A few questions!

In so many places, in beautiful ways, small and big, goodness is spreading….here are some questions we are holding…

a. How do we use our gifts to support larger causes?

At the Sanjay Gandhi National Park — SGNP’s Naturalist Training and Leadership Workshop, we facilitated a reflection on how we can support the park with our gifts. Anchored by the amazing Shardul Bajikar, we are set for interesting things happening there!

b. Can there be islands of silence in the middle of chaos?

JaiHind College buzzes with some of the brightest minds of the city — some of whom chose to create a space of reflection called Kani — A Cultural Gathering. Over a couple of hours, we connected to silence, to the presence of each other and to the spirit of love! Could never imagine this happening in the middle of a college festival, but it just did.

c. How would design look like if everyone was on board?

At the Piramal Foundation, some visionary leadership took the bold step of inviting NGOs to co-create their employee volunteering programme. A space where so many different voices came together and danced, creating something that no single perspective could ever allow for….

d. Can we move from separation to connection?

We have been exploring the whole web of social issues at our Community Connect Fellowship — CCF — and deep within the issues, we reached the core of the challenge: to create a new story of connection. We pushed ourselves to explore this in fresh and new ways. Meanwhile Dev Tayde shared some of his ideas with the parents of our fellows, bringing one more level of interconnectedness…

e. How do we manage our own energies more effectively to bring about change?

The Blue Ribbon Movement fellowships build leaders to anchor our Avanti Foundation Young Women Leadership Forum. We explored the HBR classic article “Manage energy not tIme’ and looked at balancing our lives through a home-made desi psychometric instrument….interesting questions around boosting energy to channel into the world emerged….

f. What is it to be an urban community?

An evening of intense conversations and visions shared at Rachna Toshniwal’s space are leading towards deepening the connections of the alternative community in Mumbai…coming together, supporting and creating the beautiful world we dream of right here, in the midst of the crazy, mad and yet lovely city is a part of our journey.

g. How do we hold the paradox of Being and Becoming?

At the Newfield Learning and Resource Centre’s symposium, leading thinkers, inspirers and friends including Terry Patten, Terri O’Fallon, Susanne Cook-Greuter and Charles Eisenstein shared deeply from their heart. As an online community of 250 odd people brought together by Veronica Paz Olalla Love, we experienced learning across borders.

That apart, a writing deep dive, reconnecting to Blue Ribbon’s vision, a couple of my articles in Life Positive and loads of reading (including writing by Joe Brewer and Manish Jain) have kept the heart yearning and the mind buzzing!

That’s pretty much the notes from the field for this month! Onward we go!