Awakin Ripples - From Mumbai To Istanbul :) Posted by Aslinur Akdeniz, Jan 02 2018 The entrance is adorned with orange and red velvet flowers. We take our shoes at the entrance of the apartment and take the barefoot barefoot board. On the 21st of December, my husband Marian and I have been travelling in India, and had the gift of circling up at Rahul and Kinnari's Awakin Circle in Mumbai with Nipun! In such a space, I found myself so very grateful for the opportunity to remember that my and your essence is same and all I need to do is to cultivate this awareness intentionally by sharing the heart space with heart friends. Here is a bit more about the beautiful evening (in Turkish) and may the ripples spread in Turkey! Speaking of which, here's photo of our first Awakin Circle in Istanbul from November 2016. We were 13 people from Germany, Iran, India, Italy, Japan and Turkey! We feel even more eager to continue when we are back to Istanbul. Lots to pay forward...

Awakin Toronto New Year Smiles :) Posted by Thu Nguyen, Jan 02 2018 I recently sent the note below to our local Awakin Circle community in Toronto, and just wanted to share how grateful I am for all of you, as the invisible hands and ladderers in cultivating this community. We're doubling in size in January after 5 months - generosity really does scale!! ;) I am truly blessed to be on this path of stillness and service with you. Sending you all much love, air hugs and blessings for the new year. --- Dear Friends, I hope that your holidays are going well and that you've had a chance to pause and rest. When I look back at this past year and what I'm most proud of... It is the seeds that we planted to connect us to sit in stillness, share our collective wisdom and meal together. Whether it was an email exchange to coming out to one or more of our sittings, it was ... Read Full Story

KarmaTube Volunteers' Top Videos From 2017 Posted by Chris Johnnidis, Dec 30 2017 The KarmaTube team consists of video scouts, video reviewers, writers, syndication outreach, coordinators, tech, liaisons to KT community, and so on. Amazing to ponder the many moving parts behind the relatively straightforward concept of packaging an inspiring video with a description and three be-the-change suggestions. After recently enjoying some opportunities to collaborate across roles, we wanted to share one such mini-project--which has been done from time to time in the KT past as well--a collection of some of our favorite KarmaTube videos from 2017: I. Playing For Change -- Soccer Without Borders Abhinav writes: It is one of the many videos that showcase tragic suffering that children across the globe unfortunately face and how simple acts of kindness like just playing soccer can be so morally uplifting. The video to me is very moving considering the level of difficulties that humans have created in this world and also educating on how simply ... Read Full Story

Moved By Love: Silent, Effortless Service Posted by Shaalini Srinivasan, Dec 29 2017 Latest issue of 'Moved By Love' newsletter is themed Silent, Effortless Service. Ishwar kaka lived a life of silent, effortless service. He is the deepest inspiration for our service family and this month as we remember and honor him, we bring stories of effortless service from different parts - exploring inclusion, kids sitting in meditation and heart-made trash-cans.

David Fryburg: You Are What You See: Inspiring Posted by Rahul Brown, Dec 27 2017 This week's Awakin Call guest: 'David Fryburg: You Are What You See: Inspiring KindnessReflection questions: How does exposure to positive news about kindness, generosity, and compassion affect your well-being and health? How powerful do you find visual images to be in reinforcing either positive or negative news?

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Be Humble And Posted by Ameeta Martin, Dec 26 2017 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Be Humble And Kind. The wisest and most enlightened beings amongst us practice a virtue that highlights the essence of who we are - humility. As the article below highlights: "Humility starts when we realize that we are not entitled to anything, we are nothing of ourselves, and there is something bigger than ourselves at every turn." --Ameeta

Karma Kitchen @ Auroville Posted by Zilong Wang, Dec 26 2017 “The food tastes like Love!” “Best meal I’ve ever had!” “The volunteer team was in FLOW!” These are some of the common sentiments after an epic Karma Kitchen experiment in Auroville. Within 2 hours on a sunny Sunday, the team welcomed over 120 guests to co-create the magic of deliciousness and generosity. (Smiling volunteers at the end of a 9-hour day!) Karma Kitchen, a gift-economy restaurant, was the grand finale of a 3-day festival of love and kinship in Auroville hosted by ServiceSpace. A brochure on each flower-adorned table introduced the context for Karma Kitchen: Sharing food is a basic and universal human tendency. Feeding others and sitting down to a communal meal is a cross-cultural ritual that nourishes the spirit of giving. Karma Kitchen is one modern experiment to revive the ancient chain reaction of generosity in the context of a pay-it-forward restaurant. Entirely run by volunteers, our meals are cooked and served with love, ... Read Full Story

Paying It Forward Humbly Posted by Kozo Hattori, Dec 25 2017 Dear Service Space Community, On this holy day, I can't help but think that I might not be here today if it weren't for all the blessings and support I received from this ecosphere. I can never pay back the kindness I received during my healing journey, but I will continue to try and pay it forward. On that note, I would like to offer anyone and everyone a copy of the book I just published about the healing grace of cancer. Please share this link with anyone who might be served by this humble offering. Click here for a free copy. The book will be free for the next five days starting on Christmas. Thank you all for all you have done visibly and invisibly for me and my family these past few years. I love you all. With Aloha, Makala Kozo Hattori

A Sweet Journey To A Magical Waterfall Posted by Poonam Singh, Dec 22 2017 We set ourselves on a mission that morning to go for a group hike on our last day in Hawaii together. Our group consisted of my 1-year old baby daughter, our parents, my husband and and our other two children. We were a big group of all generations! Our mission: see a waterfall. Be together. When we realized the hike was up a mountain and it was rainy and cold, I offered to stay back with the baby. I was skeptical, but my husband kindly offered to pick up the baby and hike. Everyone said let's all try together. One step at a time. Let's see. Up we walked together. The rain continued to fall. When we walked a little way, our first view of the mountains and trees took our breath away. Lush foliage. Overlapping tree branches. The sound of rain. Streaming water. So much greenery. Wow this must be what nirvana feels ... Read Full Story

Inclusion Retreat: Inward Flowering In Oneness Posted by Jaideep Rao, Dec 21 2017 Blog co-authored by Priyanka Peeramsetty & Priya Charry When we discuss inclusion in the disability sector, we often engage with issues such as accessibility and equal opportunity. We speak in terms of product design, business goals, and legal requirements. However, these topics rest just on the surface of a much deeper pool of considerations because, at its core, inclusion is a mindset that honors the humanity in each and every one of us. This is among the lessons learned at the second Inclusion Retreat (first one was in ESI Sughad in 2016), held 11-13 December at Naimisam (the Jiddu Krishnamurti Centre). Located an hour’s drive outside of Hyderabad, Naimisam is a meditation and retreat center and a “space of deep discovery” according to its caretaker, Aparajita Rao. The Inclusion Retreat addressed the concept of inclusion from a unique perspective fueled by personal stories of kindness and compassion. The forty participants came from diverse ... Read Full Story

Bonding Before Anything Posted by Anuj Pandey, Dec 21 2017 [Below is another sweet share from a recent Awakin Circle, from our soulful friend, Astrid, who was visiting from Chile.] When I was in fourth grade, I had an amazing lesson with a horse. I really wanted to learn how to ride. There was a horse standing by the tree and it was the gardener's horse. And I was asking him to teach me how to ride. But he wouldn't teach me, so I hung out with a horse. I started lifting the horses' legs and arms, and pulling the hair the tail laying down underneath the horse, leaning on the horse until I felt really ready to sit on its back. I went up to the gardener and said, "I'm ready for the lesson." He said, "Get on the horse. Find a way to get on the horse. Then, take the reins. Loosen the reins to walk, pull to stop. Pull left to ... Read Full Story

Glorified Maintenance Engineer Posted by Somik Raha, Dec 20 2017 My friend Raghu Arur recently shared a gem about Swami Prabuddhananda, the head monk of the Vedanta Society in San Francisco who passed away in 2014. I have interacted with Swami P and was always struck by his powerful presence and wisdom. This story was shared directly by Swami P's acolyte with Raghu. This young monk-in-training found himself with a huge work burden and finally reached a point where he expressed his frustration to Swami P. "I came here to be a monk, but instead, I find myself being a glorified maintenance engineer." Swami P responded simply to him, "Aren't we all glorified maintenance engineers?" The profundity of that comment struck me. It feels spot on -- for any field of work that we may pick, legal, software, non-profit, etc., the moment we start caring, we become glorified maintenance engineers! The acolyte found that response truly freeing and he stopped fighting with the nature of things.

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Our True Posted by Ameeta Martin, Dec 19 2017 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Our True Spirit. The holiday season seems to amplify the loving spirit within us. Here at KindSpring, the number of kindness stories we see rises during this season. This time of the year is a great opportunity to rekindle that spirit of giving within us. And perhaps nourishing our hearts can enable us, to take that joy and our loving spirit and spread it throughout the year! --Ameeta

How Much Is A Dollar Worth? Posted by Anuj Pandey, Dec 19 2017 [At last Wednesday's Awakin Circle in Santa Clara, the poetic passage, What You Missed That Day You Were Absent In Fourth Grade, prompted so many rich stories of memorable teachers in our lives. In particular, Shobhit recounted this sweet story of an impressionable childhood lesson from his mother -- on the price and pricelessness of money, candy, and integrity.] I'm reminded of a time when I didn't know what money is, and my first lesson in the nuances of its value. :) So of course I knew what money is, but I didn't know whether $1 was bigger, or 50 cents was bigger, or if 25 cents was bigger. :) My mom would sometimes give us small change -- around 25 cents -- and outside the school there was a small stall where they sold candies. There, 25 cents could buy you a lot of candies! :) One day, as I was taking ... Read Full Story

KindSpring Weekly: Spotlight On Kindness: Unlikely Posted by Ameeta Martin, Dec 13 2017 Latest issue of 'KindSpring Weekly' newsletter is themed Spotlight On Kindness: Unlikely Friendships. Herman Melville once said, "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." This week's stories bring together some of the unlikeliest and sweetest threads. --Guri Mehta

Laddership News: Borders, Edges And Bridges Posted by Jane Murray, Dec 11 2017 This month's 'Laddership Newsletter' was just posted online. As 2017 draws to a close we take a look at what separates us and what draws us together through two very different narratives. Zilong takes us through his one and a half years on the road and all of the borders, literal and metaphorical, that he has bridged. Min describes the internal edges and borders that were crossed by random acts of kindness in Berkeley.

That One Person Posted by Anuj Pandey, Dec 11 2017 [I'm always humbled by the illuminating snapshots of life that surface during each Awakin Circle. Last Wednesday, on the coattails of Preeta's beautiful opening, Kozo shared this powerful story about his friend's encounter at a local pharmacy.] One day, I got a call from a friend. He's this guy from Hawaii, and he lives in Puerto Rico now. He had lost his job, and he was going through a rough patch in life. His daughter had anorexia and almost died. Puerto Rico itself is in shambles right now. And because he had lost his job, he started working at a pharmacy or drugstore chain down there, called Longs or CVS, or something like that. He was working at this little drugstore, just doing clerk work, ringing up and bagging people's purchases. He's an educated man, and it was way below his qualifications and pay scale. One day, this woman came in. She was ... Read Full Story

Walking Into Stillness: A Walker's Sharing Posted by Nisha Mothilal, Dec 11 2017 A heartwarming sharing by Afshan Randera Walking in stillness – Richmond Park – the penultimate walk This was my first time coming to Walking In Stillness and my first time in Richmond Park. What a beautiful setting and what amazing company. A group of us – many of us meeting for the first time – set out from the entrance to the park, and made our way silently and meditatively towards the middle of the forest. Our focus was only on ourselves, our steps, our own movements and the quietening of our minds. After the walk, we sat down to meditate by the trees with their gorgeous autumnal colored leaves. When my opened my eyes, everything was vibrant. The green of the grass was brighter, the trees in the distance looked like rainbow colors with their varying greens, yellows and orange leaves. After the meditation, we all spoke of our experiences. There were ... Read Full Story

17 Year-Olds On Wisdom Posted by Min Lee, Dec 11 2017 As a ripple of many beautiful encounters, few of us have been hosting a 9-month Laddership Circle with 7 high school seniors from the K-12 girls' school at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. This month, the theme was on wisdom, and we were amazed by some of the insights that these teenagers presenced! I don't know what I was doing at 17, but probably not spending a Saturday night in a circle of sharing on wisdom! :) Here's few excerpts from their reflections: "I realized that wisdom also does not fall into one archetype, it comes in all different forms and sometimes it is a gentle nudge in the side and other times it hits you like a brick, but each time we should embrace the gift we have been given and impart it on others as well." "People who embody wisdom are not necessary positive, but forward thinking. They do not dwell ... Read Full Story

Dustbins Of Love : Dil Ka Dubba Posted by Kishan Laddha, Dec 10 2017 Yesterday was Imam Saheb's death anniversary, he came with Gandhiji from South Africa renouncing his established business and decided to settle in Sabarmati Ashram serving for the freedom movement. To give homage to Imam saheb, remembering the incredible work he did for communal harmony and for promoting Khadi, Jayesh bhai along with other residents of Gandhi Ashram visited Imam Manzil and also went to his graveyard and offered prayers and flowers. On the way back Jayesh bhai met an old friend Dil Khush bhai, hisbname literally means happy heart. Jayesh bhai asked DilKhush to come with him and have a cup of tea, and they visited the tea stall opposite Gandhi Ashram. Dil Khush' profession is to mend old tin cans into dustbins and even in the process he uses the waste tin sheets to make dust pans. His love to make best out of waste could be the core of his ... Read Full Story