
Oct 30, 2023 Harvard Medical School pens an article that makes ServiceSpace work: What We Get When We Give Gregory Fricchione, the Mind/Body Medical Institute Professor of Psychiatry at HMS and director of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, describes it as a release of “chemical juice.” When we help others, he says, neurotransmitters flow up in a tight bundle of axons called the medial forebrain bundle through the subcortex with “exit ramps to many of the important structures of the brain” — the fear-conditioning amygdala, the memory-forming hippocampus, and the motivation-moderating medial prefrontal cortex. Numerous other processes may be implicated in the helper’s high, says Fricchione: pain-reducing endogenous opioids, endorphins, and perhaps even the neuromodulating chemicals that make up the endocannabinoid system. Then there’s oxytocin, the so-called affiliation hormone, which has plentiful receptors in the amygdala, where it helps suppress fear and anxiety. [...] Evolution has provided us with the structures and functions that remind us that we survive better by cooperating as a group — not only when we’re seeking social support, but when we’re giving it. “How two people treat each other in one part of the city may relate to how two other people treat each other in another part of the city,” says Christakis, who now directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University. In other words, he says, “altruism is contagious.” The kindness of individuals cascades, ultimately creating a stronger group that is better equipped to survive. [...] A 2020 American Journal of Preventive Medicine study of nearly thirteen thousand volunteers over age 50 who were assessed over a four-year period revealed that those who spent more than a hundred hours per year volunteering had a 44 percent lower risk of mortality compared to those who did not volunteer, even after controlling for factors like stress, health behaviors, and personality traits. [...] Acts of altruism can also burden the body. Caregiving, for example, can become an immense stressor contributing to myriad health issues. That’s why Post doesn’t think that altruism itself is the best medicine. “It’s not how much you do for others, but the kindness you pour into it,” he adds.
Oct 28, 2023 What a joy to host a Awakin London retreat with Jin Wei and Jin Chuan!
Oct 24, 2023 KarunaNews: They Always Leave A $1,000 Tip After Breakfast
Oct 23, 2023 Cindy's touching comment on yesterday's DailyGood: Drinking the Tears of the World: Grief as Deep Activism ... "Thank you for this article. Since losing my son two years ago (when everyone was so afraid of covid that only two friends attended my son's wake), I have been waiting and waiting to read the words somewhere that might resonate. Over the past two years, I've probably read 30 books and 40 articles on grief. This is the only one that reached me. I'm very grateful."
Oct 20, 2023 Tomas Bjorkman recently invited us to a weekend retreat around inner development. He's the author of a compelling book, The Nordic Secret. Here's David Brooks describing it in the New York Times: Almost everybody admires the Nordic model. Countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have high economic productivity, high social equality, high social trust and high levels of personal happiness. Nordic nations were ethnically homogeneous in 1800, when they were dirt poor. Their economic growth took off just after 1870, way before their welfare states were established. What really launched the Nordic nations was generations of phenomenal educational policy. They look at education differently than we do. The German word they used to describe their approach, bildung, doesn’t even have an English equivalent. It means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person. It was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives. See also Tomas's Ted Talks: How Inner Development Can Create Stronger Democracies
Oct 19, 2023 KarunaNews: How Boston Halved Its High School Dropout Rate
Oct 18, 2023 KarunaNews: The Philanthropist Who Gave Away His Billions
Oct 15, 2023 Last week, ServiceSpace was invited to offer our vision to several thousand changemakers at a global Inner Development Goals Summit in Sweden. Below is the plenary on "AI + Heart Intelligence" from the ServiceSpace lens ... it felt like people were hungry for such a narrative! And more, including the workshop talk, visit this page.
Oct 14, 2023 A reflection from Mia ... This last week was filled with multiple funerals, multiple hospital visits, a major presentation, and family drama. Going into it, I had a feeling of overwhelm. So much pain, suffering; pressure; uncertainty. How would I enter? I took some extra breaths and told myself, "Just be Mia - no more, no less." Show up and be present. And, as my Buddhist grandmother taught me -- "Be kind. Don't hurt people." Looking back on the week, I realize that it was a profoundly powerful gift. I've had the honor of bearing witness to individuals striving to do their best with the wisdom, resources, and emotions they possess. So much strength even as some carried so much grief. Wow. I've been granted access to the most intimate spaces of pain and grief, where emotions run deep. To exchange and be accepted in such a manner, often without the need for words, was a truly humbling experience. During a time when we are inundated by images and stories of suffering and separation, these shared human experiences strengthen my heart, and my resolve. I realize too that whatever the situation -- good, bad, or indifferent -- I can choose to be present and kind. No need for overwhelm. One breath, one step at a time.
Oct 11, 2023 Trishna in London writes ... We offer a deep bow of gratitude to Jin Chuan and Jin Wei for holding space for all of us with such grace, presence and wisdom at today's retreat, and for the thoughtfulness with which they curated an incredibly nourishing weeklong learning journey. Many of us will continue to deepen our understanding of the virtues and most importantly how to practice them in our day-to-day interactions. Many people shared that today was the most at ease and relaxed they have felt in the presence of monastics and how much they were able to learn and take away as a result of the warm and friendly interactions, the way they held space and how honest and human they both were in what they shared. It's truly a testament to the community and lineage that Jin Chuan and Jin Wei are a part of in California, which is rooted in humility and builds bridges with its surrounding ecosystem in the spirit of service and generosity.