Awakin Calls has been on a roll recently. Three weeks ago, we launched a revamped website. Two weeks ago, Alan Wallace set a record for attendance. Last weekend, Parker Palmer upped even that with 450+ RSVPs. And tomorrow's call with NY Times best-selling author, Mary Pipher, seems to be heading in that range too.

For every Saturday's call, we assemble a crew of volunteers. It typically takes about 40 hours of volunteer work for each call, and last week, I got to play a small part in it. Our guest was the revered spiritual activist and community builder Parker Palmer, who first popularized “mobius strip” as referring to the integral dance between our inner and outer lives. Anna Skrzypczynska wrote the bio, Pavi hosted the call and posted the memorable "nuggets", and Preeta moderated the conversation, I did the live-streaming, Prabha managed the post-call editing (also on iTunes), and Gayathri and an entire crew of volunteers are busy transcribing it so it can shared on various other platforms. It's quite a labor-of-love production!

Being a small part of that team, I was copied on the feedback emails post-call. And the outpouring of gratitude was humbling, to say the least.



One listener wrote in that "Parker Palmer described a way to engage one-on-one with someone diametrically (seemingly) opposed to one’s framework of values and politics. While I've heard this before he described it in a way I immediately thought of how to engage my brother and a (now estranged) friend. Now that I am newly retired, [I am inspired] to get my feet on the streets and live engaged with my values."

Another wrote: “The openness, willingness to share some of his most vulnerable times and his humbleness in advising were highlights for me. Rarely have I resonated so thoroughly with any one person's story. I was already familiar with much of his work, but hearing him talk about it in conversation touched my spirit in a way that was unexpected.” A new listener appreciated the unique format and ethos of Awakin Calls: “I appreciated the host and moderator allowing Parker to have periods of silence and the time to really delve into a subject. In my experience this is unusual, generally a host or moderator wants to move along so they can get through agenda. This was so satisfying.” And a veteran Awakin Calls participant wrote in that “In my experience, this was one of the best Awakin Calls ever! Parker Palmer was such a fountain of authenticity, deep wisdom, vulnerability, humility. There are so many nuggets from him that distill the essence of underlying truths that I — and I suspect most of us — are currently experiencing in the world."

In fact, the highlights were so many that I will have to go bullet-point on all of you. :)

Cultivating the Inner Life, Being Vulnerable, and Living a Life of Authenticity

• "The work of social transformation needs to be sustained by a commitment to the inner life. No amount of pain that others can inflict on us is greater than the pain we inflict on ourselves when we live disconnected from our inner lives."
• "There were many [powerful moments in the call] but the power of vulnerability and the deep appreciation of otherness rang for me. I was also taken by the notion of "what can't you not do?" as a focal point in my life. Conspiring in our own diminishment. Wow. A truly inspiring gentle man."
• "Being whole is acknowledging my brokenness."
• "Power of vulnerability - how being emotionally vulnerable creates connection with others. Inner journey and social change is connected, changing our inner climate will affect the global climate. Embracing it all Inviting people, at their own readiness, acknowledging and accepting our inner clock anger is a form or energy, how can I harness this energy cultivating the belief that small acts matter/they are important."

Humility and Depression

• "I am always fascinated by the paths people take and the obstacles they had to endure to get to where they are - while Mr. Palmer mentioned several times the privileges he had - he was the epitome of humble. I enjoyed is explanations and experiences."
• "Depression is a situation where a human being loses his social connection and does not feel confident of being able to interact with other human beings. He wants to just be left alone and the best help that anyone can offer that person is just be with him and NOT OFFER ANY ADVICE. No counseling no advice ... Just place a hand on the shoulder, give him a shoulder to rest on, hold the hands or massage his palms or feet in silence, and let him recover his composure by himself."
• "Depression that can reveal doorways to deeper spiritual growth and wholeness."
• "Parker has lived a very interesting Life and hearing about his early roots, his father in particular, was meaningful. Hearing about his personal struggles with depression and also not fitting in helped get a more human picture of Parker and provided an opportunity to look more deeply into my own periods of self doubt and fear of failure. When do I experience such feelings now? How do these feelings prevent me from living life fully, with totality?"
• "* The humility and humanity of such a highly respected elder * His belief in small acts and two examples of how each person can bridge the divide between inner and outer * His assurance that showing up as our true self is the only gift we have to give the world * The deep resonance of his humour and his courage to reveal his challenges with depression, particularly that he recognized the point at which he had incorporated the essence of that depression such that he could talk about it without other people worrying that he would fall apart at the seams. * I could go on and on!"

The Power of Small Acts

• "Beware of the toxicity of bigness and believe in the power of small acts."
• "He offered hope for making small, local efforts to bring about change in the world. It’s easy to get discouraged and he made such individual efforts seem relevant and effective."
• "small loving acts are important, as are patience and trust. As a Secular Franciscan, I resonated with the idea of going to the margins, the edges - where people may be struggling or very different from me - not the places of 'power' in the sense of finances or prestige. Remain humble - always learning and growing - let yourself be cared for by others if necessary. Become willing to live in service to others."
• "After the discussion, I became more familiar with the Circles of Trust Touchstones - and I appreciated his explanation that change occurs from the beginning of one person - and don't think you can't be that one person - very inspiring."

Community, Democracy and the Politics of Rage

• "Describing the current situation as politics of rage vis-a-vis politics of the vulnerable heart, would make all the difference in the way we respond to it. This is one of the highlights for me."
• "Politics of rage vs Politics of liberation - take your rage to a new level, take the energy of anger and with a liberating community you can find ways fruitful ways to express yourself. -friendship and rescue - cultivate small acts of kindness."
• "The insights related to community, democracy and woundedness that can trigger rage and reactionary politics."
• "He provided excellent insights about how to meet and communicate with those who seem so different from us—those who are driven by hate, but may often simply be broken-hearted people."
• "There were so many, it's hard to single out a few. The importance of one's inner journey in working with others, including the importance of humility; the idea of democracy as a "community of communities;" and some of the other concepts and approaches Parker Palmer spoke of regarding "politics of rage," circles of trust and more."
• "1) Sharing our stories and experiences and how they have shaped us - this is how we can build relationship, community, "us-ness" because it is our stories that contain our humanity - this is "pre-political" and where we can begin. 2) Cultivate the belief that small acts count 3) show up as my "true self"- anything less or other is cause for sadness - we are called to stand on this ground of true self as well as die there."
• "Loved the open questions and Parker's engaging responses. As he told and reframed some of the stories of his own life and experiences, he helped me feel more connected with others who are struggling to doing the important work of building meaningful community."

And last but not least, here's a note from Parker Palmer himself:

How was your overall experience of the call? "Superb! One of the best online experiences I’ve had. Preeta is a well-prepared and excellent interviewer, and Pavi is a warm, hospitable, and very articulate host. Both gave great guidance to the process, and protected the time wonderfully well." Any process improvements? I can’t think of a single one! Are there ways we can support you further? As I said on air, you’ve already done that by having me as an Awakin guest, just as DailyGood has by publishing various essays and speeches of mine. I’d be glad to do it again whenever you’d like.

What a joy to play a small part of the unfolding. Most of us just contribute a few hours each month (you can also join in the fun anytime!), but collectively, we get to put such sacred conversation out in the world. Being all-volunteer, commercial-free, independent of scale, and deeply inner-transformation driven makes for a quite a compelling package. :)