Why KindSpring Is A True Gift Posted by Michaele Premet-Rosen, Sep 09 2018 From a post this morning in KS community, on why KindSpring is a true gift. When I was new in Kindspring, I thought others would not care about what I considered tiny acts of kindness. Yet, I posted them anyway. To my surprise, Kindspring friends did acknowledge them and me. Doing them, posting about them. It changed how I viewed them. Doing good to others had become part of my identity since age 14, yet I had not been taught to honor and value that part of myself. It was subjected to the 'never enough!' judgement inside of me. Kindspring has changed that and continues to change that, day after day. Post after post. Comment after comment. Embracing that part of me has changed my inside attitude toward giving, taking and being a part of different space. Small act of kindness for today? Writing a post at Kindspring, honoring how it has changed me deep within. :) Thank you, ServiceSpace. All of us in the thriving KindSpring community are profoundly grateful.

Nuggets From Emma Slade's Call Posted by Rahul Brown, Sep 08 2018 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Emma Slade. How does a jet-setting financial analyst from London end up a Buddhist nun in Bhutan? Emma Slade is a yoga and meditation teacher and author who left a successful career in finance in her 30s to find peace and meaning in the mountains of Bhutan. Unusual for a mother of a now 12-year-old boy, she was ordained a Buddhist nun in Bhutan in 2014 after rigorous training – the first (and still the only) Western woman to have achieved this in Bhutan. She currently runs an acclaimed charity to benefit special needs children in rural Bhutan. Slade left a career in global finance in 1997 when, while traveling for business in Indonesia, she was held hostage at gunpoint by armed men in her five-star hotel room. "Once I had recovered enough to see my life clearly, I felt ... Read Full Story

Two Months In India Posted by Zilong Wang, Sep 07 2018 From December 2017 to Jan 2018, the pilgrimage led me on a whirlwind tour in India through five spiritual meccas that are important not only for India, but also for the world: one week in Puttaparthi, the alternative universe of Sathya Sai Baba; 10 days in Auroville, the 50-year-young experiment in human unity; one week in Tiruvannamalai, home to the sacred Arunachala Hill and Ramana Ashram; 10 days at Dhamma Giri, the global headquarter of Vipassana meditation; and three weeks at the Gandhi Ashram ecosystem in Ahmedabad, where the experiment of the Law of Love continues today. In each of these places, I was hosted by the extended ServiceSpace family, a global volunteer community. So, in a sense, despite all the moving around, I had never left the service space and Dharma realm :) Each of these five places were founded by, or made known to the modern world, by a 20th ... Read Full Story

21 Questions From Systems + Love Circle Posted by David Bullón, Sep 06 2018 Earlier this week, Jin Wei hosted a beautiful ServiceSpace circle at the Berkeley Monastery on creating systems change with compassion -- with Terry Patten, and many others from the local community. I was quite deeply moved by this circle, and particularly Marty Verhoeven who joined as a last-minute guest. Below are some of the profound questions that emerged during our time together ... Can we organize as a fractal and hologram, such that collective systems contain patterns of inner transformation? (Terry) What will enable love to speak with it's actual, inherent authority over weaker forces? (Terry) What does it take to transform the identity from "radically autonomous individual" to "sum total of all my relationships"? (Marty) How do we provide palliative care for the old, while midwife-ing the new? (Preeta) Post independence in India, when Gandhi was asked, "What do you fear most?" His response: "Heartless Intellectuals." The dominant paradigm is busy monetizing (and hence cheapening) relationships. ... Read Full Story

Our Ripple Effect Posted by Fran Faraz, Sep 05 2018 When you’re around service space, you hear a lot about the Ripple Effect and wonder how it works. This last summer, we were at lunch with Nipun and Audrey and many other love warriors who are part of the Service Space ecosystem. We were the recipient of a gift – a book called “A Greater democracy” by Sally Mahe & Kathy Covert. The discussion came up, how do you know the ripple effect of giving out a book like this? Well, it has been on desk and just about every day, I read a quote or two and get inspired by it. But the conversation was still there for me. How do you know? This morning as I opened my email from college and there was another instructor from a different college who shared with me from his online class discussion board. Evidently, I had given this book to students ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Transforming Posted by Ameeta Martin, Sep 04 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Transforming With Hope. Is hope naive optimism, or an energy that sustains a new vision? Hope is a precursor to faith. While faith is believing and trusting in something you can't see, hope is imagining that there is something to believe and trust in. Hope opens the paths to the impossible and invites transformation. As our video reveals, it is not a powerless waiting for, but a powerful welcoming of the future. - Ameeta

Moved By Love: The Wisdom Of Circles Posted by Shaalini Srinivasan, Sep 02 2018 Latest issue of 'Moved By Love' newsletter is themed The Wisdom Of Circles. A circle encourages inclusion, emphasizes deep listening, cultivates many-to-many emergence and creates a safe space that provides a growing sense of a shared, evolving story. This month’s newsletter brings you stories from circles that nourish different parts of your being - Awakin Circles, Laddership Circles and Kindness Circles.

Three Months In Middle East Posted by Zilong Wang, Aug 31 2018 It was almost one year ago that I landed in Istanbul and started the three-month journey through the Middle East. From Sept 12 to Dec 2, 2017, the pilgrimage led me through Turkey, Iran and Dubai (UAE). Thanks to the daily journal and photos, not all memories are lost :) Here are some belated reflections from that colorful and paradoxical part of the world. ​ Dharma families Before arriving in Istanbul, I knew exactly three people in the entire Middle East -- two of whom I had never met. However, as I enter each country, there awaited a Dharma family to welcome the pilgrim home. In Turkey, it was Aslinur and Marian who opened up their warm apartment in Üsküdar on the Asian side of the Bosporus channel that straddles Asia and Europe. Meeting the young Turkish-German couple for the first time almost took my breath away -- an instant recognition of old affinity ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Vibrating In Posted by Ameeta Martin, Aug 28 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Vibrating In Sync. According to Ursula LeGuin in the article below, every act of communication is an act of tremendous courage which can lead to two parallel possibilities: either mutual understanding or being wholly misunderstood. Since all living beings vibrate, we can either pulse in sync or pulse in opposition. Nature is lazy. Pulsing in sync requires less energy so let's amplify our syncing energy. - Ameeta

Nuggets From Jeff Warren's Call Posted by Ameeta Martin, Aug 23 2018 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Jeff Warren. “We are here to learn from each other, to share our various neurotic life strategies in a safe space, so we can then laugh uproariously at them together, in a spirit of dumbfounded incredulity.” – Jeff Warren Jeff Warren came to meditation by chance, while working as a journalist and writing a book which went on to be named one of the Top 10 Books about Consciousness in The Guardian. He has since founded a global and local community of persons seeking greater understanding of their minds and bodies through various traditions and therapeutic modalities. From a pluralistic, creative approach to crafting one’s own practice grows a community of student-teachers—both their own and one another’s. With a heart-warming, eccentric peppering of humor, Jeff Warren always reminds us that there’s a practice out there for everyone—including the ... Read Full Story

KKC Retreat At Sugad!!! Posted by Ketan Vikamsey, Aug 23 2018 Seventeen members of the KKC family got to spend three precious days on the Land of Gandhi at Ahmedabad in August 2018. First ever off-site of this kind at KKC, this retreat actually turned out be an “in-site” for the participants. Right from a warm welcome at pick-up, to the memorable rickshaw ride with “Ahmedabad no Rickshaw walo” Udaybhai, to “Aapke ghar mein aapka swagat hai!”, we all were overwhelmed by the love and warmth we received at the retreat. A memorable walk in the Gandhi Ashram – Hriday Kunj, Ashram Shala, Safai Vidyalay, Swagyan Mandir, to welcoming the children of Ashram shala in their own home with tilak, smiley and Garba, to cleaning the campus and making small handmade gifts for the children to having lunch with them, left us with a very humbling experience. The Retreat was special for all of us in more ways than one! • The pearls of ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Rooted In Posted by Ameeta Martin, Aug 21 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Rooted In Kindness. Trees, with their magnificent presence and embrace of the changing seasons, offer timeless wisdom and inspiration. With their deep roots connecting to the earth and to one another; their branches reaching skyward; and their leaves harnessing energy and providing shade and fruit for all creation, trees are our true teachers. They stand when we fall and they endure when we pass away. - Ameeta

The Light In Your Heart And The Way Back Home Posted by Somik Raha, Aug 14 2018 Last Sunday, a Chinese lady at the Palo Alto farmer's market stopped me and shared about an upcoming play. I was surprised to read the content -- they were touching stories about values from Japan and India, including one from the Lotus Sutra. I attended the performance today and was touched. It is in Chinese with English subtitles. A humble offering presented with deep messages and conviction. The next one is on Aug 18, Sat, in Berkeley at the Jewish Community Center of the Easy Bay, 1414 Walnut St, and it is open to the public with free admission. Here are some quick pics I took of the flyer:

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Faith In Posted by Ameeta Martin, Aug 14 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Faith In Kindness. "The bikers story below is sad, but their faith in kindness is very inspiring. A kid asked me once, "what if you are kind to someone and they take advantage of you?" I said, "in face of meanness, should we resort to meanness? Should we leave the situation or step up our love? You have to ask yourself that question and see where your heart leads you. It's different from moment to moment." - Nipun

Letter From My Son Posted by Joao Perre, Aug 14 2018 Last week, I found myself in a different type of conversation that probably I've been waiting for many years. I somehow had been trying to hold space for it, but it had never happened before. I'm a father of three boys, and my middle son, Santiago, is 15 years old. He's a hardcore teenager. :) He's very silent in emotional aspects, and he's very loud in others. I've been trying for a few years to hold that space that he feels the trust that he can talk about whatever he want. I understand that between 13-16 years of age, as far as I remember, there's so many things happening. Last Friday, was my birthday. My family took me to a beach, and just before we left the house, Santiago came to my office and he brought a little envelope with him. I honestly had no idea what it was. He said, "This is ... Read Full Story

Labor-of -love Project And An "Overdose Delight" Posted by Pham Thi, Aug 14 2018 Our little labor-of-love project for July is to build a school garden for Thuan Thanh Primary School in Citadel, Hue. Last Saturday, our small team in Hue had finally gathered for Saturday Awakin Circle to celebrate our team effort and reclaim quality time from our busy weeks. Two of our friends decided to surprise the host (myself) with home-cooked pumpkin dishes plus my own dish. So we ended up with 3 pumpkin recipes for our supper:-). What a sweet coincidence! We enjoyed our home-cooked meal as much as the jokes about the pumpkin coincidence. One named our gathering “ Pumpkin Circle” as we started with pumpkin soup and finished with pumpkin puree! Others called it “ Pumpkin Over-dose” or “Pumpkin Festival”. It was all about pumpkin and we were kind of overdosed but as we all agreed, it was an “ Overdose Delight”. Simply because all the dishes were made with love. P/S: If you're interested in school garden, here's the little one that our group has built recently in Citadel, Hue: https://www.facebook.com/dhkgd2014/videos/2243854828961196/

Nuggets From Scilla Elworthy's Call Posted by Alyssa Martin, Aug 13 2018 Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Scilla Elworthy. Since the age of 13, when Dr. Scilla Elworthy was horrified by the violence she witnessed as Soviet tanks invaded to quell the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, she has devoted her life to promoting peaceful alternatives to conflict. A path-breaking changemaker who has thrice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, she founded the Oxford Research Group to build dialogue among nuclear nations during the Cold War; Peace Direct to support peacebuilders and stop war in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions; and Rising Women Rising World, a vibrant community of women on all continents to draw on feminine wisdom to build a world that works for all. Her latest book is on sacred activism, and her TEDx talk on nonviolence has over a million views. Her life has been dedicated to promoting collective "waking up" through the ... Read Full Story

"I Have Enough" - Sung By Children! Posted by Deven Shah, Aug 12 2018 Since last month, I've been working full-time in a school at Auroville, co-learning with 10-12 year old children. It's been very enriching to witness how sponteously children express love, generosity, gratitude and joy. This video was created as part of the weekly Kindness Circles that Shaalini and I have been holding for more than a year. We sang this song for the team at a local farm, which had gifted thousands of mangoes to the community and neighboring villages and everyone was deeply touched. We also shared the story of Rev. Heng Sure's 3-steps-and-a-bow with the children and they were amazed. :)

Laddership News: Perfect Imperfect Posted by Jane Murray, Aug 12 2018 This month's 'Laddership Newsletter' was just posted online. This month's stories bring to heart the perfection in our imperfection. In a lively and amusing call, Bonnie Rose describes wholeness rather than fixing and Kendrick Bradley explores radical generosity in three forms.

On Being Offered Money By A ... Posted by Chi Phan, Aug 12 2018 On being offered money by a busker at London Bridge... Now and then I would hear such beautiful music from buskers that I want to stop to enjoy like I would with a gig. I have told myself time and again to stop and make the time. But if I am at a station, I am rushing. So I only do it on a fraction of the occasions I feel an urge to. The most time I would spend is to give some money. Today I was late to meet a friend but after giving my contribution, I decided to stop and listen to this busker for a bit. He asked what I wanted him to play and I said something I could dance to. So I danced to his folk music with bags on my back and in my hand for about 5 minutes. After I said good-bye and turned away, he called me back: "Do you want your cut?". I did not get what he meant. Then he bent down to grab some coins and repeated "Your cut of the taking". "No, of course not, are you kidding?" I burst out. I was being offered music to dance to and he wanted to pay me. But of course I walked away with a smile. What a sweet man. Such a sweet encounter. I must make time to stop and appreciate life's beauty more often.