3 Men In A Convenience Store; Faith In Humanity Posted by Shaila Menezes, Feb 11 2021 How much love is latent in a few bananas, saltines and a few bottles of Gatorade? Bear Necessities Grill & C-Store is a convenience store for students at Cornell University. Seth, George, and Harry are men who work there. I have not met them. I have only spoken to them on the phone. What I found these guys carry in their store is immense amounts of beauty, warmth and kindness to strangers. It will stay with me for the rest of my life. It floods me with Awe at the tapestry of life where someone takes the time to listen, notice, share, and make choices. My freshman son was in his dorm room feeling very weak and unwell. He had no energy to go down to the dining hall because he had been up the night before due to food poisoning. His roommate hadn’t yet arrived. I googled and found the convenience store, Bear Necessities Grill ... Read Full Story

How Much Time Does It Take To Gift A Tshirt? Posted by Rohit Rajgarhia, Feb 06 2021 Sharing one of my favourite stories, which came up in an Awakin Talk between Rahul Mehta, Rajni Bakshi and Rajiv Khandelwal. Everytime I remember this story, I feel touched, so sharing with all you here. Rahul: I would switch track to a personal story. You spoke of your experience of volunteering at the blind school. We also heard another story from your friends Jyotsna and Sachin. Jyotsna spoke of her 3-year old Rohan (now a 26-year old) who liked a tee-shirt you were wearing (bought from the US) and asked you to get him one like that. You promised him to get it on your next US trip a few months away. Unfortunately, you could not locate one of Rohan’s size on your US trip. Years later, on Rohan’s 18th birthday, you gifted him the very same tee-shirt neatly folded, preserved for over 15 years in as-if-new condition. You waited for ... Read Full Story

When My Grandson Discovered His Shadow Posted by Saroj Pathak, Feb 04 2021 [Our family's morning yesterday seemed to echo this week's Awakin passage on The Hole-y Bucket. :) I shared these stories in last night's Awakin Circle, and was encouraged to share here as well.] This morning, we went hiking in the Marin Headlands with my two little grandkids and my son, Anupam. We were going up the hill. There was this beautiful ocean below the cliff, and a little bit of a hill on the side. We were walking up, and little Benny -- he's two years old -- discovered his shadow. The shadow was going up the hill. He looked at it for a while, and then, he decided he wants the shadow to come down. So he's climbing up the hill trying to catch his shadow to come down. And he struggled for a while. I kept telling him, "Benny, if you just walk yourself, the shadow, will follow you." He didn't understand it. ... Read Full Story

Light In A Dark Hall Posted by Theresa Pathak, Feb 04 2021 [I was reminded of this story during last night's Awakin Circle.] One time, I was with a bunch of strangers in India. I was giving a presentation, and power went out. It was in a dark hall, and I was with two other colleagues. I was so embarrassed because we had invited all these people here. It was a public talk, and we couldn't do anything about it. Our mic was gone. There was no light. Everyone's sitting here in darkness, and I was just like, "Oh my goodness." You know, when the power goes out, you feel like you should be in control of it, because you're hosting the event. I was so embarrassed, and we just kept going on, talking in the dark, hoping people would stay. It was really ridiculous. I mean, there were no windows. Nothing. It was a dark hall. All of a sudden, a man in the ... Read Full Story

A Brown Bag Story Posted by Brinda Govindan, Feb 04 2021 [Many years ago, I noticed that my brown Chipotle bag had a beautiful story from Paulo Coelho. I have saved it on my wall ever since! I was reminded of this when I read the passage for this week's Awakin Circle and Brian Conroy shared the same story. It reminded me that the cracks are both how the light gets in and also how the water gets out!.] A legend tells of a man who used to carry water every day to his village, using two large pitchers tied on either end of a piece of wood, which he placed across his shoulders. One of the pitchers was older than the other and was full of small cracks; every time the man came back along the path to his house, half of the water was lost. For two years, the man made the same journey. The younger pitcher was always very proud of ... Read Full Story

Absolute Reality – A Starting Place For Learning Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jan 05 2021 As human beings, making our way in a complex world, we naturally want to make sense of life. We do this by unconsciously picking one perspective and clinging to it. We say, “This is Truth,” when really it is just true for us. Your “truth” depends on your perspective. Perspective influences our seeing and our relationship with what is. It’s not wrong to have a perspective. We don’t have to labor to eliminate them. We all have perspectives that help us navigate. But we can apply skillfulness to our relative perspectives. When we refrain from clinging to our perspectives, this creates room for others. In back of all perspectives, all relative truth is Absolute Reality. Absolute Reality, or pure awareness is the Truth that encompasses all perspectives, all possibilities. It is the consciousness that says “yes – and.” Mystics use words like Absolute Reality, Awareness, Consciousness, Source, or in my case “Rumi’s Field” as ... Read Full Story

The Word 'Listen' Has 'Silent' In It Posted by Swara Pandya, Dec 28 2020 [A few of us were recently reminded of this story Meghna shared in a Sacred Space Pod earlier this year. We just had to share the beauty.] About 5 years ago, I was on a trip to attend a community event in Delhi. During the day, we had some time off, and a friend suggested we go to this very sacred Gurudwara (a temple where most sikhs would offer prayers). I'm not particularly of that faith by birth, however, going along to that holy place somehow seemed like a very natural 'Yes'. It was about 8pm in the night, and I was tired as I held my sleeping daughter in my arms. It seemed like a long walk carrying my little one -- so I decided to sit by this bed of holy water in the temple. Right then, this monk started offering a Gurbani (a prayer) from inside the Gurudwara. It ... Read Full Story

Ripples Of The White Envelope Posted by Bijan Khazai, Dec 25 2020 I recently came across this account of a woman and her family's White Envelope tradition at Christmas: It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma – the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. [...] Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. [...] As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, ... Read Full Story

Nipun's Talk At Jubilee Gift This Week Posted by Michelle Long, Dec 25 2020 Nipun spoke at our Jubilee.gift gathering a couple days ago, and it touched me deeply. His insights coming from his 30-day silence retreat had us all swimming in love, and I joked that I'm booking him to speak after every meditation retreat. :) This was a part of Jubilee Gift: The Course, an invitational 9-month Journey into Money & Belonging for wealth holders, entrepreneurs, and wisdom keepers. Our aim is to break from the economic and financial models we have known, to transmute financial capital into a flow that enables everyone’s gifts, and to build the spiritual ballast we are going to need as the world radically changes shape. His talk was part of this month's session: "Practices & Conditions", which was about about the practices that keep us trained on, and operating from, an open heart. We had given one of his old posts about his own personal practices as contextual reading. I am filled with gratitude Nipun and wanted to share this with this whole community!! :) Also - a quote I have on my fridge that I used in my introduction ...

A Life-Changing One-Way Conversation Posted by Grace Woo, Dec 21 2020 [During a Sacred Space Pod in September, I was remembering this incident, and a couple volunteers encouraged me to share about it here, too.] I often have very early morning conference calls. I enjoyed the morning calm and the ocean breeze that blow away the Los Angeles summer heat. A few weeks ago, while I was on a 5am call, my neighbor yelled out from his window. "Can you please close your window when you have a conference call?" He sounded exasperated. Tired. I stopped. I cannot argue back. I reflected on his word, and imagine how my conversation sounds like from his side. And then it became clear to me - he is right. I never realize I am ruining the morning calm for others that is so dear to me. I almost want to yell "THANK YOU!". But that would be weird. So I just closed the window. From that moment on, before I ... Read Full Story

Who Blesses Whom Posted by Rahul Mehta, Dec 13 2020 This morning, on Awakin Talks call (Giving Money, Time and Self) , Amit Chandra shared this story of what he witnessed while being around His Holiness the Dalai Lama Around 2018, HH the Dalai Lama was in Mumbai for teachings at Somaiya Vidyavihar. After his teachings, he gave a talk to a small group of us at another venue Kitab Khaana. After this talk, he came out of Kitaab Khana to get into his car waiting outside the venue. Although not many people knew that he was going to be in that part of the town, a small crowd gathered to get his blessings. As he slowly walked towards his car, an old homeless lady, seemingly in her 80s, hastily came running towards HH the Dalai Lama to get his blessings. She must have been 200 meters away when she saw him and hence literally made a dash. The protocol officer and staff ... Read Full Story

Coming Home To Our Heart Posted by Ani , Dec 05 2020 When we were planning for last week’s London Virtual retreat, we chose the title and theme “Embracing Life’s Unexpected Gifts”. It was an experiment that invited deeper ways of personal and collective transformation during these uncertain times. But how can a virtual space hold that energy in the ways held by an in-person retreat? How do we create a virtual safe space with people who do not know one another? How do we create the connection with others without being able to touch their hand in a comforting gesture? How do we create the ambience - without warm welcome hugs - or intricate mandalas or soul filled music? How do we send angels to sprinkle anonymous tags of kindness? These were questions we were exploring as we put our heads, hands and hearts into offering a hybrid, online and offline retreat, which had been inspired by our Moved By Love ... Read Full Story

"When Love Lifts Us": London Virtual Retreat Posted by Trishna Shah, Dec 03 2020 "I once asked a bird, 'How is it that you fly in this gravity of darkness?' The bird responded, 'Love lifts me.'" - Hafiz In the midst of a global pandemic and lockdown in London, 31 noble friends opened their hearts and their complete beings by immersing themselves in a reflective process together during a 5-day Virtual Retreat. What a joy it was to serve as mirrors for each other's journeys through these 5 days, to bear witness to the reflections, insights and shifts that were unfolding organically, offering words of encouragement and support to our noble friends along the way. The final "Live Retreat" Day, last Sunday, was a culmination of days of deep inner work we collectively undertook that began at the Opening Circle, as we embarked on "A Journey Together", a pilgrimage without any seeking. Krishnamurti's words offered an open invitation to dive into our hearts: "If we could take ... Read Full Story

Is Priceless Pricing About Cost Or Relationship? Posted by Colin Johnson, Nov 25 2020 Is "Priceless Pricing" about Cost or Relationship? In Brief Recap We just finished the first two week Priceless Pricing Pod. I felt moved to share some of the thoughts that this experience has triggered. The format of the pod was as follows. Each of over forty participants received a prompt every other day that involves learning, practice and sharing a written reflection. The following day, we read the reflections of everyone else. Then the two-day cycle repeated with a different prompt. There is a kick-off call at the beginning of the first week. We met again on a call over the weekend half-way through. We met one last time on the third Sunday for a wrap-up call. ServiceSpace hosted this mini-pod on the topic of Priceless Pricing in rapid response to strong interest that emerged from the community in these last six months. We held three simultaneous Laddership Circles in the spring. Discussions ... Read Full Story

Dufresne's Story Posted by Kerri Lake, Nov 22 2020 A friend of mine was looking to buy a horse that could be a backyard buddy, a friend to their current quarter horse mare and new member of the family. She didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I suggested we go to the local monthly horse auction to see if we might rescue one of the horses from a potential death sentence. For those of you who are unfamiliar with horse auctions, many times the meat buyers end up taking the unwanted animals at low prices. There are always horses there who have plenty of life left and just need someone to show up and recognize their value, see their heart, and offer them a space where they can just be a loved horse. We found a few older horses who seemed to be dumped at the auction but still had life left and love to give. My friend ... Read Full Story

The Farmer, Butcher, And Two Broken Wings Posted by Harshida Mehta, Nov 21 2020 In our Awakin Circle this Wednesday, we were grateful to be joined by the author of this week's passage, Brian Conroy. :) In his genuine way, Brian graciously captivated us with parables, like this one: The Farmer, Butcher, and Two Broken Wings Well, there was once a farmer who loved all living things. And one day as he was walking along, he saw a sparrow with a broken wing. Feeling sorry for the bird, he carefully picked it up and carried it home. At home, he made a nest for the bird out of grasses and straw, and he gave the bird water and food, and he nursed it tenderly. Under the farmers care, each day, the sparrow got stronger and stronger. After a few weeks, the sparrow was healthy and its wing was healed and it was able to fly again. So the next day the farmer brought the sparrow out to his ... Read Full Story

The Giving Temple Posted by Amritha Mandagondi, Nov 19 2020 Last evening at Awakin Santa Clara, we had the ever shining Brian Conroy lead us into questions on intention, giving and more... One of those moments reminded me of a story that our father shared when my brother and I were in high school. I'm not a great writer or a storyteller like our friend, Brian, so I digged online to find the story that was spelled for me to share with you here...I'm going to call it, "The Giving Temple": "There was a man who cleared one hundred acres of forest and made it into a farmland. His two sons helped him and they became prosperous. When the man was dying, he called his two sons and told them that the land should never be divided, but the produce should be taken equally, fifty percent, by each son. Accordingly, they went by their father’s word. One of the brothers got married ... Read Full Story

Caring For Ourselves By Tending To The World Posted by Randall Amster, Nov 16 2020 [In a recent Pod, I was reminded of this experience and this reflection came up for me. If ever there was a time to deeply consider how we balance the self with all else, it's right now!] A few years ago I was on a road trip to visit old friends in New York. Entering the highway, I saw smoke out of the corner of my eye, immediately identifying the source as a vehicle that had slipped off the other side of the road. Instinctively, I pulled over and ran across four lanes of traffic, leaving my own car running with the door open. Arriving at the scene, the other car had rolled over and two men were trapped in it, and the vehicle was smoldering. Another motorist had stopped to help, and then another. Without many words between us, we managed to pry the window out of the passenger door, ... Read Full Story

Much Deeper Listening, Without Language Posted by Brinda Govindan, Nov 13 2020 [In a recent pod, we reflected on Four Types of Listening, and below is what came to mind for me.] I am not sure I have ever experienced the fourth stage of stage of generative listening, as I seem to be mostly in the first two stages and sometimes in the third. But two experiences come to mind, and they both involve language (or rather, not knowing the language). In one, an elderly gentleman whom I'd see every week at the soup kitchen just wanted to stay and chat with me in Spanish. He had a lot to say and it seemed really important that I bear witness to his torrent of expression. I understood almost nothing of what he said, but I felt the immense grace of being with him in that moment. Once I realized that it didn't matter if I understood his words, something lifted away from me and ... Read Full Story

Mia's Softer Eyes Posted by Smita Navare, Nov 13 2020 [In our Sacred Space Pod last month, Mia shared this beautiful reflection below.] Before I go to bed at night, I take out my contacts or take off my glasses. In that moment, the world becomes a blur - I must trust my memory as I walk to the bed or pull the covers down. In the morning, I literally can not see a thing, until I put my glasses on. When I do, there is a moment as my eyes adjust and the world comes into focus; in that moment, I feel such gratitude. What if I did not have the means to see more clearly? When I come to the forest, I do not first see the details of the trees, I see the forest, like a wave of green and brown. As my eyes adjust, I begin to focus more closely. I begin to see the individual trees, then ... Read Full Story