Sunday

Doing Good While Doing Well

photo by Marika Ludmirska

by Shastri Gayle Van Gils

We live in a time of profound fear and change, and also one of tremendous opportunity to be of service. There are societal challenges in almost every sphere of life: great numbers of people are living in dire poverty while a very few are more prosperous than ever, we face the threat imminent of environmental disaster, and even those in prosperous nations feel insecure about the future.

The opportunity is that many of us are waking up to these imbalances and wish to be part of the solution. Our times require a new approach – to find out what is not working, and to solve the problem by creating different systems. We feel a pull to help, to share our gifts and create a meaningful livelihood while solving the problems all at the same time. This is the role of the visionary change maker or visionary entrepreneur: “Doing Good While Doing Well.”

Within the Shambhala community we have a vision and goal of creating a world that is kinder and gentler, where we are also brave enough to make the tough decisions needed about environment, health, financial and governing systems – we call this enlightened society. To make this so we need flow of financial resources:

Historically within our community, we have not had a particularly healthy dialogue about the need for financial abundance as a factor in building the future we envision. I believe this is an important conversation to have and that there are important skills to develop in order to manifest the vision embodied in our practice. If this challenge is interesting to you, and you feel a pull to explore it, you might be a visionary change maker. That is great! We are building an online community of support to explore these issues and get you started on your livelihood journey.

There are two big questions you can ask as you begin to figure out how you might engage with livelihood in this way:

We will explore this together when you join the upcoming 5 part course, “Visionary Entrepreneurs: Get Paid to Change the World,” which starts on June 15. This self-paced course can be followed at your own schedule. It is designed to take about 10 weeks, giving you time to develop your own business and also give and receive support from others in your class.

How do we start? The first key to being able to play the role of a change maker is to be fully oneself. You have to know your passion, your purpose…ironically know that which you would love to do in the world so much that you would do it for no pay! That is the key to your greatness. The second key to being a visionary change maker is not to be afraid of your self…not afraid of your greatness.

Shambhala Online hosts the course, where you will be further exploring and identifying your motivation, values, purpose and how to apply them to the needs in society. You will also have the opportunity to examine your limiting beliefs and learn how to move past them. Planning and goal setting as well as marketing as service (not as manipulation) are more skills we will be covering.

I believe that each of us can find a way to do meaningful work and create financial abundance while creating enlightened society. I believe this is important for our future, and that by our courage to take on this challenge, we can show others that this is possible. The first cohort of 35 people who took this class this winter had a great experience. I hope that you will be served in the same way by this material.

Here are some links to check out:

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Shastri Gayle Van Gils is an organizational consultant, coach, and serial entrepreneur. She holds an MBA in international business and has been teaching meditation for more than 30 years. Gayle is Founder and President of the company “Transform Your Culture”. She is committed to shifting the culture of organizations from fear based to love based. She is a certified consultant utilizing the Barrett Cultural Transformation Tools, and is certifying as a teacher of Google’s “Search Inside Yourself” leadership curriculum – integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence and the latest in contemplative neuroscience. Her forthcoming book is entitled Transform Your Culture: Love and Mindfulness at Work.