Without down payments, I would have missed my graduation ceremonies, a hitch-hiking trip around Europe, a Porsche, and a few house deals.
Selling shoes as a teenager meant servicing many pairs of feet before a particularly gorgeous graduation gown could be mine. Suddenly the shop owner was beside me explaining the lay-away plan without even asking my age. It would only take one small down-payment, she explained.
She represented the epitome of a business superwoman. Then she became part saint after my ninth visit to touch the dress. Its silken and glorious whiteness and pearled bodice stayed as magnificent as memory provided.
Packed carefully in a box, I carried the dress home one week before graduation. I rode the bus prepared to apply karate to any obstruction or deterrent.
Over time, the price tags contained more numbers, risks and conditions. Contracts became more complex. Transactions began to incorporate other people. Diligence, follow-through and commitment played a significant role. Nevertheless, enthusiasm overrode fear and down-payments opened doors to otherwise insurmountable achievements in my life.
Down Payments Lead to Beauty - Moon Outside My Home
Today, I wanted to make another down-payment. I decided to make a contribution towards the evolutionary Transformation of our planet – a tad bigger goal than buying a house.
I decided to deal with a situation that did not sit well in my soul. I wrote to a business that has not lived up to the sales pitch that motivated my doing business with them. I explained my point of view with no inflammatory words, just facts from the heart.
I closed by explaining that they will lose my business if they respond condescendingly, with quotes from their policy manuals or philosophies from their mission statements. I invited them to be creative because clients are not longer willing to live without authenticity and service. They may not care, but I know they will remember my email.
I gave them one tiny starfish to put back in the water. I sent them a hummingbird that is capable of putting a drop of water on a fire.
I exercised my power to make a small spiritual down-payment. It took a white graduation dress and several joyous occasions to convince me that no matter the size, my down-payment will take me to matching the numbers on our planet’s evolutionary price tag.
Soul Dipper 
Sometimes companies actually care what their clients think and feel and some don’t, but the more important thing is what is in our hearts. No matter their reaction, you will be content in your decision. If you’re like me, you enjoy being able to sleep at night.
Right, SuziCate – down payments include passing on the positives, too. It can be a challenge to put together words that will affect the heart and effect change.
The important thing is to take your drop of water and do it. And you have.. well done. keep us informed about how it goes. Some of these companies have facebook pages too which makes your statement more public. If they lose you as a customer they should know why.. c
Speaking up means pulling from a variety of methodologies, Celi. None too small to have significance. 😀
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Good one, Souldipper. I write a marketing blog and this is definitely something that begged to be passed along to those on the other side of the cash register. You can read my response here:
http://www.thegreeninkwell.com/2012/01/buying-as-a-spiritual-act/
Thank you, Anne – not only for sharing my message, but also for being another encouraging voice and activist.
Hi,
Good on you for letting them know how you feel. Every client should be important no matter how big or small. I hope you get a very nice response from them, if not it says a lot about the company.
Magsx, some situations cause one to feel the client is there to serve the business. Where there is little or no competition, we’re romanced into signing and are at the mercy of whatever changes the company deems necessary. Having managed a Senior Residence, I feel vigilant about what that does to seniors who are not sure how to maneuver their way through “today’s” hoops.
Never dealt too much with with down payments always preferred to deal with cash-and-carry…thinking that I never knew what tomorrow would bring…still I loved the post.
I don’t know what you did for fun, Charles, but I hope you had plenty of it.
Good for you . . . speaking your truth, quietly and clearly. 😀
I hope I’m not alone, Nancy!
And how do you feel?
I always feel good when I speak up, Barb. Doing it with more emphasis on the heart than on the intellect feels even better. It’s a challenge to write from the heart and not be “emotional”.
“I explained my point of view with no inflammatory words, just facts from the heart.”
You’ve perfectly stated one of my New Year’s resolutions. This one will give back in good measure. Wonderful words, souldipper!
Way to go, SDS. You’ve got lots of integrity and passion. Those go together very well.
You will have made a real difference in the life of the reader of that email.
Let’s hope so, Liz. It’s the kind of stuff that may be laughed at initially, but drips down into the heart slowly and effectively.
Spiritual downpayments: we make the payment and then the dress could come from an entirely unexpected direction. I firmly believe we reap what we sow, but surprise seems to be the heart of the hudtevb
A small spiritual down-payment…oh Amy that touches a sensitive chord! It is so very important to stand up to be counted for all we believe in and none of it is too small to be insignificant…
Loved the memories of the down payments in your life starting from the gorgeous graduation gown…:)
Exactly, Shama. If we don’t stand up, we cannot cry over not being counted. (I cannot remember giving up that dress, but it obviously left my closet for someone else to enjoy.)
Amy, I particularly like how you held the company to task by heading off the reflexive fall-back to company policy. It doubly annoys me when I spend time crafting a letter like you describe only to recieve a canned policy reply. I hope your letter shakes someone up enough to effect change. If not, I’m sure you will at least have jarred the person whose desk it lands on into thinking. That alone is a start. Good way to start off the year.
Canned replies are non-replies, Linda. It’s condescending fluff. We can stop accepting those types of responses.
LOL! I left the keyboard and the cat pressed send, adding her own contribution. Apologies. I have just returned to find my comment posted, Amy….I was going to say: I firmly believe we reap what we sow, but often the results can come from an altogether unexpected direction: a quite different source. I hope your downpayment reaps dividends 🙂
That is so funny, Kate! When I saw it, I thought…what are those Brits up to now? I’ll have to google that. 😀
My example is purposely very simple. Since it exemplifies that we have opportunities to take just the first step, it may encourage all of us to consider making the bigger down payments…the bigger step. Like those kind that make us display who we really are.
Great message!
Best wishes for the New Year.
Same to you, Toke. I hope you have survived those terrible winds without trouble. The weather is becoming quite a mystery. We have not had a snowflake yet.
I love this title, “Making Spiritual Downpayments”! I like the message about remaining positive, especially. Usually I wade through a myriad of feelings prior to being able to address a situation, Amy. For me, the message to remain “in” the positive is strong. Another great reminder! Thank you!
It’s a simple example that hopefully keeps me in shape for the bigger ones – that ones that I’ve left to others for too long.
This is such a good reminder for us all in dealing with similar situations. I find I get much better results when I deal kindly with customer service issues…not that I always succeed, unfortunately.When I managed hospice, a lot of times families would take out the pain and anger by complaining about something. It helped me in those instances to remember where it came from. Great post, Amy.
Just hoping that readers who may believe their voice doesn’t matter can see that it’s always worth our while to speak up. I remind myself to hold my tongue if I can’t say it with love. Your example is perfect, Victoria. It seems your insight flavoured your words with compassion.
Since you are such a positive inspirational messenger, I have nominated you for The Candlelighter Award. You can find more information about the award, started by Kate Kresse at Believe Anyway. All you have to do is receive the award, copy and paste The Candlelighter Award photo from my site to yours. Once you have done that, you can then pass the award along to others.
Thank you for being a light in the world!
Becca – many thanks. I will go to the link and then to your blog to accept it with much gratitude! I’m very moved having this come from you…
You certainly are a beacon of Divine Love and Light! 😀
What a beautiful thought! Making spiritual down-payments… it does feel nice to invest a minute into being a nicer person 🙂 Patience and kindness truly are wonderful virtues.
How cool. 🙂
People found me a bit…strange for sending off thank yous to plumbers, roofers and carpenters. I wanted to encourage them for jobs well done, commending conduct that needed commending and recognizing service that really counted. (serious–when a basement’s flooding……ack!!!!)
It’s a good thing when that carries over into work values.
I don’t think we do enough of that talking to providers.
It’s a good time to do that.
It’s becoming a ‘data driven’ world. I’m not sure I like all aspects of that, but….
Becoming a satisfied/dissatisfied customer ‘matters’.
And after writing that, I’ve paused–cuz I’m now thinking….dangitall. LOL
A gesture of appreciation goes a long ways, Mel. And it travels on a two way street!
How nice to receive the above award. Good things happen in creating your own positive and personal momentum in small ways and big ways. Congratulations. Perfect timing in coming on this post.
Thanks, Georgette. Momentum is a good word…after initiating it, it carries itself. We each have that power of initiation!
You did right thing by speaking the truth. There is nothing better than explaining the truth to the person you deal with honestly. We all need to learn this aspect of life. Great post.
Arindam, you wonderful young man…it seems you already know this. This is so good. May you be the best example that your friends need to see and emulate.
If you take a stand, you can’t fall. If you can do so with class and eloquence (like you always do) not even the wind can move you. Good on you.
Thank you so very much, Shelton. Your comment is so clear and strong. Having a motive of Love facilitates class and eloquence. It’s Grace. Remarkable results happen – some we just don’t see.
My word look at all the comments – we all agree with you. Have you had a response yet from the company?
I am in middle of a problem with one of our airlines. We pay $25 per checked bag without thinking but to make me pay $150 to put my airmiles back in my account because I didn’t use the ticket when my mother passed away and which they charged me $100 to use in the first place and on airmiles that are supposed to be FREE (sorry for using caps)? good gracious! I just spoke to the airline and said to the guy “you’re mean”. He said “those are the rules madam”
So, Rosie, is there a really creative way of letting them know that the rules are pure unadulterated intellect – with no heart? See, corporations write up these magical rules that we, the CLIENT, are supposed to simply swallow. They get to move the goalposts and we are supposed to happily pay. That’s the kink!
It’s not worth getting stressed about, but when it sits in our gut like an irritant, it’s good to figure out some way to say it from the heart! If it falls on deaf ears, at least you gave it a good try.
But the recipient won’t forget a letter or message from the heart! Guaranteed.
Thought you might be iunterested to know that this post has inspired me to try again with AT&T. For more than a year now I have had poor service that up until I started dealing with them, I would have thought it was impossible! . I started out corresponding with them in a civil manner, but I never received a satisfactory response, but it escalated into a rather snide ande cynical tone. I have yet received NO RESPONSES WHATSOEVER! But, now that you suggest making it a spiritual quest, I have come to realize that perhaps it was my approach that has been wrong, so I am going to give it yet another try!
Thank you, as always, for inspiring me Amy! I hope sopmeday I can do the same for you! I’ll let you know how this all pans out!
XO Paula
Won’t this be interesting? As one of my mentors says, “When hearts speak, hearts hear.” It’s worked for me so I hope the best for you, Paula.
The other technique that works well is to go to them with no preconceived results: “I have this problem…. Since you know your companies methodologies, please tell me what you are able to do?”
I use this in Government alot – esp. when I worked in Educational Financial Admin. This approach removed the defensiveness and showed them I was open to listen and work with them. As a matter of fact, most often I ended up with a better solution than the one I was hoping for.
A great post. and the outcome – you decided it.
I think I may borrow your lines, the next time something crumby happens to me and I want to complain. A great perspective, thank you
The most important thing is you were TRUE to yourself and your beliefs and convictions. And you never know, even if the company itself doesn’t do anything, the actual person reading your letter just might!
And there’s the drop of water on the forest fire, Pamela. Right on the mark! Thank you, you made my day.
Thank you for this lovely reflection!
This insight speaks loudly to me: “enthusiasm overrode fear and down-payments opened doors to otherwise insurmountable achievements in my life.”
I am exploring the concept of patience as in I diligently prep the soil (wow, I “accidentally typed soul”), plant the seeds, then allow them to germinate and blossom without me hovering and checking..so of course your reflection is presented to me. Thank you!
Many thanks for your visit, Joy. It’s good to learn that you found encouragement here. Putting your focus and attention on patience is noble, indeed, since life often gives us many opportunities to learn when we open ourselves to these growth efforts.
There are letters I want to write – one in particular, to a particular company (mail order catalogue company) and this has give me food for thought about how to write it. Thank you.
Yay Val! Every effort elevates us! Hope they listen to you.
Very intriguing title Amy. I never guessed it’s your enigmatic version of ‘planting spiritual seeds’. This post should be on a religious, or more precisely, on a spiritual journal or site.
Interesting comment, Poch. It is the spiritual nature of life that intrigues and influences me and my writing.
Brilliant Amy – I might just do that same thing … having had your type of reply the first time .. I must remember that … cheers Hilary
Go ahead, Hilary…it only makes more room in your heart.
A drop in the fire that is all it takes. And the perseverance. But so hard at the same time, no? I would have been proud of myself doing what you did, stand up for what you believe in. Your lesson is very inspiring. We should not be intimidated by even the greatest goals. Just get started with the down payments. Brilliantly written, souldipper!
Thanks, Otto – I like that sentence you wrote, “We should not be intimidated by even the greatest goals.” So true and we are the only ones to allow the intimidation.
Ah! I am just mulling over how I will handle my dorp in the fire with AT&T U-verse and the most distressingly disappointment of U-verse, which is making it hard to visit blogs, among other things. I went online after the fact to see about review. Many so poor and others absolutely angry.
Time for us all to ask these companies to come through as promised.
Good post, Amy.
I’m still disappointed with companies around here. One has to continuously switch companies to acquire the best deals…we always have to be a “new” client. Pretty soon they’ll cut off “previous client” status.