You really gotta open this! Our experiments in anonymous gifting at the Wisdom 2.0 conference…

A crowded room of tired morning eyes and excited chatter surrounded us at the coffee shop as we all sat crammed around a small table full of pens, markers, inspirational quotes, chocolates, and smile cards. A few folks standing in line commented, “You look like you are having so much fun!!! What are you doing?”

In essence, it was the perfect beginning to the Wisdom 2.0 Conference. A small group of Service Space volunteers and noble friends came together to intentionally spread anonymous love throughout the conference. Armed with envelopes stuffed with inspirational letters to strangers, chocolates, and even a few surprise $100 and $25 gift cards, we spent the morning anonymously leaving envelopes in unsuspecting places and gifting them to strangers. All of us were giddy with laughter and smiles when we reconvened later in the afternoon, sharing stories of anonymous acts of kindness and wondering who had found our secret tags!

The next morning, as we gathered to do more envelope stuffing and letter writing, a man approached us asking if we were the “culprits” behind the envelope that he had found the previous day. He said, “So, I walked up to this table and I saw the envelope on top of one of my flyers! When I went to move it, I saw on the front of the envelope was written “Hey you!!! You really gotta open this!” I opened it and it was beautiful!”

Our new friend decided to join us, spending the next hour making his own envelopes to gift to strangers and sharing inspiring stories from his journey.

A few years before, he found himself heart broken and decided to build a labyrinth as a personal way of healing. In the mornings, he would make a habit of doing a walking meditation through the labyrinth, and after a few weeks noticed that others were also intrigued and began to walk the path as well. A year later, he decided to dismantle the labyrinth only to realize that grass had grown around the rocks that he had so intentionally placed, leaving a distinct mark in the ground. The labyrinth had transformed into something completely different, yet the path remained clear. He reflected on the beauty of that experience, and shared with us the joy he felt having created something from a space of pain and heart break, and seeing it transform into something unexpected and joyful for others to share.

We sat in silence listening to his beautiful story, amazed that we had met one of the many strangers who had received our anonymous tags, and even more moved that he decided to spend the morning with us. He departed with a smile on his face and an arm full of envelopes, leaving us with warm hearts full of inspiration.

Deeper reflections on our experiences intentionally engaging in the simple act of gifting during the conference opened up some reflections on an interesting facet of the gathering - the idea of 'wisdom' was heavily correlated with practices of mindfulness, and its corollaries of happiness and presence. However, the ideas of generosity and kindness, which ServiceSpace was sharing, were less represented. Additionally, the ideas of unconditionally, specifically through the practices of gifting, seemed quite novel in this space. The kinds of subtle value that this broader posse was able to share seemed like a worthwhile offering given that overall framework.

So, what did we talk about anyways? The Service Space Break Out Session!

Given that most of the discussions at the conference had been in a traditional “audience/speaker” format, we decided to change things up a bit and rearranged the room so that all the chairs were in a large circle.

We started our session with a few minutes of silence, followed by stories of the beauty of Raghubhai’s life, the experiences of bringing the 21 day kindness challenge into the workplace, and our own personal reflections on the meaning and beauty of small change. Afterwards, we opened up the circle and invited people to share their own reflections by asking the simple question, “What is the smallest act of kindness that you have ever received?”

One woman shared that as a corporate marketing resource for a tech company, taking part in small acts of kindness was a powerful way to slowly shift her own perspective as well as perspectives of those in her surroundings. Another gentleman made the comment that our group session was a turning point in seeing that 'scale' as we've defined it is not necessarily the most powerful path - there is something to the power of small with ripples :)

Another woman was part of a spiritual organization founded by a well-known saint, and is working on releasing a long-awaited film about his life later this year. She shared her lifelong journey of seeking to bring the divine into daily life at length, only to recently arrive at the realization that practicing kindness and generosity for her fellow man was an inextricable part of the process. She was so moved by the ServiceSpace ethos that she even asked if we could officially collaborate on spreading kindness in conjunction with the release of the film!

Many times, we would run into people who would ask us about what ServiceSpace does. As we began sharing the values and a bit about some of the projects, we invariably got interrupted mid-sentence with elated gratitude thanking us for DailyGood, or Karma Kitchen, or Smile Cards, or one of the many other projects in the ecosystem. It was clear that the ServiceSpace ecosystem had touched many everyday conference attendees with broad wings and deep roots, though most had not connect the project they had been touched by with the mother experiment. And maybe that's how it should be-- our values are so broadly shared that they are potentially centered everywhere and thus have circumference nowhere.

A 17 year old girl and her father approached us after the session, sharing how much they loved the discussion and felt that they had come away from the session feeling very connected. The girl shared her excitement about bringing smile cards to her own school and told stories about all the ways that she is working to inspire change from within. Another young woman approached us during lunch time with a huge hug and smile on her face, thanking us for hosting such an “intentionally connected” session, and feeling grateful that we had co-created a space of sharing and deep listening.

Over-all, a beautiful conference with many inspired conversations and lessons learned.  My take-away?  A lovely quote by Jack Kornfield recently posted by Birju sums it up nicely. 

"​There are many writings on spiritual paths, and not one of them speaks the truth, for the truth cannot be spoken anyways.  Such writings are spiritual garbage in many ways.  However, eggshells and grapefruit rinds do indicate that somewhere near by there has been nourishment” :)