The Logger Who Learned The Value Of Living Trees

In a years long journey from logging to eco-tourism, Roberto Brito, found a new way to support his family and his community. "I realised that through that standing forest, I have access to education, technology, a future for the young people living here, and I still contribute to the preservation of our planet in relation to climate change."

Read the full story here.

Watching My Friend Pretend That Her Heart Is Not Breaking

In "Watching My Friend Pretend That Her Heart Is Not Breaking," Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer offers a moving poem about grief and the opportunity to treat each other with tenderness.

Watch below:

Eight Questions That Can Help You Survive Election Stress

In 2024, 43% of American adults have felt more anxious than they did the previous year, the American Psychological Association reports. Three-quarters of respondents identified this year’s presidential election as one of the biggest causes of their anxiety.

"What can we do to stay resilient in the face of this election? One way is to check in with ourselves daily to make sure we’re doing the things that sustain our health and well-being, while remaining empowered to make a positive impact on the election itself." UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center offers eight inquiries that can help us navigate stress during the elections -- from checking in with the body and mind to proactively seeking out good news to a gratitude practice and beyond. [Read more ...]

'Why Do We Send Flowers?':

Why do we send flowers? To make up for what is intangible? Those feelings we can’t hold in our hands and present as a gift to our loved ones? And why is it that the placeholders we choose — the dozen red roses, the fragrant white lilies, the long-stemmed French tulips — are so fleeting? Hold on to them for too long and you end up with a mess of petals, pollen and foul-smelling water.

After my boyfriend’s death, I went about trying to find closure. I wrote letters and set them on fire. I went to a therapist, then another. I went to yoga and tried meditation. I moved to Colorado, then Oregon. I went so many places and carried him along with me to each of them. I have done so much holding. There’s a picture I took of him just days before I left for college, two months before ... [Read more]

Seed questions for reflection: How do you relate to the notion that the fleeting nature of life is what makes it precious? Can you share a personal story of a time you found life valuable precisely because of its fleeting nature? What helps you appreciate impermanence?

How do we use the tools of today to bridge emergent phenomena of possibility with very ancient values? One of those ways is through AI, or artificial intelligence. AI can be an "innerscope" - and perhaps even lead us to an "interscope" to cultivate greater connection and compassion. 

During a Closing Celebration call for the recent Global Interfaith Compassion Challenge, we unveiled the Interfaith Bot -- which contains a corpus of 77,000 sacred documents! Here's how one person described it: 

The AI bot. Incredible. It’s inspired me to think about what else is possible with technology at the intersection of this deep inner work. My work and passion is about how we transform education globally. I currently fortunate to working in a space where we’re reaching hundreds of thousands of incredible local leaders in 60+ countries. This call inspired me about the possibility of bringing together AI and the deeper inner work. I’m really energized to see how we could do that in my world, to transform and create more compassionate, conscious education systems. 

Tapan Parikh and Tulika Verma share more (view all clips here.), including examples of questions they asked the bot and the surprising yet beautiful responses they received.

 

 

Post today's call, people have been asking various questions of collective interfaith wisdom like ...

  • Is there a right way to pray?
  • When is it okay to cut family ties?
  • How can we resolve wars and find peaceful solutions?
  • Recite St. Paul's ode to love
  • Who was the founder of the Bahai faith? What are his views on feminine leadership?
  • Why is bodhichitta more valuable than a wish-fulfilling jewel?
  • Why is it so easy to drop into self-centered-ness?
  • What does religion say about alcohol?
  • How can I be present in a world that is so busy?  
  • What practice can I do that can help me reframe my challenges as opportunities?
  • What religions do not claim a diety?
  • Are butterflies prominent in any religion?
  • What religions promote violence?
  • How do different traditions understand reincarnation?
  • What are the similarites and differences between Mormons and Buddism?
  • What do different faiths say about sin?
  • Does God exist? :)
  • Is atheism parts of interfaith?
  • What is the Jewish text for seeing the human body as a microcosm Of the natural world?
  • List verses about slavery in the Bible.
  • Suggestions of compassion for a kid was abused in early childhood and has pent up anger.
  • How do you stop anxiety from blocking God?
  • Can you find the poem that says let yourself be drawn to what you love (It's a Rumi poem and the Bot knew. :))
  • Is hard determinism true?
  • What is the difference between emptiness and self?
  • Please list the verses from Quran about compassion.
  • Why doesn't God prevent all suffering, injustice and death?
  • Don't waste your pain, use it? How?
  • What is the best religion? :) (Response)

We're grateful for many kind words, across various other bots too:

Can’t express how grateful I am that ServiceSpace is creating the compassion Bot. I just tried it and the counsel it provided me was heartwarming and extremely valuable! ServiceSpace accomplishments are beyond any  words to express. Deep Gratitude, Jinet

Sharon Salzburg: A Memorable Interfaith Space + A Meditation

Sharon Salzburg, renowned meditation teacher, reflects on her memorable experiences with interfaith spaces during last month's Interfaith Compassion Challenge orientation call. She shared one stunning moment, saying "suddenly we were a community in a very different way...open to and with such heartfelt testimony, from everybody, on all sides."

Watch her wonderfully rich talk here:

Then tune in to a meditation guided by Sharon, and to hear her response to the question: How do you balance the conviction of your path with the curiosity of something foreign to you?

Enjoy a recent KindSpring Community Roundup :)

DrJoe: Sent Another Package To My Friend In Ukraine :)
This package is full of sweets and treats and some shirts I picked up for him, his wife, and their daughter while I was at the beach last month. He was drafted recently so some of the treats should serve as a nice little "pick me up" while training and [Read more...]

mindyjourney: In Gratitude - Mindyjourney 🕊️
Celebrated the International Day of Peace - Sept. 21st, by giving Doves to Yellowstone and Teton National Park rangers, fellow tourists and clerks.
Gifted children at hotel breakfast Little Kitty Pez dispensers and crayon coloring kits. Kindness continues to be an integral part of [Read more...]

Mish: ❤️ Our Kind Neighbor….
Yesterday I surprised our next door neighbor with a blueberry crumble cake. Tomorrow I have a nice assortment of teabags to surprise her with 🫖 She’s been homebound recovering from her stay in hospital . I send her uplifting , sometimes funny, graphics every morning to keep her spirits up. You’d all love [Read more...]

Yuka Saionji: Story From A Hiroshima Pilgrimage

On a reunion call during the recent Interfaith Compassion Challenge, Yuka Saionji Matsuura joined us to share stories of hope and forgiveness from her pilgrimage to Hiroshima. Yuka is the Deputy Chairperson of Byakko Shinko Kai, a spiritual organization dedicated to world peace and raising the consciousness of humanity

During her deeply moving talk, she shared, "We believe everyone is a divine spark, and to see it from that perspective, doing something so against your divine spark, doing something so apart from the truth of who you are, causes so much pain and so much struggle."

Watch her full remarks here:

You can also watch a brief video about the Symphony of Peace Prayers and watch as Yuka leads a peace prayer from her tradition.

Living into All the Honey: Embracing Grief and Joy

"How the churning of opposite feelings weaves through us like an insistant breeze leads us wordlessly deeper back into ourselves ..."

In a moving video, poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer reads from her new collection of poetry All the Honey. Watch below.

Inner Green Deal Podcast: Transforming Act of Giving

The Inner Green Deal podcast is a commercial free offering that features guests in conversation about the human dimension of sustainability. On a recent episode, podcast host Tamsin and ServiceSpace founder Nipun Mehta talk about the transformative act of kindness.

Tamsin: "... acts of surprise kindness are happening all the time. They just don't get the airplay. But they are out there."

Nipun: "To me, this is the solution to it. What should I do? Do a small act of kindness. And it sounds so small, but it challenges your whole existence  ...  and I think if you try it, it opens up a whole new field."

Listen to the full conversation here.

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