Creative Tithing - The Other Stuff We Spend - Part II

In Part 1, we talked about Creative Tithing in monetary terms.

You make money in some kind of crafty, creative endeavor and you give 10% of it away to someone that has inspired you creatively.

The act is very powerful.

It is an act of expansion. You are expanding your own thinking about what is possible for you (ie there is more where this came from, alot more), you are drawing something new and creative into your life and you are expanding someone else's creative world, too.

If they also tithe 10% this goes on and on forever and ever ...

(just sit with that for a second and really let our power sink in!)

There are also ways to practice creative tithing and creative expansion without using money as our practice point.

One way is with applause.

Yes, as in put our hands together, whistle through our fingers, scream bravo until we lose our voices - tell 'em that you love 'em - applause!

This is a very easy practice point, but very powerful.

When you see something that someone has created and you love it - TELL THEM! Convo other sellers on Etsy just to say WOW!

This can't help but send little ripples (which can turn into tsunamis) out into the world.

Encourage people. It's not about blindly saying - “you can do it”.

(although that's nice, too!)

It’s deeper than that. It’s seeing the truth of the other person, especially when they can't see it yet for themselves.

Also, remember to practice expansion by practicing gratitude when you get this kind of applause.

If someone tells you how great your work is and your first thought is - well, then BUY something for pete's sake - the energy just stops ... right there ... clunk.

Or, if you think- "what? my work? it's just ok" - clunk.

Now, if you really allow yourself to take it in and let it expand the way you see yourself and the way you see the world - stuff happens, big stuff happens!

Another great practice point for creative tithing is with your time.

There are as many ways to do this as there is creative inspiration out there.

Time is a very powerful tithe.

You can always make more money, but we all get just a finite amount of time in a day and to tithe some of this into the creative community is a very powerful thing.

If you sell on Etsy, making treasuries to promote other sellers is a huge tithe of your time. Giving your time to creative people and creative groups expands your world in very powerful ways.

Your talent is also a very powerful practice point.

Giving away your talent in terms of work, skills, mentoring, training, information, etc is a huge way to expand.

Our talent is something that we are called to express. It isn't so much a gift to us, as it is our gift to everyone else! We are called to pass it on. We cannot waste it!

If you are called to paint - paint! If you are called to write - write! You never know who will read your words or see your work and in what way they will be moved and inspired to bring more of that creativity into their own life!

Donating your work to charities that support the arts and schools are great ways to practice creative tithing of your talent.

You don't have to be a teacher to be a teacher. You don't have to have it all together to pass on the stuff that you do.

(and have you ever learned anything really true from anyone who wasn't a total train wreck at some point in their life?)

You are always mentoring somebody - even when you are just doing a really good job, maybe especially when you are just doing a really good job

Inspire them.

You can tithe other abundances in your creative life, too, everything from supplies to connections - it is kind of endless.

Now, these are all practices. And practices need to be practiced to work (and just like the practice that you put into your craft and the practice called exercise - it doesn't just work for other people, it has to work for you, it can't not work).

If we didn't do things unless the outcome was guaranteed we would never do anything of value.

Faith comes from first doing the thing – not necessarily knowing that everything will turn out the way we want it to. And creative tithing is not a religious act, but it is an act of faith.

Tithing your time and talent and praise and money probably will not work in any positive way for us if we do it grudgingly

(if a situation feels wrong then don't do it - the lesson for that type of stuff is most likely about standing up for ourselves and our value and saying no to things) -

because tithing keeps our energy at the level of the act, so making it a selfless act

(as much as possible, we are not expected to be Mother Teresa here)

and letting it go is very important.

I also think it is very powerful to do the thing that is the hardest thing, for us to do.

For some people it is easier to give money than time - for others it is easier to give away their time than to part with 10% of their creative income and I do think that maybe always doing the easier thing can dillute this a bit, so try to do the thing that makes you uncomfortable and work with that once in a while.

Because creative tithing is about expansion and expansion is about growth and growth is about challenging ourselves.

What else can we do; what do you think?

great job on that thing you did card by sycamorestreet
make time don't kill time - flourish print by daisyjanie
waste of talent t-shirt by wasteoftalent13