It fascinates me when people do their best to get something for nothing. I don’t mean getting something on sale. I mean expecting other people to do something or tell them something for free. You don’t get to walk into a grocery store, grab an avocado, and walk out without paying for it. Knowledge may not be as tangible as an avocado, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. 

The person who acquired the knowledge or skills paid someone to teach it to them. If they had no teacher, that means they took the time to research and learn those skills and techniques and practiced them until they were viable and useful. 

Occasionally, I am contacted by those who want help but expect it to be at a discount or for free. My time and effort have value. If it didn’t, they wouldn’t be calling me. This is not the past where shamans could depend on their community for everything. Shamans have to pay the electric bills too. That goes for everyone. 

When you’re asking someone to do something for nothing, you create an energy debt. Everything is an exchange of something for something else in terms of energy. You give up something to gain something. If the exchange is not equal, it creates an energy debt. That means that if you do something for someone and they don’t reciprocate with it’s equal, they owe you.

Here’s a scenario of how this might play out. You have a friend who keeps asking you to do things for them, but they can never do anything for you. Every time you do something for them that they don’t reciprocate in some way creates debt. I’m not talking about simple things that a thank you will suffice. I’m referring to the things that take your time, effort, and money to accomplish for them. 

What it creates is unbalanced energy. It’s supposed to be an equal exchange. In this case, the energy is only going one way. To them. For some people, that’s how they like it, always having everything to their advantage. However, the universe compensates for imbalances. It’s usually through karma and luck.

I’ve had friends who made it their mission in life to get something for nothing from others through cajoling or outright guilt. It wouldn’t take long before the universe stepped in.  Their self-satisfaction was always short-lived as their luck would run out, and some mini emergency would happen, making them scramble. Some thrive while always living life in panic mode. I don’t, and in general, it’s better for our overall health if we don’t live that way, but of course, to each their own.

While on your spiritual journey, think about the knowledge, abilities, and skills you’ve acquired. What did it cost you in time, effort, and money? The universe opened the way for you to gain it. It had a cost. It has value. Treat it as such.

Have I worked for free? Sure, but what I told my most recent freebie case after I refused his payment was that I was told that he needed to “pay it forward.” It means that I included others in our transaction. I help him, he helps someone else, and someone else helps me. It’s a fair exchange. This was something my guides told me to do specifically for him. I have never done it before. I don’t allow others to ask for or expect this arrangement as payment for my services. Why did my guides make the exception for him? I don’t know. I didn’t ask. They rarely tell me why I need to do something different for one person and not for another or why I do something once and not again. I no longer bother asking. Do I work for free often? Nope. My guides also tell me when I need to send an invoice. Again, even shamans have bills to pay.

The debt can be and is often paid in cold hard cash. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there are other forms of currency. For instance, my next-door neighbor mows our lawn. The lawn is shared as it’s a duplex, but they also mow the lawn in the back. They don’t have to because there is a fence between the two backyards, and they could have easily left us to our own devices. As we don’t have a lawn mower, we would either have to borrow theirs or buy one. Neither of those prospects thrilled me. We knew they wouldn’t take money for mowing the lawn, so instead, we are ready to assist with whatever we can. Sometimes packages arrive when they aren’t home. They ask us to pick them up and hold them until they get home. We also found out recently that they are struggling a bit. Not that we are rolling in dough, but we’re willing to share what we can with someone else. I bake my own sandwich bread, usually during winter, to avoid having to go to the store when the weather isn’t great. I baked them two loaves of bread and handed them over, sliced as evenly as possible, for them to enjoy. I know this is more like a bartering system than an actual system of payment, but it works. Everyone gets what they need when they need it. This is reciprocation, an even exchange not only of goods and services but of energy.

If you need someone to do something for you, there is a cost, be willing to pay it or compensate for it. If you can’t afford it, either save up for it or, after giving it some thought, you may find you don’t need whatever it is after all. Make your decisions with the highest and best of all concerned in mind. While others can empathize that you don’t have money or are on a limited income, and they might even be in the exact situation as you, the fact remains that you need to pay what you owe. That avocado isn’t going to buy itself! This is how to avoid going into energy debt.