A Circle Of Friendship Posted by Frances Freais, Jun 27 2020 At age three, I was inseparable from my parents. Where they went I went, always reaching out for their hands to ensure their presence, always calling out for them in desperation to verify that they were there. Never having left their side until the age of three, I believe I had what you might call separation anxiety. This made preschool an exciting but difficult time for all of us. As we approached my preschool for the first time, one of my hands tightly squeezed my father's hand, the other nervously grasped my mother’s. We walked past the cheerful sign out front which read “Welcome to the Lakeshool!,” up the stairs and through the front door. I was happy and curious—what could this new place be? There were other children for me to play with, toys, snacks, and of course my parents were right there. Soon enough, however, I was introduced to ... Read Full Story

Love In Auschwitz Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jun 15 2020 [A stunning true story that recently came my way.] I was a fierce, unhappy, intellectual twenty-eight-year-old, still uneasy with all things “mystical,” stalking in old jeans and cheap army boots around Jerusalem. My guide to the mysteries of the Old City was “Isaiah,” plump, bald, late-middle-aged Israeli poet and mystic who looks, as he himself says often, “like a semi-enlightened sunburnt frog” and who has, over two days, become a friend. I love his sardonic wit, his baroque flights of phrase, his kabbalistic learning, the way his eyebrows twitch asymmetrically when he gets excited, which he does often. Today, he is wearing bright red sneakers and a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt with great orange suns on it. Our talk is light, fact-stocked, and airy until we find ourselves in the early afternoon on the Mount of Olives, and stand, suddenly silent, in the sunny ochre olive grove where Christ wandered on the night before ... Read Full Story

Youth Who Matter Posted by Sonya Surapaneni , Jun 13 2020 As an extroverted teenager in quarantine, striving to meet my own goals and expand my skills, I'm constantly looking for opportunities to give back to the community. I'm Sonya Surapaneni, a rising sophomore at The Athenian School. Through the Corona Virus, I have remained positive, trying to shine light on small acts of kindness through the world-wide pandemic. Although I've been researching and writing about things happening at a large scale, I missed my best friends trying to give back to society - right under my nose! Greatly inspired by this, I wanted to share it with the commmunity, in hope of providing light through the events of the world. I FaceTimed each of them, asked them a couple of questions, and took notes on their ideas - quickly putting them in a Q&A format in a Google Doc. I have linked the interviews down below. Enjoy! INTERVIEW 1 Cailean Fernandes and ... Read Full Story

A Prayer For Self Posted by Bradley Stoll, Jun 11 2020 A beautiful prayer I had shared last night from Larry Yang's article in this week's Awakin reading. May I be loving, open, and aware in this moment; If I cannot be loving, open, and aware in this moment, may I be kind; If I cannot be kind, may I be nonjudgmental; If I cannot be nonjudgmental, may I not cause harm; If I cannot not cause harm, may I cause the least harm possible. I love how Larry has scaffolded these values in which he strives to live, yet understands that at times he may come up short in one, so he moves onto something more doable. And if that doesn't work, he works his way to something that he can do. As I read it over and over, it reinforced in me how imperfect I am. And yet, at each moment, I am exactly the being I am supposed to be.

All You Need To Know About Love And Posted by Tami Shaikh, Jun 11 2020 It all starts as soon as we are born and continues until our last breath- the quest for love and how it makes everything perfect. The ultimate reward is to give and receive perfect love, and we spend all our life looking for that endorsement. The validation of worthiness and the feeling of being unconditionally loved by another perfect human makes our journey painful and colorful. Being a single woman in my 40’s, I am always told that I “need” to fall in love and find someone because there must be an emptiness in my life. When I tell them that I’m content and happy, the reaction is disbelief and a sarcastic look. One person even said, “Oh, you must be a feminist.” I ask you- Does love really exist? Or is it companionship that is the ultimate goal? We watch shows and movies where girl meets boy and in the ... Read Full Story

The Third Force Posted by Bonnie Rose, Jun 10 2020 Sweet are the uses of adversity. – William Shakespeare Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. – Rumi Reality goes by many names – God, Spirit, The Absolute, Love, The Tao, Awareness, The Universe. Reality is perfect, meaning inclusive of everything. Reality is an unfettered field “out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing.” Opposites arise in the field – good, bad, darkness, light, joy, sorrow. These qualities arise in concert, each a complement to the other. But the human brain struggles with opposites. We attach to one side of an equation and call it Reality. Our point of view is never the whole picture. Fortunately, the Universe is maintained by scientific/spiritual laws. We’re familiar with laws of science. The laws of physics get us where we need to go. The laws of gravity help us stay where we need to stay. A spiritual law, the Law ... Read Full Story

A Deeper Inquiry And Reflection Posted by Nipun Mehta, Jun 08 2020 Dear Friends, We recently received an “open letter for the collective healing around Pancho Ramos-Stierle’s behavior towards women” on this website. It has been difficult to process, especially given his years of service work in the Bay Area, including in ServiceSpace and other communities. We feel deep grief and sadness for the suffering expressed by the women, who courageously came forward in the letter to share their stories. We began hearing indirect reports about efforts underlying this letter about two months ago. At that time, apart from knowledge of a couple of longer-term relationships over many years, we had limited background on Pancho's intimate life. The released letter offered an understanding of the perspectives, hurt, and pain of many affected women. The overarching patterns described in it are deeply disturbing, and in profound misalignment with our values. Recognizing and honoring the serious nature of what the women shared in their letter, we initiated ... Read Full Story

Richard's Interview On Nature Of Aesthetic Thought! Posted by ServiceSpace , Jun 07 2020 [Guess what we ran into! Richard's interview last week on the nature of Aesthetic Thought!] This week we feature a pre-recorded conversation with Richard Whittaker about the nature of Aesthetic Thought, the connection of Numinous in artistic expression, and the exquisite sensitivity of the human instrument when unmediated by conceptual association. Richard Whittaker is the co-founder, with Rue Harrison, of the non-profit "Society for theReCognition of Art" and founding editor in 1998 of the magazine works & conversations. Earlier he founded The Secret Alameda [published from 1990-96]. He is also the West Coast editor of Parabola Magazine. Although Whittaker has a background in philosophy [BA] and clinical psychology [MA] and has done graduate work at the GTU in Berkeley, his connections with art go back over forty years including photography, ceramics, painting and sculpture. In answer to the question of why he started an art magazine, Richard says: A central motivation was my ... Read Full Story

How A Little Impulse Led To A Profound Awakening Posted by Chi Phan, Jun 04 2020 Any story begins with an unexpected challenge that confronts a character with an urgent need to pay attention, to make a choice, a choice for which s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an outcome, and the outcome teaches a moral. The moral destroys the inner divided lens and brings forth an equanimous lens. This lens led me into creating pockets of service across Hanoi, Vietnam during the strange times of COVID. “Thuong nhau so gi Covid”, roughly translated as “when we care for one another we do not fear Covid”, is the phrase coined by the other girl who started this project with me. Although my partner and I did most of the frontline work with some help from my mom, I cannot forget to think about all the amazing people that I met along the way. I want to draw you all to my four part story that I captured in ... Read Full Story

A Brother Returning Back To Iran Posted by Amir Imani, Jun 03 2020 Last week, we were thrilled to Nipun connect with our community in Iran. ServiceSpace now has many hands that will be initiating local projects very soon. Having Nipun among us Iranians felt like we have reunited with our older brother who went off walking a few years, and was now returning to share his stories and insights. And how his stories felt right at home in our hearts, having been touched by Rumi and other sages from this land. He reminded us of being interconnected at deeper levels of existence, of one source. That compassion is not what we do but is what we are deeply, and for that to shine forth, in its raw nature, we need to become empty instruments of nature. To many perhaps this may have come as a relief that kindness is not another layer to wear or thing to do but is our ... Read Full Story

My Learnings From Awakin Circles Posted by Kyari Shah, Jun 03 2020 The start of Awakin circles in Surat was very serendipitous. Around 5 years ago, my parents went to a circle where Nipun Uncle shared stories of Awakin Santa Clara and forthwith my mom decided that she wanted to start this space in Surat. When my parents returned home they shared that with us (two of my elder sisters and myself) and we were quite excited about it. However, that excitement didn’t last long for me. Being a teenager I was more interested in going out with friends, playing basketball and chilling. Sitting for meditation, reading spiritual passages and listening to older people seemed difficult and boring. *A confession: there were times when I used to plan my classes, meet-ups or pretend to be asleep especially on Thursdays so that I could miss the circle*. The good part was that none of my family members forced me to attend the circle. The ... Read Full Story

My Sixth Grader's Letter To Our Local Police Posted by Ariel Nessel, Jun 01 2020 My sixth grader wrote a letter to our local police department about George Floyd, race relations and police policies. It was dropped off today. Even though I have similar questions as he, when they come from a child they somehow seem immensely more poignant. Dear Ross Police Officers How are you? I hope you are handling this well. I am writing to ask you a few questions. Throughout the riots about George Floyd's death, I have been meaning to write to you about something. How do you protect against crime in our town without letting race be involved? How do you make Black Amercians feel welcome in a town where they are a minority? How do you not let any form of racism stop you from protecting fairly? I've been feeling like our town's lack of diversity means we have to be careful about making sure we are kind and welcome to all. I feel like there are corrupt and racist police officers out there. I hope I can make a difference by sending this letter. One last question, what can I do? Thank you for reading. Best, Jonah Jai Nessel

Maya's Response To "This I Believe" Posted by Seema Shah, May 28 2020 We were smiling wide to see this video that our teenage daughter, Maya, made for a "This I Believe" speech assignment, modeled after the NPR series where people share their unique beliefs on the radio show. It also made us remember some of the "kindness drives" she did with her siblings, inspired by so many of you across the ecosystem.

Reflections On KarunaVirus Semester! Posted by Fran Faraz, May 25 2020 At the college where I teach, we’re at the end of our spring 2020 semester and it seemed we had two endings this semester; one was the end of the March and spring break and a new one after spring break. When I heard the news that we’re going to a distant learning/teaching mode, two things were important to me: (a) learning the technology to deliver my courses and, (b) how do I keep students engaged and get them to the finish line powerfully. I reached out to my ServiceSpace family for guidance and I received plenty of heartfelt stories to be inspired. I heard from students about their disappointments, fears, challenges and thoughts of abandoning their education all together to support their recently laid-off families. This I could not be a witness. I don’t mind students going away to find themselves, to experience the world, but going away from a place of ... Read Full Story

12 Year-Old Sews Hundreds Of Masks And Feeds Strangers Posted by Amritha Mandagondi, May 23 2020 Children and magic almost always go hand in hand. In their pure magic lies their honesty, imagination and love. One day, on our journey with KarunaVirus, we received a message from the aunt of 12 year-old Laksha Shroff from Atlanta, Georgia. The message spoke about how the child’s spirit of service and love for communities has made her an everyday hero. Somewhere between homework, school and exams, she has been sewing masks along with her mother while her father and brother are distributing them. The money raised is donated to a local nonprofit by the name Tilman House Charity. Her day starts early and goes deep into the nights just so she can meet the demand and the deadlines. She named her project ‘Happily Ever After’ as she truly believes that the end to every story is always in bright light in spite of some absence of light along the way. We ... Read Full Story

HeART Circle London: "How Is Your Heart Doing?" Posted by Trupti Pandya, May 23 2020 Art offers sanctuary to everyone willing to open their Hearts as well as their Eyes Last Sunday, Vidhi and I were invited to do our first HeART circle with the London community through art. It was a family circle, so we had kids and adults coming together. With the uncertainty hovering around us, this was an opportunity to come together and ask how each one's heart was doing. Before the circle started, we could see the kids ready with their art material and ready to jump in the pool of paints. It was an opportunity for us to learn from the little teachers to shed inhibitions and bring authenticity. Trishna di started the circle with a minute of silence. They warmly welcomed Vidhi to lead us through a super fun icebreaker where we mentally painted different parts of our faces one by one with our favorite colors. This opened up the doors of ... Read Full Story

Quarantine Changed My Relationship With Cooking! Posted by Poonam Singh, May 18 2020 As a busy mom of three, I often felt I never had a enough time to cook for my family. We would have a pretty decent breakfast in the morning, like steal cut oats with berries, but then lunch came around and I usually just grazed all day sort of mindlessly, and then in the evening I would be SO TIRED that it was almost impossible to organize dinner. I was cooking to get through it and hopefully getting something reasonably healthy on the table. So as the quarantine started, I adjusted like the rest of us and started flowing with whatever was showing up. I did feel a lot of relief when my schedule slowed down and didn't have to run around as much, and something did open within me (and I recognize that this isn't the case for many). Something miraculous happened! I started to really enjoy cooking for the ... Read Full Story

A Small Detail, 20 Years Ago Posted by Jane Murray, May 18 2020 It has been such a privilege to learn from the many stories and insights that surface in our Laddership Circles each week. A profound image that a member of our circle shared yesterday: I was the receiver of a micro moment of kindness with major ripples in my early twenties… I was at a point in my life when I was extremely low and, while I don’t think I would have acted on it, thoughts of ending my life had started to creep in. It was a dark time and I didn’t see a way out of the darkness. I was working in the front office of a government office and barely holding it together. My boss came back from her lunch break and brought me a cookie with a big smile. It touched my heart on a day when any shred of kindness or love meant I was able to get through that day. I do not even remember if I ate the cookie, that wasn’t the point. It was like someone lit a candle in a super dark room and it was enough light that now 20 years later I still remember it so clearly. It made me reflect that we never, ever know what impact an act of kindness will have. The small details seems to be so vital to aliveness in every sense.

Song At Awakin: Door Of My Heart Posted by Mark Peters, May 17 2020 Couple Awakin Circles back, I mentioned a story from India. It featured a young woman from Austria, now living in Salt Lake City. The Wednesday after that, Jordyn actually joined our circle. At the tail end of that circle, the hosts discovered that she sings! And lo and behold, last week, she closed our circle with a song offering -- while I played on thumb-paino, that she had gifted me a long while back. Many asked for the recording, so here it is: Your browser does not support the audio element. It's a song by the great sage, Paramhansa Yogananda, titled 'Door of my Heart'. Door of my heart, open wide I keep for Thee. Wilt Thou come, wilt Thou come? Just for once, come to me? Will my days fly away without seeing Thee, my Lord? Night and day, night and day, I look for Thee night and day.

This Will Be A Good Marriage: Officiating A ZOOM Posted by Bonnie Rose, May 15 2020 I’ve done over 100 weddings in my career as a minister. Some stand out more than others – marrying my beloved nephews to their chosen spouses; Greg and Jen’s wedding where I dropped the rings and blurted an impure word during the holy exchange. One of the most memorable ceremonies was a ZOOM wedding during the pandemic. Prior to the event, Emma and James, did what most couples do – they booked the venues, selected the cake, the meal, and the music. They met with me to discuss the ceremony. Then the pandemic happened, and all plans eroded. It was a slow, uncertain crumbling, probably painful for them. With each new quarantine rule, wedding plans dwindled from a large event, to a small gathering, to possible cancelation. Emma called me to ask for advice. She and James wanted to get married and wanted everyone to be safe. They didn’t know what to do. ... Read Full Story