About Me
I'm joining Service Space because ... I want to multiply the love and service I've received from other Service Space members.
A good day to me is when ... I am fully aware with a clear and peaceful mind.
My hero in life is ...everyone who has given space for me and done acts of kindness to enable to get me to this very moment.
My favorite book is ... Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
One thing I'm grateful for is ... having been taught how to effectively meditate. My entire life completely turned right-side up because of it!
Can This Be A Turning Point For Global Solidarity?
Mar 24, 2020, 15 smiles
[Doctor-poet Sri shared some illuminating remarks during our "Physical Distancing, Social Solidarity" call last week. Below is a transcribed excerpt. From the meta lens of the human condition -- and the "universal suffering that is part of existence" -- to standing in a circle of emergency room doctors, as a chaplain steps forward and invites: "We are ordinary people called to do sacred work," UCSF doctor and Heal Initiative founder, Sriram Shamasunder offers: "Can this pandemic be a turning point of global solidarity? Can this be a turning point for humanity?"]
As this pandemic started in China, as the momentum gets closer to home, the more panic that starts to arise. We saw this with Ebola as well. Pandemics are this great foregrounding of universal suffering that is part of existence. At the end of life, with patients who are suffering, you're dealing with mortality in an individual way; and in ... Read Full Story
From One Field To Another, And Beyond
Mar 13, 2020, 1 comments, 6 smiles
[Below is a touching story that Brinda M. shared during our Awakin Circle this week -- on the reading, I Have No Need For An Enemy.]
The passage was beautiful, about "othering" and "not othering," and learning to see that we are one, and to meet each other out in that field, out beyond right and wrong. [...] There have been moments where I was really set on "othering" somebody.
Early in my career, I was trying to transition from one field to another field. And I had a manager, who I was having a hard time with. He was someone I really looked up to. I really looked up to the work that he put out, but I had a very hard time communicating with him, because he was very introverted and he wasn't able to articulate what he was expecting from me.
So I got pretty frustrated and very stressed out. ... Read Full Story
How I Learned Generosity Through Meditation
Feb 07, 2019, 1 comments, 10 smiles
[Few reflections from my opening share at last week's Awakin Circle, around the reading on generosity.]
I'm super excited to open today because when I was reading it, I was thinking, "Oh, I have this great story about that. I hope I get to open!"
It was during a meditation sit that I first learned to be 100 percent generous, and forgive myself unconditionally for the first time in my life.
Two years ago, during my first silent meditation retreat, about halfway through the ten days, we were sitting still without moving for the entire hour! And this is so hard for me. Oh my gosh. I would try and sit still and about 25, 30 minutes in, some pain would arise on my body and I would have to shift positions. My dad-like voice, that has somehow always been with me when I can't do something, would say, "Uh, if you can't ... Read Full Story
The Gift Of Hosting A Circle
Aug 09, 2018, 4 comments, 13 smiles
On Tuesday, a dream finally came true: after over two years of inspiration sitting in the “heartquarters” of Harshida Auntie and Dinesh Uncle’s house on so many Wednesdays, I got the privilege to host my own circle and watch the magic of holding space emerge in my own house.
So many wonderful souls in Servicespace had planted seeds for this to be possible, and the cushions were no exception. Having sewn some cushions for her own circle, I was greatly laddered by Helen to create some for mine. What a learning experience it was -- I hadn’t touched a sewing machine since seventh grade! She graciously taught me how to cut out fabric and sew the cushions in her home. We had lots of fun laughing when I cut and sewed a few pieces a little too unevenly and when I dumped the contents of a filled bag on the floor ... Read Full Story
