Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Portrait of an Artist – Milan Rai

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November 30, 2017

a project of ServiceSpace

The Sound of the Genuine

“Cultivate the discipline of listening” for your genuine self. This is the advice that Howard Thurman gave in 1980 during his commencement address at Spelman College. How many of us ever take the time to do that? We spend our days in many pointless pursuits that distract us from our essential truth. Thurman says the world is waiting for this truth to pour out of us, it is of our own creation and can’t be dictated by anyone else or mimicked from others. Whether grand or simple, it is what we need to give to the world if we are to find ourselves or make the contribution that only we can make. Read more of Thurman’s profound address here and cultivate the discipline of hearing that still small voice within to be yourself. { read more }

Be The Change

The inner voice of wisdom within each of us is a guide to the genuine self. It takes time and discipline to discern internal noise from the inner self, but with time and testing, one begins to hear with the intuition of the heart. Today, listen for that inner call to be true to your genuine self. For more inspiration join this Saturday’s Awakin Call with animal rights activist Jasmin Singer, who listened to the sound of the genuine within herself. RSVP and more info here. { more }

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November 29, 2017

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Having it Out With Melancholy

With great care and attention, make a hot cup of tea. Take it to a room with a window. Sit down, take off your glasses and exhale slowly. Listen to this hauntingly beautiful recording of Jane Kenyon’s poem read aloud by Amanda Palmer. Listen again. Let the understanding, pain and relief wash over you. Then, after a moment, explore the rich context of Maria Popova’s introduction to this Brain Pickings article. { read more }

Be The Change

Share this recording with someone you know who needs to know they are not alone in their own struggles.

Be brave and invite someone over to listen together.

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November 28, 2017

a project of ServiceSpace

Nipun Mehta on What It Means to Serve

In this interview at the Sun Valley Wellness Festival, Nipun Mehta, the founder of ServiceSpace, explores the nuances of what it means to serve. His talk affords a glimpse of various ServiceSpace projects like KarmaTube, DailyGood, Karma Kitchen, and more. Karma Kitchen works on an intriguing pay-it-forward basis. When patrons are done eating, the bill arrives with a total of $0.00, and a brief explanation of how someone beforehand has made a gift of this meal; patrons are trusted to keep the chain of kindness going and continue to pay it forward for future diners. Nipun maintains that in this era rather than putting heroes on pedestals, its vital that everyone become ‘everyday Gandhis.’ Service doesn’t have to be some big, grandiose thing – you can hold open a door, pay someone’s toll, or just be a good listener. All these small, every day activities come from a place of love, and ultimately serve humanity as a whole by breaking down boundaries, and inspiring faith in the goodness of others. { read more }

Be The Change

Pick one act of service you can practice doing this month on a daily basis. Learn more about ServiceSpace’s different projects and initiatives here. { more }

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November 27, 2017

a project of ServiceSpace

Ken Cloke: There Is No Them. There Is Just Us.

“If chickens are playing on a playground and they’re fighting, the very first thing that we tend to do is separate them. Separation works to stop the fighting, but it doesn’t work to settle the issues that they’re fighting over. So there are relatively primitive and relatively advanced methods for handling any particular type of conflict. And those are endless — throughout our lives, we have nothing but opportunities for transcendence and transformation! To change the form of the thing, and by changing it, we learn from it and discover some higher order of capacity, to come to terms with this thing that was giving us the most trouble.” Ken Cloke is Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution in Southern California. He specializes in mediation, negotiation and resolution of complex organizational, interpersonal, and public policy disputes. What follows is an interview with Ken Cloke in which he shares fascinating stories of his approach, and stresses the benefits of dialog in our lives and in the world. { read more }

Be The Change

Ken Cloke says that “it is our inability to recognize that truth is complex, multi-dimensional and nuanced that gets us into conflict.” See if you can sit with this thought for a while. Share what comes up for you in our forum. Other ways to support dialogue work in the world include supporting the work of organizations like ‘Mediators beyond Borders’. { more }

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November 26, 2017

a project of ServiceSpace

Guy Standing on an Economy that Works for Everyone

Through research and advocacy, economist Guy Standing has been fighting for an economy that works for everyone and for the environment for years. In his books and other publications, he argues that our current economic ideology has created an antagonistic world in which a small percent are “winners” and a large percent are “losers,” resulting in an environment of insecurity and tension. In this interview, Guy shares a set of policies “which each taken in turn are not radical or impossible or utopian. They’re all feasible. Taken as a package they would radically transform the economic system and reduce the inequalities and insecurities [of our current system].” Read on to learn more about Guy’s intriguing propositions. { read more }

Be The Change

Unpaid work can often be highly valuable work, like taking care of your parents, engaging in sustainable behavior, or giving back to your community. Which area can you work on this week, delighting in the unmeasurable rewards?

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November 25, 2017

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The Art of Cleaning

Cleaning and doing chores aren’t activities that our culture appreciates much these days, yet Sufi mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee understands housework as being essential for a healthy spiritual life. “As within, so without. As above, so below,” he seems to be saying in this article about ‘The Art of Cleaning’. Sweeping becomes a metaphor for clearing away the debris that is blocking our progress. Discarding old, unwanted things becomes a way of letting go of attachments that no longer serve our spiritual journey. The very process of cleaning becomes a humbling act of taking responsibility for creating open, empty spaciousness, for new life to enter in. It is a way to be kind to all beings – including ourselves – who may enter into the spaces we have inhabited. With new appreciation, may we pick up our brooms and clear our drawers as living prayers of mindfulness. { read more }

Be The Change

Rather than clean as a chore in the coming week, try to think of it as a prayer for yourself and the world, to bring clarity and kindness to our home on planet Earth.

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November 24, 2017

a project of ServiceSpace

Training Our Trains of Thought

When negative thinking becomes habit, take heart. With compassion, mindfulness, and gratitude, it’s possible to retrain our neural pathways for the better. To start, we become mindful of what’s going on inside our heads. Thoughts and feelings come and go — they don’t stick with or own us. Realizing this gives us the space we need to observe them without letting them carry us away. By treating them with compassion and without judgment, they eventually lose their power. However, like a muscle, the mind still wants to work to fill in the space where the negativity resided. This is where gratitude comes in. Instead of looking for evidence and ideas to support our negative thoughts, we use our minds to look for things that are going right, to be grateful for. In this article, Kristi Nelson describes how she transformed her own negative thinking patterns into a healthy habit of gratitude. { read more }

Be The Change

Catch yourself in a pattern of negative thinking today and replace it with feelings of gratitude.

DailyGood is a volunteer-run initiative that delivers “good news” to 244,362 subscribers. There are many ways to help. To unsubscribe, click here.

Other ServiceSpace projects include:

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