A brief and only scratching the surface chat on gift economy; complete with lots of quoting of Charles Eisenstein.
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A brief and only scratching the surface chat on gift economy; complete with lots of quoting of Charles Eisenstein.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | RSS | More
This episode resonates so much with me. I’ve done some gift economy birth work. One of my favorite stories around this was agreeing to be a doula for a friend who lived three hours away
I knew somehow that the timing would work out just right and that she would go into labor when I had four days off in a row. I prayed a lot about attending her birth, because she couldn’t pay me anything and financially I couldn’t afford to do it, but I felt strongly that I needed to be there. So I agreed.
I drove down on my first day off and sure enough she went into labor that night! (Even though she assured me she wouldn’t/wasn’t ready…as soon as I stepped in the house I knew she’d be in labor that night.) Anyway, long story short, it was truly divine that I showed up for her, she needed someone to watch the other kids until her mom got there and then I attended her at the hospital where she needed my support desperately and we avoided many interventions together.
On the drive home, I prayed “Creator i did this thing i know I was supposed to do…now I have no gas money to get to work this upcoming week….you’ll have to make the money appear.”
Wouldn’t you know it, a woman id worked for SEVEN years before in Portland Oregon had just sent me a Christmas card with a random large check in it…just because. She covered the cost of my being there to help my friend. I got the money I needed and I truly believe my friend was able to avoid a C-section they where pushing for in the hospital with my help. Her birth story is long and complicated, and her ex-husband was abusive, so I’m glad I was there for her.
The other friend definitely paid for my doula services even though she didn’t know it! Amazing.