Bonnie: Three Quotes And A Prayer Posted by Meghna Banker, Jun 18 2021 [Below is an edited transcript of a dedication Bonnie offered last month from the Christian tradition, during a Prayer Circle for India amid the country's escalating Covid crisis.] [Or, view here in browser window.] Hello everybody. Good morning. Good evening. Good middle of the night, whatever it is for you. I am so touched by the stories that I heard. I live in Southern California and yet I have this deep connection to India from having visited there and from my close relationship with so many people from the service space ecosystem. I just remembered, as you were speaking that three years ago, on Mother's Day, we had the Jai Jagat children at our center singing, we had an animal parade for them and a lunch for them, and their presence changed so many lives. Their simple being just changed so many lives. So I think about the people that I do know ... Read Full Story

Yuka's Prayer: Spiritual Beings Having A Human Posted by Jane Jackson, Jun 11 2021 [Last month, during a Prayer Circle for India amid the nation's escalating Covid crisis, Yuka, on behalf of her family and colleagues, offered this stirring prayer (at midnight in Japan!), transcribed below.] [View here in browser window.] Hello everybody. Thank you so much for allowing me to be here. I see Maki, my sister also in the zoom room and of course not just Maki, my other sister Rika and our parents and our whole Goi Peace colleagues and staff are all here with you and us, at this special time. I want to first thank the two Buddhist monks that have planted the seed for this circle, and for the amazing hosts who made this possible in just two days. Thank you for the stories of courage, stories of the willingness to open to connection during the pain, thank you for the selfless service, thank you for sharing with us about the ... Read Full Story

My Grandma's Last Lesson Posted by Rohit Rajgarhia, Jun 09 2021 We held an informal circle recently and the topic started to gravitate towards death and dying. I was reminded of my recent experience of my grandmother passing away, which I shared in that group. As few friends suggested, I am happy to share it here too. Thank you! ..... My grandmom (maternal) passed away recently and it was my first cremation experience. In addition to many other things, I would remember her for pampering all of us with the tastiest of sweets and new clothes. :) On receiving the news, we went to their town, a 3-hour drive from where I live. We reached in the evening and the next morning, all of us performed some rituals around her body and then took her body to the cremation ground. "Offering a shoulder" or pallbearing is considered an opportunity as well as a duty in Indian traditions, and I felt grateful that ... Read Full Story

Over The Cliff: A Lesson In Being Alive Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Jun 07 2021 At the tail end of a recent Awakin Circle I was reminded of a time about ten years ago when I received an unexpected lesson in the miracle of being alive. Ironically I was driving on my way to see the doctor. To get from where I live in Half Moon Bay to the doctor’s office in Redwood City, you drive over the hill on Highway 92. The narrow two-lane road takes you up to a crest high above the valley below, and winds back and forth in hairpin turns. It was raining. I was running late, so I was probably driving a little fast. The road was slippery. I came to a turn where the road goes sharply left. I turned the steering wheel, but the car kept going straight. I tried the brake, but the car kept skidding forward, straight toward the edge of the cliff. I looked around me. There was ... Read Full Story

Michael Penn: Hearing In The Dark Posted by Trupti Pandya, Jun 05 2021 [During a palpable Prayer Circle for India last month amid India's escalating Covid crisis, Prof. Michael Penn shared these heartfelt words of wisdom and hope, transcribed below.] [View here in the browser window.] It is such a high honor to have the chance to participate in this beautiful gathering. When Drishti opened the gathering with that chant, it just sailed right into my heart. I am so delighted to participate in this commemoration, for the sake of those who are suffering, for the sake of those who have passed away, and for the sake of those who are at the threshold of the next world. One of my very favorite writings from the Bahá'í faith says, know verily that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem, whose reality the most learned of men had failed to grasp and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel. If ... Read Full Story

A Stranger's Blessing In The Condolence Line Posted by Drishti Trivedi, Jun 04 2021 [Below is Tez's touching story of a stranger and her father, from the opening circle of a retreat. Originally transcribed in March 2020.] I'm so grateful to be here. I am Tez. I have a couple of things that come to mind when I think of unexpected encounters, but one in particular is screaming to come out today. About eight years ago, I was a little bit lost. They have a saying that when you lose someone very special in your life, you go through an array of feelings. You feel hatred, you feel victimized, you feel sad, you feel joy, you feel shame, you feel guilt. And I was kind of feeling that cocktail of emotions. I lost my father after a year of suffering, but I was extremely grateful that I could be of service to him during that final year of us being together. But I was confused. I thought, ... Read Full Story

On Devotion And ... Basketball?! Posted by Nicole , May 28 2021 In our Devotion + Purpose Pod last month, Jin Chuan and Jin Wei joined our call and offered a stirring blessing chant. I recently switched jobs, and on my last day of work at my former job, I wanted to share gratitude for my team and colleagues, and couldn't think of a better way than to play their chant. :) Since the words they shared in our closing call also still resound in many of our minds, below is a transcript of their talk as well: Jin Chuan: Jin Wei and myself are very happy and honored to be here. Some faces are quite familiar. We see quite a few new faces, but just being able to be a part of Service Space, we definitely feel is a huge blessing. It's a chance to be part of a community that is very devoted to giving and generosity and kindness that is ... Read Full Story

Kindness Survives Posted by Jyoti , May 25 2021 I got a call this morning, a rare phenomena in the age of texts. My friend who called is about two decades older, and we only connect infrequently, when he needs to consult with me about a business he has wanted to get off the ground for all the years I have known him. He is a creative person who invents new things in a workshop he has locally, with a loyal freind and business partner. These inventions help people with limited mobility to enjoy the outdoors, particularly water sports, that act as therapy. He is a veteran himself and has seen enough veterans who suffer long term mobility issues that compromise the quality of their lives, although his early forays as an inventor were inspired to help his ageing father. His father was a well known professor at Cal Tech who passed away several years ago. Everytime we connected, he ... Read Full Story

Maki: What Is Prayer? Posted by Jaimit Vaidya, May 19 2021 [Couple summers ago, I had a chance to be in Japan for the Symphony of Peace Prayers. One act that deeply touched me was Maki-san, as one of the most important conveners of the several thousand person event, spent several hours live-translating between me and Masami-san. I was very wowed, and remember thinking that only a person of prayer could do such a selfless act for an everyday person like me. Last week, when I was on a call with all Saionji Sisters, I was remembering that. And I wanted to transcribe a share that Maki shared on that call -- perhaps in the same spirit she offers so much to the world. It is a lightly edited version of what Maki spontaneously shared on our call.] Maki: Thank you so much for all your shares. I have learned so much and I got so much inspiration. What I felt through ... Read Full Story

On Finding One’s Purpose Through Our Collective Posted by Wakanyi Hoffman, May 18 2021 The Japanese have a word for it. They call it Ikigai, and give it a vague description that loosely feels and sounds like what purpose is supposed to be. Everyone has it, they say, it’s what French philosophy might call a raison d’etre. It’s the one single reason why any of us spring out of bed each and every day with the intention of staying alive. When a group of us gathered from around the world to discuss what devotion and purpose means, we could mostly define purpose, yet a majority of us held our tongues from expressing what we felt when confronted with the word devotion. It invoked memories of practices tied to religious ideals, and for some it even evoked negative connotations. So we spent an intensive week reading, sharing deep thoughts and decoding what devotion might actually mean, once applied to daily life. In the words of Jin Chuan, ... Read Full Story

Bloom Where You Are Planted Posted by Trupti Pandya, May 15 2021 I have been working at a government shelter home for women for a few years. While some are waiting for a hearing from the court, others are on the mental health spectrum. Some of them were children when they came here. Their parents, guardians, or a cop dropped them at the shelter home, as there was no one to take care of them. Life/existence can feel purposeless and powerless with a history of difficult life circumstances, and staying in a place like this that is hardbound with barbed wire fences, high walls, and rules, life/existence can feel purposeless and powerless. In the Devotion and Purpose Pod, I went through an inner churning process with daily prompts and reflection, which helped me crystalize my personal value and refine my purpose in my being and doing. I was inspired to hold space in the shelter home, the same way space was held for ... Read Full Story

Two Gifts Of Devotion Posted by Trupti Pandya, Apr 18 2021 "What's an experience of devotion that has stayed with you?" While reflecting on these questions in our Devotion Pod orientation yesterday, two stories came to my mind. In my primary school years, our science teacher would start her class with a prayer. It felt unusual as none of the other teachers would do that. And as children, some of us resisted and use to make fun of her, but she would continue doing it day after day. Like everyone around me, I would also stand up, fold my hands, and listen to her singing. As a child, I did not realize what was happening, but I distinctly remember tears flowing while listening to some of the words from the prayer. As I grew up, I realized that I was finding strength from those prayers as the meaning unfolded. My teacher seeded as a child was something intangible yet omnipresent, like the goodness ... Read Full Story

Reading Thomas Merton And ServiceSpace Posted by Nancy Chu, Apr 03 2021 I remember the first time I read this passage by Thomas Merton. I was a student in my early 20s, and it struck me deeply. I was so moved by his powerful vision of the sacredness of humanity. Since then, whenever I realize that I have lost that sense of trust and wonder, I revisit it: In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I ... Read Full Story

Compassion Is The Measure Of Our Humanity Posted by Wakanyi Hoffman, Mar 31 2021 On Sunday, about 40 of us completed a two-week Compassion in Education Pod. What stood out for me is this idea of measuring the value of a good education. We have measures for academic performance and intelligence, we keep scores of sports achievement, our musical proficiency is measured by the ability to sing or play a note in perfect pitch, but we struggle to find ways of measuring the value of all of these pieces of education. As I reflect on the insightful stories that were shared in this pod, I am deeply compelled to conclude that the true measure of one's education lies in an individual's natural inclination towards compassion. How one reacts in a crisis, how one treats strangers, how well one shows up in their family, community, at work, and in the world has a lot to do with how compassionate a person is. That to me is ... Read Full Story

In Memoriam: Makala Kozo Hattori Posted by Preeta Bansal, Mar 27 2021 [Below is a note that was sent to our Awakin Calls volunteer team.] As many of you know, we lost a dear friend, brother, co-journeyer and co-servant earlier this month. Makala “Kozo” Hattori (1965-2021) was much more than one of the coordinators of our Awakin Calls team – he was an inspiration, guide, tireless volunteer, and cheerleader as well as purveyor/transcriber/translator of so much of the weekly wisdom that emerges from our collective efforts to bring forth sacred conversations into the world. Though I don’t live in the Bay Area, there was hardly an Awakin Circle or ServiceSpace gathering that I attended while in town where Kozo didn’t embrace me with his warm smile and big hug, his wry humor, and his boundless enthusiasm for some of the most recent Awakin Calls conversations he was listening to – the details of which he had an uncanny recall. “Wow – I’m still reeling ... Read Full Story

Humility Of The Breath Posted by Christopher Moreno, Mar 18 2021 For me of late, humility is like breathing -- an opportunity to pause, reflect, feel, let go, relax, heal, regenerate, and connect with yourself and others in ways that might not be otherwise if I wasn't mindful of my embodied strivings and the effects that they may be having on others (and their strivings). Every night my five-year-old son, Marcel, and I have a ritual of storytime and a few songs. Since late January, Marcel asks me to perform the "cure" for him and his older brother, that he describes as a preventative for possible "bad" dreams they may experience during sleep. This "cure" is an incredibly humbling practice of metta meditation and mindfulness, that I just learned as a part of the "Four Brahmaviharas" Pod in January. Soon after I learned it, I did a guided session with Marcel and his brother one night (after sensing that he was afraid of ... Read Full Story

Sow With Tears, Reap With Joy Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Mar 18 2021 In last night's Awakin Circle, Nimo shared a joyous song from a legendary Gandhian sculptor, Kanti-dada: I was struck by how the lines: "We came crying, crying / But shall go laughing, laughing" are almost identical to the words from Psalms that we sing in the Hebrew blessing after a meal. The lyrics of that are: "The one who sows with tears will reap with joy":

Often Times Transforming Ourselves Seems So ... Posted by Amit Dungarani, Mar 10 2021 Often times transforming ourselves seems so daunting or perhaps the idea of making an impact/change in the world seems too hard. One of the values I love about ServiceSpace has always been to focus on the small because it is with time and patience the small can be incredibly impactful (especially vs. the alternative of doing nothing at all). I came across this image that reminded me of that. Thank you ServiceSpace community for the constant inspiration, random acts of kindness, gift economy way of living, laddership way of leading, and for constantly reminding us of the power of the small!  

Mark Dubois: The Little Tree Posted by Alda Cirincione, Mar 06 2021 We closed our Water Pod Call this an incredibly inspiring Q&A with Mark Dubois. It ended with this touching story: Christina, in our heartbeat exercise, shared a beautiful reflection that mirrored the feeling for so many of us: "This week has caused me to slow down a bit and pay more attention to this fundamental element of life. How often I overlook the water pouring out of the showerhead to bathe me, or the water of my tea, or that cool sip of water that I seek to quench my thirst. I have thought of myself as the clouds. I have seen how water "struggles" and perserveres. I have learned how to look for through lines. And I have cherished those moments of being joy-stricken. Because water is my predominate nature, it has also connected me more with myself. And because water is the predominate nature of us all - I feel more connected with these wonderful beings that I've had this week's encounter with, and all on the planet (and beyond)."

A 3-Year-Old And The Limping Duck Posted by Amritha Mandagondi, Feb 11 2021 At this week's virtual Santa Clara Awakin Circle, as we were exploring our time with the Emptiness Cafe, our friend Swaroop shared this moving story of his time with his daughter at a park: One day my daughter, who was about three years old then, and I were sitting in a park and saw a large group of ducks just walking by. One of the ducks was limping and my daughter was staring at this duck very curiously. After a couple of minutes, she asked what happened to the duck. I said maybe it got injured during paddling or something happened to it, but it is doing fine as it is still able to walk with one leg and jump, eat food and fly. To this, she said, "Okay," and continued to stare at the duck limping. Then, she comes back asking, "Why are the other ducks are not helping him?" "Yes, you are ... Read Full Story