[Thank you all for a powerful four weeks. With gratitude to each of you, below are the remarks I shared in our closing call.]

TRANSCRIPT:

Thank you. I actually joined the Laddership Pod because a dear friend of mine, Argiris, who lives right here in Abu Dhabi and is also an alumnus of the Laddership Pod — he recommended it to me. He's quite familiar with my journey and he knows where exactly in life I'm at.

We were having a coffee one day, and, in his own gentle manner, he said, “If you can find the time to participate in this pod, I would strongly recommend it to you. And I believe that it has the potential to change your life.”

Now, he described some of it to me, and I'll be really honest, I didn't understand it completely. But I respect and trust Argiris a great deal. And when he recommended it to me, that was good enough. 

Now, interestingly 28 days — not exactly 28 days, he told me a few days earlier than when I enrolled — but having gone through the Pod, I understand now that it isn't something to be described. That's why it's hard to describe. It’s something to be experienced. It's something to immerse yourself in, and that's exactly why you can't describe it. You have to live it. You have to experience it. And I'm so glad I did. 

From the very first day, a sense of kindness, a kind of serenity was immediately palpable in our shared space. For me, though, what was most interesting was that there were no expectations. Whatsoever. Zero expectation. Now, I understand that the whole premise of the Pod is service, but when volunteers spend so much time, and so much passion, on offering something, there can still be a gentle nudge, or a subtle push to want something from you.

But, it was absolutely zero. That emptiness at the center made the whole process about us, the podmates. That alone, and the environment it created, compelled me. It made me surrender to the process in a way that I haven't actually done before in anything else in my life. 

When we talk about the process, the process gave us — gave me — privileged access to people’s inner, most private world, into their profound wisdom. Through that, I not just learned about them, but I learned a lot about myself as well. At the same time, I felt it was a tremendous opportunity for me to peel off my layers in front of people who are not judgmental, who are entirely supportive. And, again, never before have I had such an experience. So, for me, personally, there was a major catharsis involved as well — wherein I could, I was, all of me was being poured out into this nonjudgmental space. And in many ways, it was uplifting, but in many ways it was also healing.

And then there were prompts — the daily prompts and all the activity to go with it. And it was very very clear that there's been a lot of hard work that's gone into crafting this entire pod. There’s been a lot of contemplation involved in developing the entire content. Frankly, intellectually, it was a bit challenging for me, as well. Sometimes I had to read the prompt six times, before I could wrap my head around it. But then, when that eventually happened, it was an amazing process where you go deep into the questions along with your podmates.

And what I feel is it is not possible to ponder life's deeper questions together, and not emerge on the other side with an expanded mind, with an expanded heart, with a deeper sense of connection with each other and with the rest of the world. 

And that's where I feel I am today, thanks to this pod. I don't know where I'm going tomorrow, but I know it's going to be to a good place.

Lastly, a heartfelt big, big, big, thank you to the volunteers. I know that there are 12 of you. But, you know, only a few of you have been the face. Audrey, Claudia, Linh — I'm really sorry if I'm missing names, but I know that there are a lot of invisible hands behind this. And all of you personify selfless service. You are just there in the background, being zero, and just pouring yourselves out to us and for the greater good. You inspire us, you inspire us beyond my ability to articulate. 

I'm going to miss this pod. I'm going to miss all of you. I'm going to miss the daily morning anticipation of, “What do we have to do today?” But at the same time, I'm also looking forward to stepping out into the world. And I'm looking forward to the possibilities that are going to be, that are going to manifest when I'm out in the world as version 2.0 of myself.

Again, wherever I go, whatever happens, I know it's going to be good. And I know all of us are going to be doing a lot of good in this world.

With that, thank you very much.