February 2020

Keep Playing the Violin

In London, Dagmar Turner plays violin during brain surgery to remove a tumor. Surgeons encouraged Turner, a classically trained violinist, to perform during the operation to ensure that the areas of the brain that control her ability to play violin would not be compromised. Operation was a success…

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February 2020

The Fourth Day

In the early 90s, NASA sent a spider into space to explore how zero gravity affected web-building. Without her body weight as a guide, the spider wove misshapen webs for the first three days. But on the fourth day ... she returned to form with a near-perfect web! In meditation, without the…

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February 2020

Buddha on Emergence

Buddha said, "What people expect to happen is always different from what actually happens. From this comes great disappointment. This is the way the world works." We invest heavily in our plans when we are disconnected. Being disconnected, our reduced experience of life makes us…

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February 2020

Addicted To Thinking

I've always loved the Parable of the Fifth Monk , inviting us to go more upstream. I sense that one of our upstream problems is that we're addicted to thinking. We feel that's the only modality of knowing, when really, it just keep us confined in the boundary of our mind.…

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February 2020

Truly Another Form Of Capital

Recently, I met a gentleman who was quite successful in the corporate world. In our conversation, though, he opened up about some of his innermost conflicts -- "I have respect from family and peers, I own 35 properties, and yet, why am I still insecure?" We had a powerful conversation,…

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January 2020

Gandhi 3.0 Retreat, 2020

“I don’t know how I’m here, when my calendar for 2024 is getting quite full,” the chairman of a Bank ponders. The truth is that no one knows why they are here. And yet, the truth is also that everyone knows why they are here. In Dubai, a mom returned from her prayers and…

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November 2019

In India Next Month ... (Dec 2019)

Dear ServiceSpace Friends in India, It's been some time since I last emailed, but I trust you are well. On this end, I'm delighted to be in India next month and if our locations intersect, it would be a great joy to hug in person! :) As many of you know, the work of ServiceSpace…

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July 2018

The Silent Prayer In a Train

It was a routine train ride. Berkeley to Fremont, and change from Fremont to Warm Springs. My Dad was going to pick me up, as we head to do our Wednesday family ritual of cooking together for the evening Awakin Circle. On that second train ride, perhaps about a 10-minute ride, I sit on the…

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July 2018

Loving and Trusting Strangers

A young prodigy wrote: "I have a hard time trusting strangers, and keep assuming that they will take advantage of me. How can I be more inclusive in my love?" As you might imagine, there are multiple layers to our response to strangers. Firstly, within ourselves, we want to head…

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July 2018

An Anniversary Gift

Yesterday, I was in Atlanta. Before an event, one of the doormen sweetly asked to take a selfie with me because he was familiar with ServiceSpace; after my talk, he came up for a hug and shared how he deeply resonated with our values. As a passing comment, he mentioned how he liked my watch. I felt…

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