About Me
I'm joining Service Space because ... to be in community
A good day to me is when ... brought to bear, received, and appreciated goodness in the world
My hero in life is ...one hero is my brother, who quietly cultivates truth and consistently expresses love in his own way
My favorite book is ...one old favorite is Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
One thing I'm grateful for is ... a rock message I was once gifted that read 'everyone has something different to offer'
John Powell: Othering And Belonging
Aug 28, 2019, 1 smiles
This week's Awakin Call guest: 'John Powell: Othering And BelongingReflection questions: Can you recall a time when you viewed but did not really see another person? How might that have impoverished you, as well as the unseen person?
Nuggets From Kern Beare's Call
Aug 18, 2019, 5 smiles
Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Kern Beare.
Kern Beare is the founder of Pop the Bubble, a personal initiative born in the wake of the 2016 election to help heal our national divide. “Tucked inside my cozy Silicon Valley ‘bubble,’ I'd become disconnected, oblivious to the experiences of millions of my fellow citizens,” Kern said. So with his 23-year-old son, Kern mapped out a cross-country route to Washington D.C. to talk with people of different backgrounds. Following their one-month, cross-country “conversation road trip”, they gained vital insights around our relationships with one another, and the need to develop radical new skills to heal our nation. With these learnings in mind, Kern created a free, half-day workshop to help participants gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics that turn conversations into conflicts, and to look "beyond" our personal story to access more easily and deeply our ... Read Full Story
Kern Beare: Learning To Live Together
Aug 14, 2019
This week's Awakin Call guest: 'Kern Beare: Learning To Live Together Reflection questions: How has a "difficult conversation" helped to pop your bubble and help you see across difference? What were the characteristics of a successful "difficult conversation"?
Nuggets From Angela Oh's Call
Jun 09, 2019, 1 comments, 8 smiles
This past Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Angela Oh.
Angela Oh is an attorney, ordained Zen Buddhist priest, and nationally recognized expert on race relations and conflict resolution across race and religion. Her work in holding space for peace began in 1992 during the implosion of Los Angeles after the acquittal verdict of four police officers following the videotaped police beating of Rodney King. She became a clear spokesperson and mediator, speaking to the precarious position of the Korean American community whose businesses had been destroyed during the riots, vis-à-vis both the white majority and the African American minority. In 1997 Ms. Oh was named to the Advisory Board of President Bill Clinton’s One America Initiative, which published “best practices” for racial reconciliation. Angela has been a practitioner of Zazen (sitting Zen) for more than two decades, since 1999. Her role in both mediation and meditation ... Read Full Story
Tway Began Finding Heart-shaped Rocks On ...
Jan 30, 2019, 1 comments, 11 smiles
Tway began finding heart-shaped rocks on her long beach walks, and soon was finding dozens, and then hundreds. Locals who had lived there for decades remarked on how unusual that seemed, but Tway wasn't surprised--she took it as an affirming sign of the leap she had made years earlier. After listening further, she felt called to match each heart rock with a story about an act of kindness, and birthed the project: heartrocks.
She's taking her time, waiting for the right stories to come in--maybe you know one? (Hat tip to a certain anonymous member of KindSpring for initially sharing this story :)) And here she is sharing some of the background story on a recent podcast called "The Kindness Podcast".
In honor of the power of small, a couple related quotes:
"There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic." --Anais Nin
"Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world." --Howard Zinn
Flip Side Of No = Yes, And Other Learnings From
May 22, 2018, 1 comments, 13 smiles
"I knew you respected me, because [instead of getting us in trouble right away] you asked what happened first."
I had asked a middle school student how he felt in retrospect about our ad-hoc restorative circle process, following a brief fight that broke out at the end of the first talking circle I co-facilated at that school. Not one to mince words--as I would come to learn and love--he reflected back a gem.
I've been processing many such experiences from my internship at a K-8 school last year, and would like to try to summarize some of the learnings, as well as invite other learnings. In the context of addressing school climate, particularly in terms of encouraging healthy conflict resolution/disciplinary process & positive relationships, here are three summary points:
Finding The "Yes" For Every "No"
One major learning can be summarized with the phrase: the flip side of no = yes. Which is to ... Read Full Story
Sharing Blessings From A Special Union
May 18, 2018, 1 comments, 7 smiles
I was deeply moved recently to be part of a special union between dear friends Nandita and Fahad. They had asked me last year if I would officiate their wedding ceremony, and after quite some dialogue and deliberation, :) I realized that given our shared connection over the years (including hosting Awakin circles together in Philly) and their unique story, it was an opportunity of a lifetime and really the only thing to do was say yes and figure it out along the way.
Many friends offered support in very practical ways (and many more in intangibles ways, I'm sure): Pavi along with Birju and Anne-Marie generously shared notes from their wedding ceremony, including their vows--which themselves had been inspired by Nipun and Guri and others. Jin Chuan Shi, a monk at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, also generously shared of his officiating experience. Nimo sent song suggestions that spoke to ... Read Full Story
3rd Graders Lead The Way On Earth Day
Apr 26, 2018, 1 comments, 6 smiles
Rethink. Refuse. Reuse. Went to a brief press conference at Berkeley Recycling Center earlier this week, where these three words served as a powerful rallying cry by 9-year-old students in Jacqueline's (aka Ms. Omania :)) 3rd grade class at Oxford Elementary. It was an honor to witness them, after having had the pleasure to visit them briefly last week when Nimo stopped by the school for a return visit, on our way up to Ukiah--as Xiao just elegantly and humorously chronicled. :)
Last week, upon arriving at the classroom, we were greeted with a mason jar's worth of trash. Hmm. :) The student greeter proceeded to tell us how that was the landfill-trash contents for the ENTIRE class for the ENTIRE year so far (about 150+ days). You know Nimo, not one to miss an opportunity to highlight the brilliance of children--the following picture emerged:
The classroom visit itself saw sharing from ... Read Full Story
KarmaTube Volunteers' Top Videos From 2017
Dec 30, 2017, 2 comments, 16 smiles
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
Homage To Empty Hands Pilgrimage
Jun 26, 2014, 2 comments, 10 smiles
Moved to share a few tidbits about recent experiences with the Empty Hands Tour, which is truly a thing of authentic beauty and humbling, nod-your-head awesomeness. Seeing Nimo in action -- nay, being with him in action :) -- it's astounding to ponder the sheer level of inner-oriented practice through quiet, personal cultivation and simple, outer service leading up to this point in his journey...
Which is intersecting so elegantly and serendipitously with so many other journeys.
For example, at last night's gathering in Philadelphia, anchored by the indefatigable Audrey and creativity-superstar Lahar (who recently crafted these gorgeous gratitude journals), the space witnessed a wonderful confluence of paths with such wonderful souls as dear brother Chaz, recent awakin call guests Sunil, and Vilma (who drove all the way from Connecticut and back!), Karmatube volunteers Vicky and Shail, Nandita who wants to start an awakin circle in Philly -- even Drew who didn't know exactly ... Read Full Story
