Professor Michael Gordon is offering his book, Doing Good with Money, for free -- or rather, for non-financial expressions of wealth. Interested readers can sign-up to receive a free e-copy of Michael's book by sharing an act of kindness they've offered in the world. People spanning four continents have shared their uplifting and heart-warming acts of kindness. The act of sharing them is, in itself, able to create ripples around our world. "The way I feel reading those reflections is what now makes me hopeful about 'changing the world'", said Michael. "There’s something inside these acts — large or small — that feels like an ingredient we need to create change that matters: A willingness to act with kindness; to benefit others; to see — what’s the opposite of futility? — that change starts within us. What if: We began to realize that there is lots of energy in these isolated acts? And that we might find others with similar inspiration? And work together from a sense of connection and meaning?" Read many of the kind acts, and share your own, here.
Located in Generationencafé Vollpension in Vienna's first district, Karma Kitchen Vienna has been extended due to its positive impact.
"It is no coincidence that Vollpension in particular has taken up the idea of the Karma Kitchen: The social enterprise with two locations in Vienna employs a total of 80 people, more than half of whom are over sixty years old", writes Suzanne Wolf.
Gordon Hempton, acoustic ecologist, describes silence as not the absence of sound but rather the absence of noise from modern life. "Silence is the poetics of space; what it means to be in a place."
We invite you to watch Gordon's brief video and consider how and where you might lean into spaces of silence.
On Tuesday, Jan. 30 (5:30pm Pacific time), Dharma Realm Buddhist University will offer a special, online dialogue with Birju Pandya about how our inner values intersect with our outer realms of work and career. Birju has explored these and similar topics for many years. He will share part of his journey while opening space to consider opportunities to create more alignment within our own multifaceted existences.
Learn more about this special event, and reserve your ticket, here.
Founders and senior leaders from 45 NGOs gathered at a special retreat in Parel East, Mumbai last fall. These change-makers came together to explore the transformative shifts of moving from leadership to laddership. Diving deep into ServiceSpace values, they considered such ideas as:
Broad Margin Goals Vs Narrow Margin Goals – How can we move from short-term thinking to long-term thinking and from the ‘Me’ to ‘We’.
Value Of Context Vs Value Of Content – Asking ourselves not “what” we are doing but “how” we are doing it.
Designing For Social Permaculture – Moving from ‘transaction’ to ‘building connections and community’.
From Leadership To Laddership – How do we support and nurture an entire team to grow through Inner Transformation.
Deepcasting in a Broadcast World – How diving deeper and amplifying the good is more effective.
You can read more about this special retreat here -- or watch some inspiring video clips here.
Snow can be magic until you have to shovel it. That's why some Whitehorse, Yukon residents are offering to shovel driveways, porches, and sidewalks for elders, pregnant people, or residents living with health issues for free.
"We just wanted to embark on this journey of serving," said Israr Ahmed. "It's grounded in our Islamic tradition which is to care about your neighbours.
Read the full story of the generous volunteer shovelers here.
A tea stall vendor in Uttar Pradesh, India is sharing his knowledge and kindness to help hundreds of villagers access benefits while being an extraordinary agent of justice and love. Enjoy the uplifting video below, created by a KindSpring member, to see how.
In Bhutan, people gather in Thimphu for a weekly Awakin Circle to "deepen in friendship and community, inner work and contemplation, and skillful service and external action". (Read more about Awakin Circles here: https://www.awakin.org/v2/local/.)
Watch the video below to see care in action through paradigmatic shifts at a Thimphu high school.
An organization recently published an article with dozens of uplifting news stories you may not have seen this year. The stories provide a counter balance to the news we often hear about what's wrong with the world by sharing pivotal advances that have been made around the world in health, social and economic justice, conservation and so much more.
Turning our attention to what's good isn't meant to minimize or ignore the suffering in our world, but perhaps it will expand our collective view of the good that's possible, and create positive ripples we can ride into the new year.
