Every now and again we have one of those days that reminds us of just how interconnected all of our paths are and leaves us feeling grateful for the ways in which our journeys are nourished by these interconnections.

A couple of years back, when Nipun gave a talk here in London hosted by Action for Happiness, I met Elina, who runs Wake Up London, at a gathering after the talk, which was exciting as I was so inspired by what they were up to. Fast forward a couple of years when we began brainstorming ideas for bringing Nimo's Empty Hands Music tour to London and thought it would be lovely to reach out to Elina to see if she was feeling moved to collaborate to host an event together with ServiceSpace and the Wake Up London community, and she was totally up for it!  We searched for venues and then Ani followed up on one lead to check out St Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, which we all felt was a perfect space based on her description, as it felt so aligned in spirit with what ServiceSpace, Empty Hands and Wake Up London are all about.

This afternoon the three of us, Elina, Ani and I all had planned a visit to St Ethelburga's to get a feel for the venue to help plan the evening and think about how we could create a lovely ambiance for the Empty Hands Music gathering on November 7th. As we walked into the beautiful serene garden in the courtyard, the first thing that caught my eye was a Peace Pole, imagine my surprise and delight in that moment! :) It immediately took me back to the incredibly inspiring and deeply moving trip Deep and I shared in 2010 to Japan, where we met Yuka (courtesy of Nipun, who had just been hosted by Yuka's family just a few weeks before we arrived) and visited the Fuji Sanctuary, where we learned about the Peace Pole project among many inspiring initiatives. So when I spotted the peace pole, I knew in my heart this place felt like home :)

As we walked around outside waiting for the person we were meeting, we came across an amazing circular meditation tent surrounded by beautiful tiled pathways and featuring stunning stained glass all around with Peace written in different languages.  Ani had organised for us to be shown around by a fellow named Chris who she had been liaising with for the venue hire. Guess who came down to meet us -- much to my surprise, it was Chris Walker, ServiceSpace intern class of 2012! :) I didn't even recognise Chris initially as I had never seen him with glasses on, but he remembered meeting me as Nipun's sister :) when he came to our home for a Wednesday meditation after he returned to London from his internship.  Naturally, we were all taken to a totally different space throughout our visit after all these beautiful seeds were planted right up front!  It was so wonderful to reconnect with Chris, who has been working part-time at St Ethelburga's for the past couple of years, and hear about where his journey has taken him since his ServiceSpace internship.

The stories of the space that Chris shared about St Ethelburga's were so moving and so aligned with the spirit with which Empty Hands Music's gatherings are being held and shared as a gift.  We are very excited to be feeling like we're all coming home to the gathering taking place on November 7th at St Ethelburga's :)

So many interconnected moments in one afternoon, I'm feeling very grateful for all the ways that so many of you have touched my journey over the years :)