use of this $100?” and listen deeply for the answers. And for those of you who know me I would love YOUR help and would like to hear any of YOUR ideas on how I could invest this money to benefit YOU (no jokes and within reason, please).
As you can see (above), my WDS-inspired altar includes a picture of the Hindu goddess of abundance, Lakshmi; the $100 in envelope; the accompanying card which reads “Thanks for making #WDS2012 a fantastic experience. We’d love to see how you can put these funds to good use. Start a project, surprise someone, or do something entirely different – it’s up to you.”; and a few other trinkets including a feather for flight and a candle for light.
I’ll keep you posted and let you know how the experiment goes via Facebook and Twitter. And if you were (or have been) gifted with $100 to invest in you and your community, I want to know what would you (are you going to) do with it?
E-mail me and let me know!
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