Awakin Calls have incredible pull of stories – stories that deepen my self-awareness, stories that give me new ways to think.

It’s a very active communication medium where we all are able to hold the space nurtured by weekly calls with different speakers and communion enabled by reflections, blog posts, transcriptions, audio podcast replays, and synergy of ripples touching us and resonating with/through us with interactions among family, friends, co-workers, customers and all.


Awakin = Awakening with Kin


It came together for me so well with the very first Awakin Call of this year with our ServiceSpace volunteers.

Stories from conversations with a number of Service Spacers absorbed me, resonated with me, and most importantly connected me one more time to ABUNDANCE ...!!!

ABUNDANCE, that is springing in so many people around the world, the thoughts and acts of kindness, compassion, care, love, patience, smiles and kinship.

ABUNDANCE, that all of us are.

ABUNDANCE that is helping us navigate the journey of self-discovery, self-unfoldment.





Story from our Kindspring volunteer Mish:

 
One nine year old girl is seriously ill with cystic fibrosis. She is spending a lot of time in hospital.

Her friend, also a nine-year old, teamed up with her aunt and hatched up plan to get as many cards as possible from all over the world and take them to hospital to cheer her up. They put the word out on Kindspring, on Facebook, to all friends and families … ripples went all over the world.
 

The response is overwhelming…“All of the Kindspingers sent out cards. Some sent little gifts. They found special stamps to brighten up the packages. One of our Kindspring members, a post office clerk, took time out and put effort to seek out lots of different stamps, especially for the little girl. Another lady wanted to donate toys to the hospital that this child was in. A teacher in Australia wanted to involve her class in sending out cards. An adult with cystic fibrosis and a double lung transplant recipient asked all her adult friends with cystic fibrosis to send their stories of how they thrived with this illness. Another woman had children in her class draw pictures. The outpouring of love shows you how alive kindness is in our planet; this inspired me and gave me such great hope for the wonderful people that do inhabit our planet.”

 

When an appeal comes from the heart, it taps in to abundance inside people, and the synergy of ripples can be so heartwarming – not only for the person receiving, but also all people that are giving.
 

[KindSpring.org: Small Acts that Change the World]

 


Story from our Karma Kitchen volunteer Seema:
  

They had one volunteer girl help as a server at the Karma Kitchen thinking that the volunteer really understand the ideas of gift ecology.

Now Karma Kitchen is a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu, and check reads $0.00 with only this footnote: "Your meal was a gift from someone who came before you. To keep the chain of gifts alive, we invite you to pay it forward for those who dine after you."
It leads servers into a number of interesting conversations trying to explain what it is, how it works, why it works, and how it has thrived and spread all over the world.

 

  It turns out this server was a little shy …

“She was a little fearful to share and interact with people. She wondered if she was going to know the right thing to say. I was surprised to hear that. I didn't realize that she would feel that way. But then, a little girl at one of the tables she was serving, who was dining with her family, drew a picture where she mentioned her name as a server and she drew picture of her family and Karma Kitchen and it had a big "Thank You" on it and it was really sweet and it totally moved this server. She was blown away by it.

It just goes to show that her intention is what made that moment possible for her to connect with that little girl. It gave the little girl the inspiration to draw that picture for her. it was really lovely. I feel like that's what happens at Karma Kitchen all the time. People are unsure about what to do and their role as volunteers had to speak about Karma Kitchen and have to get it right, there are all these insecurities we have and yet it's the intention that manifests into these really beautiful magical moments. That was a really special moment.”

 

When an act of giving is pure, it gets people in the space of abundance where they draw on that rich reservoir of goodness, generosity, kindness, compassion and all of that healing energy.
 

What it is, is so profound, it doesn’t matter how you explain it. People simply experience it, realize it, understand it and respond to it in ways of synergy.


[Karma Kitchen: Growing in Generosity]




Our Karma Tube coordinator Yoo-Mi, shared with us story of a tea seller in Cochin, India.

While selling tea can help you live a humble life, this tea seller and his wife are on a mission. They want to travel all over the world.

They would scrap and save money and plan a trip every 2-3 years. They have been to 16 countries so far.

While limited income can help maybe with savings that can be handy later on, this couple has this passion and they are going for it. There is one life after all. They may not have abundance of resources like many world travelers do; they enjoy exploring the places with limited resources they might have.

A first time film maker, touched by extraordinary insight into life of these couple, decided to capture the story and share with all.

One travel company offered to buy the film and use it in their marketing efforts. A bank offered to buy the film and use it as an advertisement for travel loans. He refused to sell the film despite being in debt.

He was on a mission to share and spread this idea that would inspire people with limited resources – that there is richness of life that they can enjoy just like this one tea seller.

Karma Tube highlighted the film in the ‘Video of the Week’ series. A viewer came forward offering to translate the video in other languages, another ServiceSpace volunteer came forward offering to help the film maker… and the ripples of synergy continue.



A film by Hari M. Mohanan.


[Karma Tube: Watch. Be Inspired. Act.]


Khushmita shared with us story of Mihir.


Mihir was travelling in train in Surat, India. At the last stop, people trying to get off the train, and others trying to get in the train were pushing each other. It became a painful, disturbing experience for people. Once train started, the anguish and negativity from the experience lingered.

 

Khushmita, “He asked himself in that moment. What inside me is causing this negativity? What inside me can heal this pain? So coming from that space of love he decided to experiment with something in that compartment in that moment. In India usually there are people who sell tea in the compartment. So he called one of the fellows and he said that, "I want you to serve tea to every person sitting in this compartment." That could easily be more than 100 - 200 people. He said," I want you to serve tea for everyone. I will pay for it. But don't let them know who paid for it." So initially the tea seller thought that he was crazy and gave him that look of why do you want to do this? Mihir was just like "I really was to see what happens. “After a lot of reluctance he agreed to do it and he starts serving tea to one by one by saying, " I just want to offer this to you and I will not take money from you." There were a lot of shock expressions from the passengers. Why would anyone serve tea for free in an Indian train compartment? People initially just refused the cup of tea thinking that there is something wrong with the man or there is something wrong with the tea. After couple people passed on the offer, some people start accepting the tea. Many people start taking tea from the vender and thank him for this unexpected gesture of generosity and love. It's amazing how by the time he reaches the end of the compartment, serving tea to more than a 100 people, there is actually joy that is running through the compartment. Suddenly the conversation shifted from painful exit and entry on to the train compartment to more like, "Look at this noble chai seller! How beautiful he is, and how is serving tea and not expecting any monitory returns." After almost 30 minutes of this whole tea business, Mihir is smiling big as he could see that there has been a shift in the entire conversation and energy of the compartment. Everyone was happy again.”

 

  
How the proactive answer from Mihir’s heart transformed “weather” in that train compartment!
 



 
The call has a number of touching quotes and stories. Read them all in the transcript, or listen to the audio recording on the Awakin Call page of the Most Inspiring Stories of 2015 from Service Space volunteers.


While negativity and bad news might be swarming the news channels, while there might be so many reasons to despair, to get frustrated, to get angry, to agonize ... how heartwarming to see so many stories of individuals tapping into the ABUNDANCE from inside, and creating ripples that are nurturing seeds of compassion, care and love.