Yesterday I went to a one day retreat.
It was very serendipitous how I ended up there.
I just watched Nipun Mehta’s latest TEDx talk about creating social change without money. After that video I decided to reach out to him and perhaps get some pointers about a question I had been holding for a while: How can housing work in a gift economy?
I was familiar with his work at Service Space and had read a few articles by him and seen several videos he had online. Put simply, I was a fan.
In the email I said I’d love an opportunity to meet him and asked whether he was planning on coming to London at any point. I assumed he was a very busy person, and must receive a ton of emails every day. I didn’t expect a reply, but I sent it anyway.
A few hours later I receive this from him:
I’m absolutely stoked. I cancel whatever I had planned for Sunday and RSVP’d.
In the email with the details, I read that another awesome dude would be there – Satish Kumar, founder of Schumacher College, who did a peace walk from his hometown in India to the capitals of four of the nuclear-armed countries, Moscow, Paris, London and Washington D.C.
Lessons learned from the day
- Humans have a tendency to complicate things.
- The mark of a genius is simplicity. Service is simplicity.
- Stop trying to save the world. Serve it.
- Be in the past 10% of the time, in the future 15% of the time and in the present 75% of your time.
- Life is counter-intuitive. The more you give, the more you receive. The more you take, the less you receive.
- Assume value in everyone.
- Sometimes questions don’t require answers, they just dissolve.
- Great leaders make you feel great.
- Your greatest security doesn’t come from wise financial investments, it comes from surrendering to the web of connections that you are naturally a part of.
- Cultivating noble friendships, or spiritual friendships, is not half of the path. It is the whole path.
- There isn’t a difference between giving and receiving. Give, receive and dance.
- “We can do no great things, only small things with great love” – Mother Teresa
- Humility, Humility, Humility.
- Fear comes from separation. If you are separate from me, then I ‘otherise’ you, you become foreign to me.
Read the transcription of the London Dialogue with Satish Kumar and Nipun Mehta
I’m feeling so much gratitude for having the opportunity to attend this retreat. I’ve met some amazingly kind, genuine and vibrantly alive people. We all received a 21-day Kindness Challenge and I’m taking it on. My heart feels excited for the ripples and serendipity that will ensue. Thank you.
“Service doesn’t start when you have something to give; it blossoms naturally when you have nothing left to take.”
– Nipun Mehta
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