Karen Monroy

Sustainable Prosperity and Shoes

Who isn’t a shoe nut?  Some of us could go broke on shoes alone-part architecture, part personal statement it’s easy to understand the shoe fetish.  While shoes may seem trivial to discuss in the face of Principles, an accomplished practitioner applies Principle to the big as well as the small; knowing every thing counts and the Universe sees it all. It’s the practice of Principles that gives us the prosperous life we want.

When we are faced with a ‘must have’ pair of shoes, it’s very hard to remember any kind of basic Spiritual Principle. The first handy one to whip-out: the accoutrements do not make the person-rather the person makes them. Nothing you could ever buy will make you better, or change who you really are. Centered in the Truth that you are not deficient, apply these Spiritual Principles:

Be Aware, Be Honest and Discern:

Discern between need and want. Be honest with yourself. You do not ‘need’ the shoes. You ‘want’ the shoes. With this honest insight, the urgent nature that overcomes many while shopping is dispelled.  You are free to shop the sales, clearances, ‘racks’, ‘basements’ and over-stock resellers for something that works for your wardrobe and complimenting you. Desperation is the devil-tell it to ‘get thee behind me’. If you do not have a practice of awareness, you’ll believe your own thinking when you say, “I need those shoes!”

Giving and receiving are part of the same Energetic Loop-everyone in the Loop must be blessed:

Everyone includes the workers who manufactured and assembled the product. Keep a card in your wallet of manufactures to stay away from. No matter what you will not buy their brand for their practices. Use the power of your word to give feedback to the stores, “did you know this brand uses children labor to achieve these low prices?” Affirm your unwillingness to vote your energetic dollars in support of any company with inhumane practices. How do you know which companies have what practices? Check out these websites: http://www.globalexchange.org  http://www.dol.gov/ILAB/media/reports/iclp/sweat/indonesia.htm  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luWubx6vIlM

Responsibility: Use what you do have well:

Appreciate, and be grateful for what you do have. This allows you think about proactive maintenance. Waterproof your shoes, clean them with the proper cleaner, polish, shine—you name it-take care of them. Make them last longer by adding gel inserts or purchasing quality to begin with. I have a pair of Farragimo pumps, handmade, from Italy-cost a fortune. They are 10 years old and you would never know it.  I’d have spent 3 times the money over tens years on replacing the cheaper shoes. Go for the long haul and quality. Tell yourself, “I can’t afford cheap”.

There is always flow:

I keep my wants in mind and buy with the flow. My running shoes are a good example: I can buy great quality name shoes at the overstock outlets, or  savings on the clearances ahead of the need. I recently bought the same pair of athletic shoes I saw for 129.00 in July, for 49.00. I won’t need these shoes for another 4 months or so-but 4 months in a box won’t change their usefulness to me.

Finally: Always remember the most Sustainable product is the one you never bought in the first place. If you can’t name off the top of your head at least 5 outfits/uses for your prospective shoes, slow your roll. Walk away, let yourself clear your system of the initial stimulus. Put them on hold if you have to, but 60 minutes later you won’t be ‘dying’ for the shoes.

Hopefully by now you have guessed these basic Principles are to be applied to all area’s of our life-big and small. It’s all about the practice of the Principles, not reciting them. Substitute Shoes for anything you want, and practice. You’ll be blessed-I promise.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Energy of Money, Personal/Spiritual Growth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.