Thank You Arun Dada For Your Fearlessness! Posted by Poonam Singh, Apr 22 2019 Last night I had the privilege and honor of attending a sweet gathering for local social change leaders in the house of Mahendra Uncle whose picture hung up above the fireplace, and whose daughter, Kala, honored us by having all of us gather there to welcome Arun Dada - a beautiful man who wanted to protect animals and went to jail voluntary for 13 years as peaceful protest and was a peaceful warrior bringing peace to war-torn areas. Arun Dada- now 86 years- walked into the room with such love and peace that I felt a shift in my body- a calmness settling in me and a joy emerging in my heart. Nipun mentioned the song of the day he has that sometimes reverberates with him and I felt I could almost hear that song. I felt Mahendra Uncle's original intentions he had years ago to invite Arun Dada, and ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Timothy Harrison's Call Posted by Rish Sanghvi, Apr 21 2019 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Timothy Harrison. Timothy Harrison of Emory University's Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics currently serves as the associate director for Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT). Inspired by the works of His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama, the Center offers programs focusing on the interdisciplinary investigation and application of compassion in secular contexts. Tim oversees the teaching and research programs of CBCT. He teaches the program regularly at colleges of medicine, law, and spiritual health, and in the Atlanta Public Schools, and he guides the CBCT teacher certification. Tim also contributed to founding SEE Learning (Social Emotional and Ethical Learning), a framework for teaching compassion-based ethics in K-12 schools. A longtime practitioner of both lo jong and Zen meditation, he initially learned to meditate by stumbling into Kopan Monestary in Nepal after a hiking trip was cut short due to a ... Read Full Story

Laddership News: Laddership News: Global Circles Posted by Jane Murray, Apr 21 2019 This month's 'Laddership Newsletter' was just posted online. This month we have stories from different parts of the world: Vietnam and Spain. Both describe so eloquently of the transformative power of circles, binding hearts, minds and hands in gentle ripples across borders, whether internal or physical.

Nuggets From Timothy Harrison's Call Posted by Rish Sanghvi, Apr 20 2019 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Timothy Harrison. Timothy Harrison of Emory University's Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics currently serves as the associate director for Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT). Inspired by the works of His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama, the Center offers programs focusing on the interdisciplinary investigation and application of compassion in secular contexts. Tim oversees the teaching and research programs of CBCT. He teaches the program regularly at colleges of medicine, law, and spiritual health, and in the Atlanta Public Schools, and he guides the CBCT teacher certification. Tim also contributed to founding SEE Learning (Social Emotional and Ethical Learning), a framework for teaching compassion-based ethics in K-12 schools. A longtime practitioner of both lo jong and Zen meditation, he initially learned to meditate by stumbling into Kopan Monestary in Nepal after a hiking trip was cut short due to a ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Grayson Sword's Call Posted by Rish Sanghvi, Apr 18 2019 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Grayson Sword. Grayson Sword is a 18-year-old high school senior and open-heart surgery survivor. At 13, she was diagnosed with a rare heart condition. Given almost no chance to survive, she lived, finding strength in compassion and resilience. Now 18, she's on a mission to raise compassion in the world. Grayson grew up an avid athlete. When she was thirteen, she fainted in gym class, prompting a cardiologist visit that resulted in a diagnosis of a congenital heart defect called Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Right Coronary Sinus, which affects about .047% of the population and often leads to sudden cardiac death, especially in teenage athletes. Grayson had never experienced heart pain prior to her fainting spell, so the news of her defect turned her world upside down. As part of her healing process, Grayson found strength in connections ... Read Full Story

Four Days On The Road Posted by Jignasha Pandya, Apr 18 2019 It has been a joy ride for so many of us, to witness Arun Dada share his radiance with effortless equipoise through so many diverse settings and communities. Last week, few of us went on a four-day road trip to Southern California. Our first stop was a circle in Bakersfield, where a group of motivated women held a screening of Gandhi that was attended by 500 people -- and then held an interfaith march, in a fairly polarized community that votes strongly Republican, that brought together more than 700 people. Our first surprise was being greeted by two very young ServiceSpace volunteers, playing Gandhi's favorite chant for Arun Dada: That was followed by the very first Awakin Circle in Bakersfield, courtesy of the one-and-only Trishna! The evening was truly sublime, with 40-50 of us huddled around a re-arranged living room. Few people just couldn't stop tearing up, as we spoke about the ... Read Full Story

Nipun's Sunday Talk On Flow Posted by Naren Kini, Apr 17 2019 Excited to have Nipun visit our center for the first time this weekend, on his mom's birthday. :) All are welcome!

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Happiness Vs. Posted by Ameeta Martin, Apr 16 2019 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Happiness Vs. Joy. Seeking happiness may paradoxically lead to unhappiness because the quest may lead us to look outside to augment our sense of self. Seeking joy, however, is a journey towards our inner self and comes from service, authenticity and gratitude. As David Brooks states: "Happiness is an expansion of our self whereas joy is an erasure of our self." Let's seek more joy in our lives. - Ameeta

Regenerative Living: The Banyan Grove Toilet Posted by Birju Pandya, Apr 16 2019 Banyan Grove is a relatively new gathering place in the ServiceSpace ecosystem. I think it's pretty great :) Yes it looks good, but for me, the approach is what really speaks to me, and I wanted to highlight one place in which that approach plays out - the toilet. In my world, we talk a fair bit about this concept of regeneration. It's used a lot in some agriculture circles. The concept is fundamentally about leaving something better than we find it. And the path there is about understanding nature - that over time, abundance inevitably arises when we surrender to nature. The below graphic is one that'll I'll keep referencing to this end. The Toilet System On the Banyan Grove volunteer team, I've been the one most focused on sanitation. I've felt like I won a sort of prize as that shook out, given that many of my inspirations focused on sanitation ... Read Full Story

What Are You Doing This Summer? A Non-Month! Posted by Poonam Singh, Apr 14 2019 As summer approaches, there is a flurry of activity for camps and vacations and activities. I partake in many of these activities too and understand why they are so necessary with busy working families. However, last year I decided to do a non-month for one month in the summer, inspired by a story I heard about in India, and I decided to do it again this year. I would go to my parent's home in LA (the home I grew up in) with my three young children and NOT have a plan. :) Here is more about the non-month.... Last year a dear friend of mine on her own journey of self-transformation visited a school in India where she learned about the idea of a non-month from a school leader. I was intrigued!!!! Apparently the school leader was curious to learn what would happen if they took structure away entirely from the ... Read Full Story

Reflection On A Small Act Of Generosity. Posted by Ivan Loh, Apr 11 2019 Last night, I was having a bowl of dessert at a food court near my home. There was a man sitting 2 seats away and having his red bean soup. With a third of the dessert left, he stood up and went to the stall to order 2 other desserts, having enough of the red bean soup. As he was waiting, another man sat down in his seat and began to eat the leftover. I thought they knew each other, but that was not the case, as the second man promptly stood up and left after finishing the leftover. It dawned on me that this is someone needy and I approached him, to ask if he needed a meal and I am happy to buy for him. He replied in proper English that he had not been working for a few years and is waiting for his CPF payout next year. And ... Read Full Story

Interview With Meghna, On GLOW Posted by Victor Kannan, Apr 10 2019 [Below is a transcript of Meghna's inspiring interview on GLOW! Already, there's requests for a follow-up interview. :)] Meghna Banker: early in her life, she felt a call to dedicate her life to service and in her twenties, moved to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad (India) where she is still based. As a gifted filmmaker, graphic designer and artist, Meghna has been a seed behind many projects whose ripples have spread to millions worldwide. Soon after college, she spearheaded "Yes, I Am the Change" series that celebrated small actions of everyday heroes -- where even Amitabh Bachchan was moved to speak at their gala event. Lot of her artwork and design skills can often be seen on billboards in various cities, as a part of an initiative that supports rural artisans. In the last decade, Meghna has been one of the founding pillars behind Moved By Love platform, where she has hosted ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Beauty In Posted by Ameeta Martin, Apr 09 2019 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Beauty In Brokenness. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold to create an even stronger, more beautiful piece in the end. Just as pottery is never too broken to be fixed and made stronger, so also we are never too shattered for repair and transformation. Wholeness begins with an awareness that Rumi said best: "our wounds are where light enters us" . - Ameeta

Nuggets From Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky's Call Posted by Pavi Mehta, Apr 06 2019 Today we had the privilege of hosting an Awakin Call with Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. Laura is the founder and director of the Trauma Stewardship Institute. Widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of trauma exposure, she is author of Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others and of The Age of Overwhelm. Laura found her calling at age 18, when she regularly spent nights volunteering in a homeless shelter. She went on to work with survivors of child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, acute trauma of all kinds, and natural disasters. A decade into her career, Laura experienced what can best be described as a near-psychotic break—which, she came to realize, resulted not necessarily from her own direct trauma, but from years of witnessing and being intimately involved in trauma while lacking insight into how to sustain herself amidst such conditions. The ... Read Full Story

A Chance Encounter With Real Love Posted by Sue Davis, Apr 06 2019 I was traveling and needed to find a laundromat. Getting coffee at McDonald's, I spied a laundromat across the parking lot and drove over to get some much-needed washing done. A lady in khaki shorts and a coral top stood out front. “Have you ever been here before?” she asked me warily. Oh, no, I thought. Not one of THOSE laundromats. The kind people warn you about – dimly lit, with gritty floors covered in dryer sheets and sticky substances spilled on the washers? “It’s the cleanest laundromat I have ever been in,” she said, her eyes widening. And she was absolutely right. I walked in and a woman who worked there greeted me. She was wearing an apron and pushing a laundry cart full of cleaning supplies. It turned out she never stopped cleaning, except to greet people as they came in – in both English and Spanish – and to help them fold blankets. She ... Read Full Story

Arun Dada: I Just Love Thy Silently Posted by Gayathri Subramanian, Apr 04 2019 [Welcome to our Awakin Circle. Today we have an unusual speaker. There are traditional speakers who share in a sensational way, who share something extraordinary and amazing and we are rapt with attention. But then there are unusual speakers who share in away that just turns our pointer inward. And when you're in that place in you, and I'm in that place in me, as Ram Dass says, there's only one of us. This evening, we this latter kind of speaker. And the invitation is to not just listen to words, but also listen to yourself along the way. As we do that collectively, maybe something else may emerge. The original plan was to introduce him, but right before the circle, we were having tea and he sang this beautiful song. So we thought why not just start with poetry instead of prose? :) Welcome, Arun Dada.] Introduction with a song, ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Reviving Posted by Ameeta Martin, Apr 02 2019 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Reviving Human Contact. As screen use becomes cheaper and more omnipresent in our daily lives, those who can afford it are turning back to humans rather than only machines for better assistance and caregiving in education, health care, etc. Human contact should not simply be a luxury good. Let's all make an effort to auto-correct and have a meaningful human interaction daily with people from all walks of life. - Ameeta

Moved By Love: The Fabric Of Our Lives Posted by Shaalini Srinivasan, Apr 02 2019 Latest issue of 'Moved By Love' newsletter is themed The Fabric Of Our Lives. Relationships create the fabric of our lives. They are the fibers that weave all things together. We hope you enjoy month’s stories of new and old relationships, our deep interdependence and how we all have something to give.

Nuggets From Linda Hess's Call Posted by Preeta Bansal, Mar 31 2019 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting a lively and fascinating Awakin Call with Linda Hess. Dr. Linda Hess is a scholar, writer, and translator of devotional/mystical poetry from North India – especially of the 15th-century poet Kabir. She taught in various universities, concluding with 21 years in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University, from where she retired in 2017. Linda is not only a scholar of Kabir, but a devotee and lover. She writes: “I fell in love with Kabir almost as soon as I met him. He was sharp, funny, vivid and astonishing. What you didn’t want to hear, he would say—over and over, in your face. But you liked it because, really, you did want to hear it.” Her devotion to Kabir informs and is informed by her practice in Buddhism. She began Zen practice in 1974 and has also participated in vipassana retreats in ... Read Full Story

Mindful Families Retreat 2018: 8-year-old's Reflections Posted by Sareena Shah, Mar 27 2019 [My name is Sareena, I'm 8 years old and live in London. In December 2018, I visited India, the country of my heritage, for the first time in my life with my parents and sister to attend a Mindful Families Retreat at ESI in Ahmedabad. Below is one part of my India trip journal from our time in Gujarat, when we visited the Gandhi Ashram and I attended my first ever ServiceSpace retreat!] After 3 nights in Delhi and Agra, we landed in Gujarat, where my heritage is from. We were welcomed to Jayesh Nana's house and we happily ate some scrumptious, homemade food. It was the only homecooked meal we had in India (up to then). During our visit at Jayesh Nana's house, a little, fluffy, white, playful dog caught my eye. This dog was called Reign. At first, I was climbing chairs because I was so scared but then ... Read Full Story