Love Podcast By Johannes Posted by Michaele Premet-Rosen, Jun 05 2018 Thought you might like to see this. It's from Maria Jain's friend Johannes, who came to NY (from Finland) to interview a few of us for his Love Podcasts :)))

On Starting A Journey Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Jun 04 2018 Home is comfortable, solid, familiar, connected, the life I know: a place, a role, a family, a community, a tradition, a culture, a nation. The journey separates me from home, isolates me. Liberated from constraints, expectations, identity, family and community, there is only moment-to-moment attention to what is going on around me, to the present, free for what is new and unexpected. Home connects and grounds. The journey frees and renews. Life asks: when?

Laddering Love Posted by Kishan Laddha, Jun 04 2018 Viranti dada (80+ years) is a monk who stays in Kabir Ashram where he nurtures plants,trees and noble intentions with immense love. Whenever he feels like meeting Jayesh bhai (another gardener at our Maitri Space), he walks down to ESI without any announcement even he has a cellphone. And every time he visits ESI, he finds Jayesh bhai as if he knows of Viranti Dada's visit as well. In one such visit during Gandhi 3.0 retreat, Viranti Dada shared his graceful presence, only this time with Jayesh bhai (JB) we had many others including Uncle Bruce. JB introduced Dada and shared about the heart to heart connection they have. He also spoke about the magnanimous generosity Viranti dada has, in the farm /Ashram he would climb trees to fetch fruits so that he can share with visitors. Once he fell down from the tree and broke his arm, yet he ... Read Full Story

Hand Stitched Hearts From Japan Posted by Jaimit Vaidya, Jun 03 2018 Following in the footsteps of Parag-bhai, Joserra, David, Preeta, Ameeta and many others last year, Nimo-bhai and I got to represent our ecosystem at the Symphony of Peace Prayers in Mt. Fuji (Japan). Nimo-bhai wowed the huge crowd with his song and moved many to tears. As we left, one of the most touching offering was this hand-stitched heart: Made by none other than Maki, Rika, Yuka's kids (in particular, Rumi, Mika, Seka and Micky): We could feel the love in so many small ways. Ultimately, we are left with this feeling (at a local school that did a 21-day challenge prior to Nimo's visit):

Awakin Call With Mandy Catron Posted by Bela Shah, Jun 02 2018 This morning I had the pleasure of hosting an insightful Awakin Call with Mandy Catron, beautifully moderated by Alyssa! Mandy is the author of the popular NY Times article, "To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This" and How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays. In her TEDx talk, Mandy shares, “falling in love is the easy part.” Beyond that, the longer journey of staying in love is a deliberate process, one that implies a process of revisiting regularly what it means to practice love. Below are a few more reflections and wisdom nuggets that Mandy shared with us! "My favorite word is "text" or "texture", which is derived from the Latin word textura which means to "to weave"..I like to think about a piece of writing as something that has been woven....Writing is very much a contemplative process. Writing about my own life and thinking about ... Read Full Story

Moved By Love: Nurture And Bloom Posted by Shaalini Srinivasan, Jun 02 2018 Latest issue of 'Moved By Love' newsletter is themed Nurture And Bloom. This month's newsletter talks about Nurturing - Be it Self or Ecology and the Transformational Shifts it creates in our minds and those of others around us. Simple acts of Giving and Receiving and leading a life full of Satya, Prem and Karuna are things that inspire us to experience the truth of the moment and touch more hearts. Enjoy reading!

A Giant Man Named Nipun :) Posted by Thu Nguyen, Jun 01 2018 [My sister in Australia just translated a Vietnamese Facebook post that was going around -- and among Nipun's many qualities, "Giant Nipun" is new to me! :)] Just as I had promised everyone, I would write a series of posts about our talkshow on "Giftvisim -- Live Like a Gift" in Ho Chi Minh City. Today I will write my first post, about Nipun, the lead speaker for the talkshow. In my view, he can be described as follows: A young girl meticulously folds the welcome mats in front of the steps leading up to the auditorium, as the rain had soaked the path and without the mats, it would be very slippery, and dirty as well. All of a sudden the lead assistant’s voice echoes through and she turns around to see the tiny lead assistant, miniscule next to a towering man, akin to a midget standing beside a giant :D And ... Read Full Story

Bayarea: Zendo Sunday (+ Awakin, Summer, Grace) Posted by ServiceSpace , Jun 01 2018 A few upcoming events ... This Sunday is Awakin Circle at Banyan Grove's Zendo -- with a spiffy new backyard. :) Join Audrey, Ari, Fab, Aabha, Richard, Nipun and a bunch others. RSVP here. Next Wednesday, Gary Zukav and Linda Francis are joining us again as guest listeners! To join us, RSVP here as usual. On Saturday, June 16th, we are holding a full-day Educators retreat with some inspired out-of-town guests. Details here: Cultivating Compassion Quotient This Summer, we will also soon be starting a summer internship, in case you know youngsters who want to deepen their service journeys. (Check out our first-ever interns in 2012: Conversation with Neil and Dillan) In Vietnam, we recently held an unforgettable retreat hosted by our inspired sisters -- Giang and Hang. In Philippines, women's prison held a concert with Nimo's songs; and there was a commencement address on grace: Surrender isn't a sacrifice of the known, but rather a ... Read Full Story

Playfulness At Karma Kitchen Surat -- In 41 Degree Posted by Swara Pandya, May 31 2018 We just got word about a remarkable Karma Kitchen Surat, that continues every month. With 41 degrees temperature (105 degrees Fahrenheit), people on the waitlist to get a seat at the restaurant sat in their cars until they got a call on their cell phone to enter. :) Given the demand for volunteers, they took on -- as usual -- a completely new crew of volunteers. And since May is the time of summer vacation, everything was designed around the theme of playfulness. Below you can see "menu" offered as a crossword puzzle, the name tags with "Class", and they even wore white shirts with name badges, "Class of 2018". The note of gratitude that Parag shared started with, "You guys don’t know what seeds you have planted." That was very generous, when actually it is quite impossible to distinguish seeds turning into fruits, and fruits cultivating seeds. :) Feeling grateful for the many love warriors of this ecosystem.

Rich Man's Song Posted by Vinod Eshwer, May 29 2018 I was deeply inspired by this man in Meghalaya. So I made this. :)

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Our Kind Posted by Ameeta Martin, May 29 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Our Kind Nature. It is in our nature to be kind. When we step into a field of kindness and generosity, we realize our own abundance, and therefore our ability to give to others while reminding them of their own abundance. When an entire system chooses to act accordingly, an energetic alchemy occurs in which humanity's true symbiotic nature may be more fully realized. - Kendrick

Photo From Awakin Istanbul Last Week Posted by Aslinur Akdeniz, May 29 2018 Sharing smiles from the conclusion of our most recent Awakin Circle ...

What Motivates You? 165 Students Answer. Posted by Brinda Govindan, May 29 2018 Earlier this Spring, after many days of protesting and showing up to events around the issue of gun control, I was blown away by the student leadership behind this movement and the vision I have of young people as real change-makers. I shared my feelings with my colleagues and students, and then, in my Intro to Microbiology and Public Health lecture class of 165 students, I asked a simple question at the beginning of one class: "How will you be a change-maker in your profession and what motivates you?" Most students will be entering health-care related professions such as nursing, so I wanted to give them a chance to reflect on why they were here and what keeps them going. They returned their answers anonymously on index cards. What I read brought tears to my eyes and gave me immense hope for the future of medicine! Most students expressed a strong desire to ... Read Full Story

Smile Cards In Vietnamese! Posted by Khang Nguyen, May 28 2018 Words cannot express my gratitude for how we all experienced ServiceSpace in Vietnam, last week during Nipun's visit. With palms folded, I offer a Vietnamese Smile Card translation (also posted on KindSpring):

Meeting Our Two Sisters On My First Day In Vietnam Posted by Nipun Mehta, May 27 2018 I've just returned from a few amazing days in Vietnam. Those stories, however, would be incomplete without the context of two remarkable women: Giang Dang and Hang Mai. First, about Giang. While I stood in immigration lines at the Ho Chi Minh International airport, Giang was waiting outside for a fairly long while. When I saw her, the first thing she said was, "I sent love to everyone who walked in before you." That's the kind of person Giang is. Many moons ago, she used to work at a multi-national aid agency; she left and started her own organization, Action for the City. At one point, they had 17 staff. Seeing herself drown in the superficiality of financial capital, she expanded to "multiple forms of capital" -- part of the staff salary came in vegetables that they grew together. Down that path, she downsized to just a few paid staff and "lot more ... Read Full Story

Awakin RAK - May 2018 Posted by Pooja Zaveri, May 27 2018 We began our session this week on a blissful Friday evening and it was a wonderful evening at Neelam auntie's house. We had our one hour of silence and this was then followed by passage reading which was Exhausting Quest For Perfection by Brene Brown. It’s so true that these days we have started to live in a rather perfectly imperfect world where the likes and dislikes of others have started to matter to us more than what we really think about us. At the end of the passage it states that we need to let go of what people think and those unrealistic expectations from people makes us live a stressful life. There were so many reflections, stories and discussions that we did not realize that it were an hour already. At the end of the session, we realized that as a human we tend to make mistakes and being imperfect ... Read Full Story

HeArt In Toronto! Posted by Thu Nguyen, May 26 2018 Recently, in Toronto, bunch of us have been readying to host an outdoors 'Picnic in the Park' pay-it-forward experiment inspired by Karma Kitchen! It's happening in June, and the menu will have banh mi and fresh fruits from a friend's shipping container market, and the theme is "Kindness". :) Last week, a few of us got together to prep the ambiance -- including painting stones to hold down the picnic blankets. You can even see the hand-print art of our youngest volunteer. :) Being immersed in the tech world, I don't think I've held a paintbrush in decades! Grateful for the opportunity to come together in these ways to grow in service and generosity. :) More photos here :) And if you're in Toronto, come out for lunch on June 16 :) More details here.

Emotions And Decision Analysis? (Talk By Somik) Posted by Rahul Brown, May 26 2018 Somik recently gave an inspiring talk at Stanford's Decision Analysis Conference, and it has stirred up a lot of interest in two fields that don't always get paired up in the same sentence -- Emotions and Decision Analysis.

When I Shared What I Had Never Shared Before Posted by Rick Phillips, May 25 2018 [Below is a transcript of what I had shared to open one of the sacred Awakin Circles last month, when the reading was on stepping into the unknown.] I think it's an interesting question about being willing to give up your attachment to how things ought to be, to be with the uncertainty and then to still move forward on faith that whatever path you choose will actually lead somewhere meaningful. I've lived most of my adult life with chronic depression and for years and years, maybe for 30 years, I was never comfortable about saying anything about it. One day, I was in a workshop -- a very safe space, very much like this Awakin Circle -- and we were encouraged to share something we'd never shared before that created the possibility of making a real difference. And so when it came to my turn, I thought, well, you know, this workshop ... Read Full Story

Artificial Versus Biological Intelligence Posted by Prasad Kaipa, May 25 2018 I recently gave at talk on Artificial Intelligence versus Biological Intelligence, that might resonate with many of you. In particular, how do we differentiate intellect vs. intelligence, knowledge from wisdom? If biological intelligence is indeed much broader than human intelligence, and consciousness is holder of all those intelligences and manifestation, what does conscious leadership look like?