Can We Take Away The Pain Of Others? Posted by Nipun Mehta, Mar 18 2014 I got a touching email question today: "I lost my mom when I was 6 months old.  Since then, my grandma has been like my mother.  She is now 75 and enduring a lot of physical pain.  We have visited many good doctors, hospitalized her and so on, but the pain is just worsening.   At a personal level, I meet her every evening for an hour, love her, do some nonsensical stuff to bring a smile on her face, massage her neck and back and so on.  I want to believe that love can relieve her pain, but on the days when she is severe pain, I lose faith.  Do you think love can really heal this pain?  If so, what am I lacking?  Is there a way to transfer her pain to me?  I can understand if you don't have time to respond, since you must be getting so ... Read Full Story

Roadmap We've Developed At Metta Posted by Michael Nagler, Mar 18 2014 Had a great SSp meeting this morning, and wanted to shared the Roadmap with the ServiceSpace community.  Roadmap is a model that displays the inherent connection among the many social actions moving us toward a new world of peace and justice, and a set of tools that enable participants to connect with each other, find needed resources, etc. Why Roadmap? Every social movement needs to have two things: strategy and unity. Roadmap is a framework that can help today’s many movements, organizations, and projects to develop both. The time has come for those of us who are working on one issue or another – or who have not yet gotten engaged in any issue – to join hearts and minds into a diverse but united movement. Let the conversations begin (or continue) ...    

Spread Love Everywhere You Go Posted by KindSpring.org, Mar 18 2014 Dear friends, I hope that all is well. One of the things I know is that it is human nature to want things. We all want more money, better homes, better cars, and better relationships and so on. So what is the secret to getting all that we want? I have been looking for that answer for a while and if you have it I pray you will share. Here is what I would like to share, I started tithing last year and I made the minimum amount based on my income. This past Sunday as I reflected in all that is going well in my life I realized that I was not giving back at the rate to which I am being given. This made me think of life in general and how we want so much from life but we are willing to give so little. We often agonize about having to be on the giving end and all of us want to be on the receiving end. This is true in terms of finances, careers, achievements and relationships. We are always so adamant on our expectations but so lax in our giving.But what if we changed our habits? What ... full story: Spread Love Everywhere You Go

Recently A Lot Of People From ... Posted by Amit Dungarani, Mar 18 2014 Recently a lot of people from various parts of the country and globe have reached out to us expressing gratitude for the weekly Awakin Calls. One comment/question that frequently comes up is that people are sad they aren't able to make a particular call but would like to listen to it later. As a friendly reminder, I thought I'd let people know that you can not only visit our Awakin Call website to find past guests and listen to recordings of the calls on your desktop. However, if you are away from your computer on the go in this increasingly "mobile" world, than you can download podcasts of our calls in iTunes! Last week's call with Professor Ken Fuchsman and the prior week's call with Nipun have been posted!   

A Place For Generosity Based Publishing Posted by DailyGood.org, Mar 18 2014 The Concord Free Press operates under a tradition-smashing publishing model: It thrives on generosity rather than a profit margin. The authors that approach the Concord Free Press give them the rights to publish an initial run of 3,000 books, which the CFP then distributes for free to readers, along with a request to make a donation of their choice. Since 2008, when the CFP began this ground-breaking adventure in generosity-based publishing, it has encouraged more than $375,000 in giving. Learn more about their model and its impact here. [Full Story]

Philanthropy Of A Beggar Posted by Neerad trivedi, Mar 17 2014 [It's great to see Times of India cover a story like this, and spread the idea of learning generosity from those who have the least.] It is difficult to believe that a beggar can do this. Yet it is true. For the third year in succession, Khimji Prajapati has donated a large part of alms collected by him to buy uniforms for a dozen poor girl students of Government Primary School II in Mehsana. He spent a major portion of his savings of Rs 3,000 collected while begging to buy these uniforms. "I know the pain of these children," he said when asked about his gift to the poor children. It was a sight on Monday as shabby looking Prajapati limped through the school gates on crutches to give away the school uniforms to the poorest of the children, six of whom come from Muslim families, four are orphans and two are children ... Read Full Story

A Hindi Song That Could Be ServiceSpace Anthem :) Posted by Afreen Malim, Mar 17 2014 Last weekend, Dinesh Uncle and Praveen sang a Hindi song -- which would be like the quintessential Service Space song if there ever was one! Here's the Hindi song: And the lyrics, which isn't a great translation but conveys the gist: To offer yourself for someone's smile, To share someone's grief, To have love in your heart for another, This is what life is all about. Sure, we are poor, by the measure of our pockets, Even so, we are rich by heart. Perish for love that is life, Long for spring that is life, This we believe, even if others may not, That this is what life is all about. Trust in connections from heart to heart, This is how we keep love alive. Even if we die, someone will remember, That we will smile through someone's tears A flower will tell a bud, on and on, That this is what life is all about ...  To have love in your heart for someone. 

... Posted by Tejal Patel, Mar 17 2014 3 STEPS TO RADICALLY INCREASE SELF-LOVE - Astitva Seekers No Description Found

From The New York Times: The Science ... Posted by Aryae Coopersmith, Mar 17 2014 From The New York Times: The Science of Paying It Forward Interesting research from Cornell University. They study the effects on groups of people of "observing generosity" and "receiving generosity." Another example of the academic/scientific community starting to catch up with what the ServiceSpace community already knows! :)    

How Can Hyper-information Be Used To ... Posted by Kim Ringeisen, Mar 17 2014 How can hyper-information be used to address hunger in the US? The US is the world leader in reducing world hunger and a nation that produces more food then is needed for domestic consumption. Hunger caused by insufficient funds is different a different problem to solve from hunger caused by insufficient food, irrespective of it's causation, the impact is the same. Can a county or city supported farm provide more for the citizens then handing out welfare? Who has implemented such a project that is willing to share the outcomes?