Video Of Luis Antonio Posted by Radha Ivaturi, Mar 06 2014 A child's inquiry into vegetarianism. Heart warming to watch!

Very Special Awakin Call Saturday With ... Posted by Birju Pandya, Mar 06 2014 Very special Awakin Call Saturday with our guest, Nipun Mehta, Founder of ServiceSpace. He'll be sharing insights and ripples from recent time in India. It's also his first time to be featured on an Awakin call, should be a lively Q&A! RSVP if you'd like to join the global teleconference at 9am PST/12pm EST/10:30pm IST.  

Let Them Know They're Special Posted by Bela Shah, Mar 04 2014 We just received this lovely story from a recent Kindness Contest winner:) Too often, I think that small things in our everyday lives get taken for granted. When a long-lost friend calls to say a random hello, it can definitely make your day. Knowing that people care and do nice things for your family when you're living far away... they probably have no idea how much that means to you. Or, what about the child you used to nanny for that checks-in once in a while to keep you posted on how they are doing, even though they are full-grown adults now? These are all things that give me something to look forward to, and make a huge difference in my day, but all of a sudden I feared that they had no idea how much those things meant to me, so I wanted to do a "random act of kindness" to ... Read Full Story

Wisdom 2.0 Reflections! Posted by Arathi Ravichandran, Mar 04 2014 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 ... Read Full Story

Smile Cards On Rachel Ray Posted by Geoff Nedry, Mar 03 2014 It's great to see how we don't do any media outreach and yet our "many to many" networks organically get the word out.  This morning, we got a request for 200 Smile Cards, which read: "I was watching Rachel Ray this morning and a woman on there did random acts of kindness ... which I have been doing for the past 3 years, but she had Smile Cards! I think this is a great idea to hand out cards in hopes someone does continue to pass it on!"

One Of The Beauty Of Awakin ... Posted by Vinya Sankaran Vasu, Mar 03 2014 One of the beauty of Awakin Calls is it offers an opportunity to shine light on everyday change-makers who are being the change! Last Saturday, Moin Khan dazzled us in what Kanchan referred to as her favorite Awakin Call (ever!) and what Bela described as "most inspiring, most authentic".  On the call itself, callers were giving out their addresses so others on the call could stay with them!  Here's the call audio:  And few tidbits we shared on social media: "When you spend your life doing what you love, you don't earn enough to pay your bills but you go to bed smiling every night." "I planned to go through 17 countries but ended up visiting 22 countries all because I did not have a GPS." "Not a single word of English was shared but we had long conversations." "I love this idea of getting lost and someone will find you and get you food and help you sleep." "Stuff happens, don't panic, it will eventually be all right." 

Measuring Uncounted Value Posted by Parag Shah, Mar 02 2014 Very likely, that lot of you have seen this, but it has a great slide on the things of value that don't get counted on GDP:

Why Birju Moved To San Francisco Posted by Rahul Brown, Mar 02 2014 I enjoyed Birju's long-awaited post on "Moving to San Francisco", where he concludes ... "To be clear, I do believe that impact investing and regenerative investing are needed in this world, and these approaches to social enterprise are the places where I’m connecting today as well.  However, to develop products/services ONLY at that level, without addressing inner transformation as mission critical to a social enterprise is leaving something on the table in my estimation.  In the coming years, I hope we come to see ‘inner impact’ as the deepest form of impact there is, and something that can be offered and practiced by any business.  I plan to step up in my own authenticity as best I can in an effort to create the conditions for this."  Happy to have you in the area, Birju!

Conversation With Paul Van Slambrouck Posted by Richard Whittaker, Mar 02 2014 From a conversation with Paul Van Slambrouck that lot of us know ... RW: I think ServiceSpace stands apart from other organizations in that there really isn’t any hidden agenda. It’s really what it says it is, a no-strings-attached thing.   PVS:  Right. I’m glad you brought that up, because I almost don’t mention that. The no-strings part is almost impossible to believe until you get involved with ServiceSpace. You can say that to somebody and they’ll go, “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” You know?  RW:  Right. PVS:  There is no quid pro quo. There’s not much else in my life I can think of I can say that about. But I really could say that about ServiceSpace.  RW:  We can use the word service here. PVS:  This is real service. The only outcome is to create opportunities, create this ability, create this system that meets you at whatever level you’re at. I think it calls forth something that maybe you parked somewhere. 

Pamela Sukhum: Transformative Art: Practicing Devotion Posted by Anne Veh, Mar 02 2014 Pamela Sukham's warmth and openheartedness invites us all to find the artist within and to experience life and all it’s infinite possibilities on a path for beauty and truth. In this Awakin call conversation, hosted by Bela, Pamela shares her journey from one captivating story to the next, beginning with a life changing realization that she needed to leave a stable career to trust an inspiration… to paint. It was a joy to moderate this call, being introduced to Pamela through the kindness of Pavi a year earlier. The two artists share the same title for their work, Infinite Vision! Pamela trusts her heart, from moment to moment, inspiration to inspiration, connection to connection. Each project unfolds organically. As an example, an email exchange about art techniques with a Vietnam Veteran inspired Pamela to bring art and healing through her “Beautiful Project” to a VA Medical Center. On the road for ... Read Full Story

Received This Email From A Video ... Posted by Yoo-Mi Lee, Mar 02 2014 Received this email from a Video of the Week subscriber yesterday. So happy to hear that KarmaTube videos are being used to engage 5th. grade students.   "​I was curious if you stopped sending out the weekly videos. I have not gotten any for the past couple week and miss them. Each week, I show the appropriate ones to my 5th grade students and they "reflect" on it in writing."

Ven. Karma Lekshe's Talk Posted by Harshida Mehta, Feb 28 2014 Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo visited us last Sunday for a spontaneous Awakin circle with so many of you. She certainly shared great stories and insights (with abundant humor!), but with someone of her caliber, the presence alone is a gift beyond measure. While doing dishes, Chirag was reflecting how he was deeply moved by the radiance of her smile. He wasn't the only one. As Karm Lekshe left, she held me and Dinesh closed to her forehead and said a silent prayer. We felt blessed. Below is the audio of our time together ...    

Since December, Awakin San Jose Gatherings ... Posted by David Brunner, Feb 28 2014 Since December, Awakin San Jose gatherings are continuing their weekly magic at our Church.  

I Had The Good Fortune Of ... Posted by Birju Pandya, Feb 28 2014 I had the good fortune of sharing about Kindness at Transformation at Anne Firth Murray's class at Stanford earlier this week. The class itself was amazing, about 20 deep thinking undergrad's who decided to take a class called 'Love as a Force for Social Justice'. We started with a period of silence, and the students were deeply engaged throughout, asking questions about how to authentically practice kindness in the business world. For instance, one of the questions brought up - when you are working in a for-profit, how to avoid the kindness equivalent of 'greenwashing'? is it possible to truly act according to ones values in a system that is so opaque and disintermediated? We ended with the class reflecting on the the importance of observation and reflection as a practice. I am amazed that the younger generation includes such deep sensitivity and look forward to have some of the students connect more deeply with the ecosystem going forward! 

Quote On Suffering Posted by Smita Navare, Feb 27 2014 Ran across a beautiful quote today ... don't know the author but thought that all of you might enjoy it: "Transforming our suffering is like becoming an organic gardener, one who does not discard the unwanted scraps from the kitchen or the yard. Instead, the gardener composts these scraps so that they can nourish the flower. You can transform the unwanted garbage in you—your depression, fear, despair, or anger—into the nourishing energy of peace and joy. Don’t throw away or deny your suffering. Touch your suffering. Face it directly, and transformation is within your reach."

Beyond Sofalarity Posted by Tapan Parikh, Feb 27 2014 A great article in reference to our discussion in class this week ... as tech gets better, will society get worse?  "Technological evolution has a different motive force. It is self-evolution, and it is therefore driven by what we want as opposed to what is adaptive. In a market economy, it is even more complex: for most of us, our technological identities are determined by what companies decide to sell based on what they believe we, as consumers, will pay for. As a species, we often aren’t much different from [indigenous communities]. Comfort-seeking missiles, we spend the most to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. When it comes to technologies, we mainly want to make things easy. Not to be bored. Oh, and maybe to look a bit younger.  Our will-to-comfort, combined with our technological powers, creates a stark possibility. If we’re not careful, our technological evolution will take us toward ... Read Full Story

First Awakin Circle In Half Moon Bay Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Feb 27 2014 We held our first Awakin circle last week at my house, in Half Moon Bay. There were seven of us, and it went beautifully! The hour of silence went very well. For the first circle of reflection we used the "The Power of Patience" by Sharon Salzberg.  Chirag was with us and opened, doing a beautiful job. People could easily relate and opened up immediately with personal stories about dealing with their own impatience. For the second circle of reflection we used the question, "How has living here on the Coastside shaped your life?" Here again we got personal and moving answers.  At the end of the evening everyone was enthusiastic about continuing the circle and several asked about inviting their neighbors. Eventually I'd like to get to a regular twice-a-month schedule, but for now we're proceeding with once a month. The next circle is on March 20!

Sidewalk-Scattered Smile Cards :) Posted by Sunaina Chugani, Feb 27 2014 Had lunch with a friend this weekend. While walking to the subway afterward, I reached into my jacket pocket for something and a stack of smile cards I had there spilled out onto the sidewalk. My friend looked curiously at the "smiles" scattered on the ground as we picked them up, so I explained what they were. I gave him one in case he ever wanted to use it and forgot about it. Today, I got the following email: "Hi! Just wanted to tell you that I ended up trying out the smile card the other day—felt inspiringly refreshing to do so! What I didn’t expect was how it made my day—slowed it down and made me think of everyone around me a little differently, more connected, which seems rare in this manic town. That feeling has carried over even a couple days later. I guess it was an agnostic sign for me that the card fell out of your pocket on the street. :) Anyhow, thanks for sharing it with me! Perhaps I should get more of them and continue on."   Pretty awesome! :)   

Baked With Love Posted by Pratyush Rajvanshi, Feb 25 2014 Longtime ServiceSpace friend visited our Awakin Circle in Delhi few months ago.  Reconnecting to that space, he gave us a small, anonymous donation to pay forward.  It turned out that Nidhi had come for the first time that day, and she brought a home-baked cake as her offering for the circle.  As serendipity would have it, it was the birthday of someone else in the circle -- who hadn't received a cake on her b'day for a long time.  It all worked out just perfectly.  Inspired, Nidhi offered that she'll bake a cake for anyone ... informally calling it "Baked with Love".  Every week, she'd do couple cakes in between taking care of her young one.  This last week, she herself got tagged.  She has been so moved that she doesn't think she'll ever be able to open the envelope.  Moreover, she's now keen to host the next Awakin Circle at her house!

Moon Tree The Sun Is Coming. No Amount ... Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Feb 24 2014 Moon Tree The sun is coming. No amount of desire to keep you in my vision will prevent you from slipping away into the morning sky. Maybe the moon tree will snag you so you won’t leave. “There are two kinds of people,” said the rebbe. “Sun people only know what their eyes can see. Moon people also know, and see, what their eyes cannot see.” I know, in spite of what my eyes tell me, that there aren’t enough branches in the moon tree to snag you. I also know, in spite of what my eyes tell me, that you're not going anywhere.