The "Honorable Harvest": Lessons From an Indigenous Tradition of Giving Thanks , by Robin Wall Kimmerer
if this holiday season we fill our shopping baskets with only that which is needed and give something back in return?   In this season of harvest, our baskets are full, rounded with fragrant apples and heaped with winter squash. So too are the steel shopping carts that clatter across the parking lot, plastic bags whipping in the wind. How do we even name such abundance? Are these commodities? Natural resources? Ecosystem services? In the indigenous worldview, we call them gifts. We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth: air to breathe, fresh water, the companionship of geese and maples—and food. Since we lack the gift of photosynth... posted on Apr 27 2017 (10,798 reads)

Social Enterprise Meets Ashtanga: Yoga Shala West, by Aurora Meneghello
you are in Los Angeles, join Interconnected Strategy Meetup group to exchange marketing ideas with other entrepreneurs and community-building visionaries, especially if you are interested in social enterprise. Our first meeting is on February 28 in Culver City. Pranidhi Varshney founded Yoga Shala West to move away from the transactional and image-driven nature of contemporary yoga, opting instead for an alternative fee structure and community-based social enterprise model. We talked about her journey, and what it takes to build a social enterprise based on inclusiveness rather than just profit. Pranidhi writes regularly, has released an album of Sans... posted on Apr 21 2017 (10,026 reads)

Crazywise: A Filmmaker Explores the Heart of Mental Illness, by Awakin Calls Editors
Borges is a dentist-turned-photographer, author, filmmaker and social change storyteller. For more than 25 years, he has been documenting indigenous and tribal cultures in some of the world's most remote, inaccessible areas. Phil uses his gifts so that the rest of the world might understand the challenges individuals living in remote area face, and the resilience, spirit and wisdom they possess. What follows is the official trailer of Phil's most recent film, and an edited version of an Awakin Calls interview with him. You can access the recording and full transcript here.   Pavi Mehta (moderator): Phil Borges’ breathtaking work has been featured in National G... posted on Apr 25 2017 (16,954 reads)

Business Lessons from A Quiet Gardener, by William Rosenzweig
people who know me best know that at heart I am just a quiet gardener. My garden has probably taught me the most about how things grow - and thrive in a vibrant and sustainable manner. These lessons have shaped my approach to encouraging responsible growth in business and to the ways I apply my intention, attention and energy. A gardener sees the world as a system of interdependent parts - where healthy, sustaining relationships are essential to the vitality of the whole. "A real gardener is not a person who cultivates flowers, but a person who cultivates the soil." In business this has translated for me into the importance of developing agreements and partnerships whe... posted on Apr 26 2017 (12,210 reads)

From Addiction to Academy Founder: Dr Teri DeLane Teaches Kids to Trust, by MJ Vieweg
following article is based on an Awakin Call interview with Teri Delane.You can listen to the recording of the interview or read the full-length transcript here. Founder and principal of San Francisco’s Life Learning Academy, Dr. Teri Delane says that the success of the school that serves the city’s highest-risk, highest-need students can be replicated.  The school tracks a 99% graduation rate with 85% of the students going on to college.  The kids that do so well here are the kids with histories of school failure, truancy, arrest and substance abuse.  The ones that traditional school settings can’t provide for. Having the right people ... posted on May 15 2017 (9,564 reads)

Graduation: A Song & Speech for the Ages, by Nimo Patel, Nipun Mehta
powerful music video arrives just in time for the millions of students around the world preparing for the milestone of graduation. Written by be-the-change rapper Nimo Patel, animated by the Superfruit Collective (a team of animators based in France), featuring a chorus of amazing Filipino students from the Metta Assumption College, and excerpts from a graduation speech by ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta -- this music video is a global labor-of-love collaboration between resonant hearts. Whether you are graduating this year or not, the simple, profound messages of this song, the compelling animation, and the warmth behind all of it are sure to brighten your day.&n... posted on May 4 2017 (27,404 reads)

Re-Imagining the World: An Artist's Remarkable Life Journey, by Bela Shah
following is an article based on an Awakin Call interview with Slobodan Dan Paich. You can listen to the full recording here. Slobodan Dan Paich is a man with a big heart, really connected to the inspiration behind life.  So much so that one of this summer’s Service Space interns remembers comparing Slobodan to Santa Claus as a young boy.  We had a chance to engage with Slobodan on last Saturday’s Awakin Call, where seemingly disparate aspects of his remarkable life softly emerged.  His voice trailed off at times, as he searched for words that could capture the wordless essence of his transcendent views. Slobodan is an artist, and harnesses his gif... posted on May 11 2017 (8,709 reads)

Gratefulness: An Opportunity to Practice, by Kristi Nelson
it can be said that we are always practicing something. Most often, we are practicing what is habitual, familiar, and mostly unconscious… All the great wisdom traditions teach us that life is precious; that what is happening right now IS life, not some future destination, time, or state of mind. “Carpe Diem,” they say, implying that we must take none of this moment, and its opportunities, for granted. But as we all know, this is easier said than done, especially when our lives deliver us genuine challenges to living out this simple and profound philosophy. Fortunately, wisdom traditions, including gratefulness, offer a wide range ... posted on May 18 2017 (21,710 reads)

Against the Clock: How Technology Has Changed Our Experience of Time, by Heleo Editors
Burdick is a staff writer and former senior editor at The New Yorker whose first book, Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, was a National Book Award finalist and won the Overseas Press Club award for environmental reporting. His most recent book, Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation, chronicles his quest to understand the nature of lived time. He recently joined Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist and author of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, for a conversation on what we miss about the nature of time when we only think about it as a number. This conversation has been edited and condensed. To view the full... posted on May 23 2017 (18,179 reads)

Building Roots: A Remarkable Market in A Shipping Container, by Dave LeBlanc
early April and shafts of warming sunlight have finally broken through the cold, grey clouds. Alex Chak emerges from a doorway, squints into the light to let his eyes adjust and then bends down to fill a bushel basket with bright red peppers. A man in a long overcoat, walking quickly, stops in his tracks. "What is this?" he asks. "It's a market, new to the neighbourhood," replies Mr. Chak, smiling. "A produce market? That's amazing, that's exactly what we need," he says. "I'll be back!" Inside the double-width shipping container a few minutes later, Mr. Chak is busily chatting up a hijab-clad wom... posted on Jun 11 2017 (6,454 reads)

Give That Which is Organic to You: A Recipe to Avoid Burnout, by Parker Palmer
ago, I heard Dorothy Day speak. Founder of the Catholic Worker movement, her long-term commitment to living among the poor on New York's Lower East Side - had made her one of my heroes. So it came as a great shock when in the middle of her talk, I heard her start to ruminate about the "ungrateful poor." I did not understand how such a dismissive phrase could come from the lips of a saint - until it hit me with the force of a Zen koan. Dorothy Day was saying, "Do not give to the poor expecting to get their gratitude so that you can feel good about yourself. If you do, your giving will be thin and short-lived, and that is not what the poor need; it will only impover... posted on Jun 12 2017 (12,631 reads)

How a Snow Leopard Conservation Project in Spiti Valley Paved the Way for Empowering Local Women, by Sohini Dey
snow leopard is one of the world’s most beautiful, albeit elusive animals. Concentrated in the mountainous regions, these arresting animals can be spotted by the fortunate few in countries like China (where the bulk of the population resides), Bhutan and India. In Himachal Pradesh, the snow leopard enjoys the distinction of being the state animal. Image source: Eric Kelby/Wikipedia Commons With their inherent reclusive nature and shrinking natural habitats, the number of snow leopards in the wild has dropped over the years. In the Himalayas, Nature Conservation Foundation (NSF) and Snow Leopard Trust have been working to conserve the local population of snow leop... posted on Jun 24 2017 (14,508 reads)

Start Small, Start Now: Daily Ways to Build Resilience, by Heleo Editors
people define resilience as recovering from a hurricane or a divorce, a big thing. If you define it as small, you can improve.” Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist at Harvard Business School, the author of the bestselling book Presence, and a speaker whose TED Talk is the second-most watched of all time, with 39+ million views. She recently joined Bonnie St. John, former Olympic champion skier, speaker, and author of Micro-Resilience, for a live Heleo Conversation about overcoming challenges great and small. Amy, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a teenager, and Bonnie, an amputee who lost her right leg at age five, spoke frankly about their own experiences, di... posted on Jun 29 2017 (11,987 reads)

The mysticism of wide open eyes, by Michael Edwards
© Nevit Dilmen. CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Three months before his death from pancreatic cancer in 1994, the British playwright Dennis Potter was interviewed for the BBC by broadcaster Melvyn Bragg. In obvious pain and taking regular swigs from a bottle of liquid morphine, Potter explored a wide range of questions about his work, politics, family and feelings—given that he was already in the terminal stage of his illness. I was spellbound by the raw honesty and energy of his answers, but there was one section that catapulted me into a different state entirely. It came when Potter described the plum tree blossom outside ... posted on Jul 12 2017 (11,025 reads)

Inner Preacher vs. Inner Teacher: Ursula K. Le Guin on Meaning Beyond Message and the Primary Responsibility of the Artist, by Maria Popova
a poem is made available to the public, the right of interpretation belongs to the reader,” young Sylvia Plath wrote to her mother as she reflected on her first poem. What is true of a poem is true of any work of art: Art transforms us not with what it contains but with what it creates in us — the constellation of interpretations, revelations, and emotional truths illuminated — which, of course, is why the rise of the term “content” to describe creative output online has been one of the most corrosive developments in contemporary culture. A poem — or an essay, or a painting, or a song — is not its “content”; it transforms ... posted on Jun 27 2017 (8,306 reads)

How Do You Build a Sacred Space?, by Siamak Hariri
design the Bahá'í Temple of South America, architect Siamak Hariri focused on illumination -- from the temple's form, which captures the movement of the sun throughout the day, to the iridescent, luminous stone and glass used to construct it. Join Hariri for a journey through the creative process, as he explores what makes for a sacred experience in a secular world. The school of architecture that I studied at some 30 years ago happened to be across the street from the wonderful art gallery designed by the great architect Louis Kahn. I love the building, and I used to visit it quite often. One day, I saw the security guard run his hand acro... posted on Jul 8 2017 (9,684 reads)

Spotlight on Finding Common Ground, by Shari Swanson
run high. Sides are polarized. Even attempts at neutral, innocuous conversations seem stymied and fraught. How can we reestablish connection in our fractured communities? How can we reengage in conversation? How can we move forward together into our shared future? In this Daily Good Spotlight on Finding Common Ground, we take a look back into past features offering advice on how to come together and consider some stunning examples of people who have been able to overcome seemingly insurmountable differences to find common ground. Key to establishing connections among people and within communities are improving communication, focusing on common passions, and forgiving each other. ... posted on Jul 2 2017 (9,397 reads)

Thom Bond: Changing the Conversation with NVC, by Awakin Call Editors
following is based on the July 8th, 2017 Awakin Call with Thom Bond.  In 2002 Thom Bond was a successful environmental engineer, passionate about designing smart buildings that used alternative energy. Then he chanced upon Marshall Rosenberg's landmark book Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life. "By the time I read Chapter 1, it hit me that I had found what I was looking for...A set of concepts and ideas to be able to move through conflict." Thom realized instinctively that he'd found a new technology -- one that was human-oriented as opposed to building-oriented that would allow for more effective and harmonious use of energy. ... posted on Jul 9 2017 (20,926 reads)

The Very Best Way to Pray for Peace, by Janessa Gans Wilder
a CIA analyst began an interfaith quest for citizen diplomacy “Allah-hu-akhbar,” God is great, the congregation murmured as I stood shoulder to shoulder with a veiled woman. It felt strangely intimate to be physically touching the Muslim woman, even though we had never spoken. I followed her body movements, as well as those of the men in front of the partition ahead of me, for cues as to what to do next. As we bent over and put our hands on our knees, her young daughter watched me intently, giggling as she scooted out of the way. As my forehead touched the floor, I felt how easy it is in that position to think of humbling myself completely before the Almighty. Among my pra... posted on Jun 20 2020 (19,609 reads)

Wu De: Tea as the Great Connector, by Bela Shah
experiencing the beautiful gift of an Awakin Call with Zen monk and Tea Master, Wu De, I never would have understood the magic of tea. Other than being vaguely aware of its medicinal powers and high end varieties, there was little more that I knew and I certainly wouldn’t have equated tea with being “the great human connector”. But the wisdom with which Wu De shared with us how tea connects us back to nature, to each other, and to ourselves opened my heart to more than a different way of starting my day. Journeying from a Rural Ohio to Taiwan Suzanne: How did you find tea, being that you were born in North America? How did you listen to the self and fin... posted on Aug 5 2017 (9,960 reads)