It’s been a year.
Again.
Being an open person has its challenges because of how I feel so much of people and life around me. For multiple years, the larger social context has been one of heightened fear and distress.
The second version of SARS did not scare me. But our primal animal body pays attention to the “herd.” And the “herd” has been sending out “We are distressed” body signals constantly for multiple years.
My body hears that just like yours does. The body in it’s instinctual way responds. It believes that, “If everyone is scared, I should be too.”
And that’s taxing physically even if psychologically I’m undisturbed.
Now, inflation is causing everyone to react and grab for more money while some of the richest people are trying to maximize profits for no other reason than to have more.
It’s insanity. And the U.S. Presidential election basically starts in 2023 even though we won’t vote until November 2024. I can only imagine the coming hysteria.
That’s why I’m taking 4 weeks off from mid-December to January.
As usual, I have no paid time off. I am self-employed.
I’m reaching out to all of you to help support my time away from work. The goal this year is reach $5000 to cover not working.
Any amount you can donate is appreciated. I accept donations through PayPal, and no, they are not tax deductible.
However, all donations are deeply appreciated.
Who and What You Are Supporting
Every year, I do A LOT behind the scenes to keep this work going. It’s not always easy, and search engine updates, law changes, social media shifts, and other things make continuing this work a challenge.
Below are some things that I have to do, and for those of you who are thinking you may want to do what I do, this is some useful information to understand about the path of a solo entrepreneur spiritual teacher.
Here are a few of the things that have gone on in 2022.
Firstly…
Migrated and Redesigned my Website
This wasn’t two things. It was about 19 things, including
- Researched web hosting
- Built a team of volunteers
- Developed documentation to communicate how people could work with me in the website redesign
- Learned how to use WordPress
- Had regular meetings
- Interviewed web designers and SEO consultants
- Had possible designers bail
- Brainstormed what a new design should be
- Looked at countless website templates
- Reviewed and re-worked countless blog posts
- Deleted old posts with little value
- Moved from Blogger to WordPress
- Made a crap-load of mistakes and had to fix them
- Talked to help desk of the web hosting company A LOT, and so much more
And I haven’t even talked about blogging and teaching yet.
The Usual Stuff I Do
The more usual stuff I’ve been doing, includes:
- Blogging
- Writing newsletters
- Setting up online classes
- Self-care
- Having one-on-one sessions and all the work that surrounds that
- Responding to hundreds of emails
- Posting on social media
- Forming spiritual groups/communities
- Managing my accounting
- Maintaining, re-arranging, and pushing the communities towards transformation
- Self-care
- Learning more about neuroscience, which is helping me better understand the ego and be a better spiritual teacher
- Responding to comments on the blog and on social media
- Staying on top of web security things (updating plugins, updating passwords, etc.)
- Backing up my website,
- SELF-CARE (this is so important), and much more
It’s a lot of work for one person, so I’m taking a break. I hope you can help support me.
I deeply appreciate whatever you have to give.
Please know that when you are helping me, you are also supporting thousands of people around the world.
In love and kindness,
Jim Tolles
