I have been talking to different people in our weekly gift circles to see how they find it. One of the interesting things is to find out how people relate to needs.
One person said that it was quite hard for her to express her needs. It was easier for her to give services.
There is a certain vulnerability that happens with expressing one’s needs. In our society there is a certain code of being self-sufficient.
I’ve also noticed that some people have a hard time figuring out their needs. They may think they have no needs. However when I question them further they find out oh they have quite a few needs.
Hopefully as these gift circles evolve we figure out a good way to help people figure out what their needs are. One idea I had in this regard guide people to look into various aspects of their lives – work, hobbies, projects, dreams, relationships, home life and see if they have needs in these areas.
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The gift economy circle facilitates the process of figuring out what we want, and what we truly need- sounds simple you might say?
Not really, when you think how much we’ve been told what we need, and told what to want, by conscious and unconscious messaging from a society who really can’t even sustain itself in providing these needs to a majority of the earth’s population.
I think its pretty funny actually how distanced we are from real human needs- which are of course linked to real human values– these values are unearthed when we give them time and attention– the gift economy is a good way of delicately allowing us to unfold our true needs.