Everything Is Waiting For Us Here In NYC Posted by Sarika Jain, Apr 12 2018 Last night, we had a simple, yet beautiful and magical sit here in NYC. Krishan and I started hosting a few months ago, at a point we felt that Lila could start sleeping through the night. Last night we were lucky that the experiment actually worked! We somehow read the wrong passage (about the nautilus and the chambers in it's shell to allow it to float - which was beautiful), and during our mindful meal, in which we first ate in silence for 10 minutes, after doing the Plum Village-inspired mindful eating prayer, we got to read the passage by David Whyte, "Everything is Waiting For You". We ruminated on the special connection we have with our surroundings, especially when we are present and filled with gratitude. Tim shared, "There is a Buddhist saying, that when you place attention on something, you are already filled with gratitude". Krishan reflected about a poem by Thich ... Read Full Story

Reunion In Istanbul Posted by Marian Brehmer, Apr 12 2018 Some magic of ServiceSpace connections from Turkey… Last weekend brother Kishan dropped us a message that one of his dear friends from the Moved by Love ecosystem was visiting Istanbul. They were none other than Ashima and Sikander, the Romania Awakin hosts, along with two friends. Sure enough, we got in touch and arranged a meeting on the Asian side of town. A little while into our conversation over Turkish chai, Ashima and I found out that we had sat in the same Vipassana course in Igatpuri over the new year. But somehow we didn’t get to meet each other one-to-one. It was thrilling to realize that we had already been in the same space physically before. It seemed like life was meant to make us wait until this rainy Sunday afternoon in Istanbul to re-connect :) After visiting a local dargah, we sat down for lunch with Ali Osman, a dear ... Read Full Story

2 Weeks At Sathira-Dhammasathan: Meeting Tara Posted by Zilong Wang, Apr 11 2018 The pilgrimage around the world has led me to many sacred places. A few of them hold a special place in my heart. Those are the communities that I wish to return to again and again, knowing that I will be welcomed home even if I don't know anyone there. Sathira Dhammasathan is one of them. ​ Sathira Dhammasathan (SDS) is much more than a thriving nunnery in the middle of Bangkok. It is an urban oasis, a Dhamma park, a second home for all, located "in seven acres of trees, with lotus ponds, winding paths and meditative nooks. It is a tiny drop of water, radiating peace and serenity amidst the oceanic mega-city of Bangkok." This personalized card was waiting on my bed before I arrived :) A Dhamma Oasis SDS is an active nunnery that also holds jazz concerts under a Bodhi Tree to raise fund for a holistic care hospital. It is ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: The Path Of Posted by Ameeta Martin, Apr 10 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: The Path Of King. As we honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., we must not give up on those who fear and hate. As our featured story highlights, the love that transforms society does not make a distinction between "worthy" and "unworthy" people, between friend and enemy. It is the forces of evil that have to be countered - not the persons doing evil, to whom instead we should extend love. -- Ameeta

Celebrating A Birthday At USC! Posted by Kendrick , Apr 10 2018 Two years ago, my friend and I were living in our fraternity house at USC. With his birthday quickly approaching he came to me with an unusual request, instead of receiving presents and getting drunk (like most every other 21 year old in a fraternity would) he wanted to do ‘random acts of kindness’ instead. I was struck with such an idea and I asked him what exactly had overcome him to have such a novel idea. He told me about a TED talk he had watched by Nipun on designing for generosity which had inspired him. I was impressed. Giving instead of taking for your birthday -- now that was different. I told him I’d be glad to help him out with the random acts of kindness so we started planning out creative things we could do. #1 Hot Chocolate Security: If you’ve heard of USC, you’ve probably also heard it’s ... Read Full Story

Gandhi 3.0 Video! :) Posted by Sachi Maniar , Apr 07 2018 "The world needs change, yes. The education system is broken, the political system is broken, every possible system you can think of needs change. But as you deepen, one might say the biggest system that needs change is this -- my own mind, the fragmented way in which I look at the world." That's really hard, but maybe if you and I hold that inquiry together, a third new possibility might reveal itself in the co-created field of our love. A possibly of inner and outer transformation. With some wonderful editing work by Divyang, and a gang of our media volunteers, here is our Gandhi 3.0 video ... Just seeing the screenshot of all our happy faces makes my heart sing! Thank you, all, for those incredible 5-10 days that none of us ever could've predicted.

A Kid Talking About KindSpring! Posted by Michaele Premet-Rosen, Apr 07 2018 This is a somewhat older video, from folks who market some education products, but it made me smile to see a young kid talking about KindSpring!

Sharing The Gift Of Health Posted by Nisha Srinivasan, Apr 06 2018 A group of volunteers in Coimbatore and other places have been sharing forward the gifts we have received through Nature Cure Camps that focus on Promotion of Health instead of Focus on Disease. These camps are also a a way for us to deepen our practice in Giftivism and broadening the ecology. The experiment is 8 years old and ongoing and hence, thousands of people have attended these camps. In the previous years, volunteers have spent a lot of time talking about how everything in the camp is offered in the spirit of gift and yet, so many would ask at the end of it all - why don't you just tell me how much I need to pay for this and how much for that? This year, that spirit, seems to have come full circle. One of my volunteering assignments for this camp was to call people beforehand to get to ... Read Full Story

King's Way Posted by Rahul Mehta, Apr 05 2018 [Beautiful tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., by our very own Rajni-ji!] Hundreds of marchers, mostly African Americans, were peacefully moving towards city hall in Birmingham, Alabama. The year was 1964 and the American civil rights movement was at its peak. When armed police and firemen, ready with powerful water hoses, moved to block the path of the marchers something utterly unexpected happened. At the call of one of their leaders, the marchers knelt and began to pray. Some of the protesters later reported feeling “spiritually intoxicated”. After a while, one of their leaders got up and told the police that: “All we want is our freedom. How do you feel doing these things?” When the protesters rose and again began advancing the police commissioner, who was well known for supporting racial segregation, shouted: “Turn on the water!” But the firemen refused to comply. Observers reported that they saw some of the firemen ... Read Full Story

Connecting With A Loved One Who Has Passed Posted by Sehr Karim, Apr 05 2018 Dad passed away three weeks before the birth of my son Danyal and because I was about to give birth I couldn't travel, unable to be home for his funeral. He was 59 and he died from a heart attack. It was very sudden. It was as if dad physically vanished and to make matters a little more confusing his spirit has been hanging out since the day he died so in some ways it is as if he hadn't gone anywhere. My confusion about dad's presence or lack of presence and how I should feel about it peaked on his death anniversary. Each 2nd of April, I stand by his grave disoriented, confused, frozen. I literally don't know what I am supposed to feel and so I go numb. My actions are also frozen for example, I cannot ever bring myself to bring flowers to his grave and going to ... Read Full Story

A Magical Farm In The Dubai Desert Posted by Sehr Karim, Apr 04 2018 Universe is the ultimate guide Upon my return from the Gandhi 3.0 retreat in January, I remember standing at Dubai airport and asking universe to find me a pure space like Sughad in Dubai that allows me to stay connected to the land (what seemed an impossible ask but after Gandhi 3.0 I knew anything was possible) and then I forgot about it. Over the next few weeks I got caught up with the idea of launching Tafadalu Cafe (Emirati version of Karma Kitchen). And on the day that I went to Red Crescent to get a volunteer license I was redirected to another project. Meeting Shadia During my third hour at the Red Crescent office, I met a lovely Emirati lady Shadia who used to be a journalist and left her job to set up Al Rawafed Learning and Development Center- a center for displaced children from Syria who have sought refuge ... Read Full Story

Three Kind Acts :) Posted by KindSpring , Apr 04 2018 patjos: For Embeth After reading KS members Petro's post about remembering Embeth tomorrow by releasing some balloons in her memory, I was encouraged to stop by the card shop on the way home where I also bought a packet of green balloons. I asked the assistant if she wouldn't mind filling them with ... michelelpurce: Helpers At Publix Good morning KS family! 😊 well i just keep getting blessed. Yesterday i went to a Publix and found a great spirit. His name is Jonathan. He let me buy half a loaf of bakery bread. Since it is just my uncle and myself so many breads go bad. Andcthen ... kmbhai: ❤️ Minute Of Silence ... ❤️ Minute of Silence and Candle Lighting Ceremony ❤️ Dear friends, please join with us on Sunday, April 1st at 10:30 am, on the auspicious occasion of Easter day, for a minute of silence, in the memory of our dear friend Sanjay. Sanjay was a very intelligent, kind, capable man. ...

Lee Perlman: Bridging Prison Walls And Ivory Towers Posted by Rahul Brown, Apr 04 2018 This week's Awakin Call guest: 'Lee Perlman: Bridging Prison Walls And Ivory TowersReflection questions: Our guest this week is an educator who has bridged the university and prison walls that traditionally separate elite university students and correctional inmates -- to enhance the educational experience for both groups. Do you recall an experience where your learning has been enhanced through interaction and immersion with a very different population? What was the nature of the transformative experience?

The Taste Of Love: Karma Kitchen, Bucharest Posted by Ashima Goyal, Apr 03 2018 “When you prepare a meal with artful awareness, it’s delicious and healthy. You have put your mindfulness, love, and care into the meal, then people will be eating your love. They can fully enjoy the meal with body and mind, just like you enjoy a beautiful work of art.” — Thich Nhat Hanh That beautiful quote sums up the experience of the first Karma Kitchen in Bucharest. Hosted by students, teachers, parents and friends of Verita International School, the team of volunteers welcomed nearly 80 guests into this circle of kindness. From the moment they entered the gates, the guests could see, feel, read, listen, smell and literally taste the love in the air. The day was magical and surreal. Even when it was snowing outside just a week before, we kept the intention of holding it outside in the yard where the kids are out of the school building and are ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Building Our Posted by Ameeta Martin, Apr 03 2018 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Building Our Neighborhoods. Fred Rogers' TV show, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood", was born from his vision of helping children know that they are loved. If adults create a kind and compassionate "neighborhood" where children grow up feeling safe and loved, then they in turn become kinder and more compassionate people. What can we each do to help build a kind of neighborhood that Mr. Rogers' would be proud to live in? - Jane F.

21 Days Of Gratitude At Aravind! Posted by Devendra Tayade, Apr 02 2018 A few months back, Chandni gifted me a journal on "21 Days of Gratitude". And recently, in an online conversation on Healing + Transformation, Priya mentioned research on the Happiness Advantage, which talks about the power of a gratitude practice. It got me thinking, that it could be great to engage a 21-day Gratitude Challenge with physicians and staff at the eye hospital where I work. With the support of KindSpring volunteers, I shared the online version of the gratitude challenge with our design team, and they crafted this incredible workbook below! The drawings themselves are from a remarkable artist with extraordinary pin-hole vision. :) Lots to be grateful for! :)

Moved By Love: Weaving Hearts Together Posted by Shaalini Srinivasan, Apr 02 2018 Latest issue of 'Moved By Love' newsletter is themed Weaving Hearts Together. Since the last 100 years, the values and the ecosystem held around Sabarmati Ashram has been weaving hearts together. This month’s newsletter brings stories of service and transformation of people with ‘dil’ability exploring deeper questions and heArtists crafting heart-pins and leaving white butterflies to spread smiles around the world.

7 Weeks Back Home Posted by Zilong Wang, Apr 02 2018 If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family. - Ram Dass Affliction is Bodhi (wisdom). - Zen saying It has been seven weeks since I've returned "home" to China, after two years on the global pilgrimage, and ten years of living abroad. "Being home" is to share the same space with my parents every day, as we drove through China. "Being home" is to live for a month with my maternal grandparents during the Chinese New Year, caring for them as they are advanced in age. "Being home" is to see our hometown in Inner Mongolia, a place I've only occasionally visited since leaving before the age of two. "Being home" is to get to know China again, a familiar and foreign place, full of possibilities and paradoxes. "Being home" is to continue the heart connections with my global family, and to deepen in daily cultivation. Before two American monks embarked ... Read Full Story

Stitch A Heart Sow A Seed Posted by Sehr Karim, Apr 01 2018 Giving from the heart: Upon returning from Ghandi 3.0 my heart was yearning to create and immediately put all my learnings from the retreat to good use. Nipun kindly introduced me to other volunteers based in Dubai who also recently visited ESI while Nimo's upcoming visit also brought a local community of volunteers together via email as well. There was a flurry of response going back and forth. I observed an urgency to give back in the air. I remember feeling pressured to participate out of wanting to honor and be worthy of the privilege of attending Ghandi 3.0, of wanting to please Nipun and wanting to be a part of the local volunteer community, and I didn't want to miss out. But I also didn't want to fall into the trap of giving out of obligation. Regardless of extrinsic factors I had to go within and meet myself where ... Read Full Story

Awakin RAK - March 2018 Posted by Pooja Zaveri, Apr 01 2018 It was a lovely Wednesday evening at RAK and we had our third session of the year for Awakin RAK at Neelam auntie and Manohar uncle's place. We started off by having one hour of meditation in silence and it was so peaceful. The energies were all so positive around. Then we had the beautiful passage read out about the difficult people. It was very endearing and the discussion was also very positive with lots of examples to deal with difficult people being shared and reflections of what each one of us thought on the passage. The purpose was being able to see the change and transformation happen from within us. This was then followed by a sumptuous dinner. We all wish to thank Neelam auntie and Manohar Uncle for giving us this wonderful opportunity to be connected and meditate. Till we meet soon, Keep smiling :-)