Extraordinary Possibilities and the Greatness of the Heart.

It happened just a few years ago to two young children in a family from Illinois. The eight year old daughter became ill and was diagnosed with a life threatening blood disease. A search went out to find a donor of blood compatible with her own. As she weakened, they looked and no donor could be found. Then it was discovered that her six year old brother shared her rare blood type. The mother and their minister and doctor all sat down with the boy to ask if he would be willing to donate his blood to same the life of his sister.

Much to their surprise, he did not answer right away. He wanted some time to think about it. Six year olds can be quite thoughtful at times. After a few days he went to his mother and said, “Yes, I’ll do it!”

The following day the doctor brought both children to his clinic and placed them on cots next to each other. He wanted them to see how one was helping the other. First, he drew a half pint of blood from the young boy’s arm, Then he moved it over to his sister’s cot and inserted the needle so her brother could see the effect. In a few minutes, color began to pour back into her cheeks.

Then the boy motioned for the doctor to come over. He wanted to ask a question, very quietly.

“Will I start to die right away?” he asked.

You see, when he had been asked to donate his blood to save the life of his sister, his six year old mind understood the process literally. That’s why he needed a few days to think about it.

And then he simply gave what is in the heart of every human being to give when we are truly connected.

One of the best examples of the attentive heart came after Gandhi’s death, when the whole Gandhian movement was in disarray. Within a year or two of the establishment of India, a number of Gandhi’s followers decided to have a nationwide meeting to see how best to continue his work. They hoped to convince one elder, Vinoba Bhave, Gandhi’s closest disciple and heir apparent, to lead this conference, but he declined. “We cannot revive the past,” he stated. After much pleading, they finally convinced Vinoba to lead their gathering, but only on the condition, as he requested, that it be postponed for six months, giving him enough time to walk on foot from where he lived to the meeting site, halfway across India, and listen as he went.

He began to walk from village to village. As he stayed in each village, he would call a spiritual meeting just as Gandhi had done. He would listen to their problems and at times advise the villagers. Naturally, he walked through a series of very poor villages, there being many of them in India. In one, many people spoke of their hardship, of their hunger and how little food they had to eat. He would ask, “Why don’t you grow your own food?” But most of them were untouchables, and they said, “We would grow our own food, sir, but we have never been allowed to own land.” Upon reflection, Vinoba promised them that when he returned to Delhi he would speak to Prime Minister Nehru and see if a law could be passed giving land to the poorest villagers in India.

The village went to sleep, but Vinoba, struggling with the problem, did not rest that night. In the morning he called the villagers together and apologized, “I know government too well,” he said. “Even if after several years, I am able to convince them to pass a law granting land, you may never see it. It will go through the states and provinces, the district head man and the village head man, and by the time the land grant reaches you, with everyone in the government taking their piece, there probably will be nothing left for you.” This was his honest but sad predicament, “I wish I knew what to do,” he said.

Then one rich villager stood up and said, “I have land. How much do these people need?” There were sixteen families, each needing five acres apiece, so Vinoba said, “Eighty acres,” and the man, deeply inspired by the spirit of Gandhi and Vinoba, offered eighty acres to the poorest families in the village.

The next day Vinoba walked to another village and heard the plight of hunger and landlessness from its lowest caste members. In the meeting he recited the tale of the previous village, and from his story another rich land owner was inspired. He offered 110 acres for twenty-two desperately poor families. Within the day the land was granted to the poor at a meeting and celebration.

Village by village, Vinoba held meetings and continued this process until he reached the council several months later. In the course of his walk, he had collected over twenty two hundred acres of land for the poorest families along the way. He told this story to the council, and out of it, many joined him to start the great Indian Land Reform Movement. For fourteen years that followed, Vinoba Bhave and thousands of those inspired by him walked through every state, every province and most districts in India. Without any government complications or red tape, they collected over ten million acres of land for the hungriest and most impoverished villagers.

This was one of the greatest peaceful transfers of land in modern history. And it all began with an open mind and attentive heart.

It’s January 16th of 2008. Of course, it seems like yesterday I moved to Bay area. I’ve learned a lot here about awareness and consciousness, which leads me to the question, why resolution as opposed to intention? Resolution is defined as the solution, accommodation, or settling of a problem. Intention is defined as an act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result. Is it me, or does it seem like one is focused on the past, what is wrong with me or it calls us to stop doing something in particular and the other is focused on the future, where I want to put my attention.

Do you ever notice some New Year’s resolutions, usually stem from a “should”, whereas I think intentions stem from something I want to create. I should lose weight, I should stop smoking or I should exercise more. I hate ’shoulds’, for me it feels like just another way to make myself feel bad or guilty about something I’m doing. On the other hand, having an intention to be healthier (whatever that looks like, adding more veggies or having only one glass of wine, as opposed to three) or the intention of exercise can look like “I will move my body once a week”, thinking like this can really open the world up and it really just plants a seed to live your life moving towards something instead of taking away something.

The other potential disaster about resolution and those ’shoulds’ is in timing. Everyone wants to start something the 1st of the year (even though it’s really not the New Year, but that’s another conversation), when there is a situation that arises and a choice is made that doesn’t concur with the resolution, all bets are off and we wind up feeling like we failed. Inside of intention, you have the whole year to find the balance between failure and success, and because the intention was created in an open ended way, there is really no room to fail anyway.

So, why am I writing about resolution and intention 16 days after the New Year. Because the reality is that some of you have probably already had challenges, so here’s permission to start again and keep starting all year long.

I love writing my intentions, I especially get excited when I look at them at the end of the year and to my surprise, almost all of them have been completed. And, if I haven’t completed something, that tells me either, I really didn’t want to achieve it or it just goes onto my list for next year. I had a trip to India on my list for three years, before it was complete, there’s that timing thing again.

And keep in mind, intentions can be anything from “I will meet the man of my dreams” (Ahem, that’s been on my list for more than three years!), “I will double my income”, “I will spend more time with my family”,”I will learn Spanish”, “I will start to write a book” or “I will be in Hawaii by year’s end”. So, plant those seeds and operate from a place of growth and abundance. So, what are your intentions for the year of 2008? Have fun!

It’s an interesting time of year. I always notice how the energy of the holidays is like a can of mixed nuts. There’s the cashews, the sweetness of generosity and giving. The pecans, that wintery nut giving us tradition. The walnuts, ahh, the all knowing ancestors, the family unit, the sense of community. And finally, the peanuts, highly allergenic and full of mycotoxins, symbolizing the mad rush, the panic, the “I have to get this person a gift, because they are getting me one, because what will the think of me if I don’t” kind of attitude. Face it, most of the country wind up being peanuts. I like to think that we who reside in the most radical and conscious area in America are cashews. And, yes, sometimes it’s not that easy. I am proud to say yesterday, I was a cashew. I went to volunteer at an organization called “Little Brothers” Friends of the Elderly. It is a fantastic, San Francisco based organization that visits the elderly in residences or convalescent homes. These are typically people that wouldn’t otherwise have any visitors at all. Christmas and Thanksgiving are great days to do this, but they need volunteers all year long. When I was waiting in line yesterday, I met a father and son from Moss Beach who was also volunteering as well, they do this each Christmas and after their visit, they take a ton of blankets and jackets that they have collected from friends and family and hand them out in the Tenderloin. A great idea for next year!

But, while we are on the subject of generosity, here are some other suggestions that are anonymous and way fun, those of you who know me can just see me running around giggling like a maniac….

Buy a few individual flowers wrapped nicely and put them on people’s cars in the parking lot. Who doesn’t want to come out to a flower on their car for no apparent reason.

Donate clothes, blankets or food to shelters who to someone you see on the street who looks like they need it.

Be a meter angel and feed people’s meters.

Pick up trash when you see and dispose of it.

Throw money (dollars preferably, coins can be dangerous) out your car window as your driving or just drop some on the pavement as your walking down the street. Very fun! Totally anonymous, leave it up to the universe who will get it, and don’t worry someone will!

Go into the office early and buy breakfast for everyone once a week, but don’t tell anyone it is you. See how contagious it gets when everyone else starts doing the same thing. Hysterical!

As your leaving a cafe or restaurant, ask your waitress if you can pay for someone’s bill and don’t tell them it’s you. I love this one, I always wait by the door and to see their face and then dash out.

Use acknowledgment as your weapon! Call or send a card to a shelter, a free clinic or charity and let them know what a great job you think they are doing and how much their work means to the community.

Now, I’m all jazzed up and hopefully you are too! Here’s the challenge, do something this week (or each week), and share it with us in a post so we can all be inspired! It’s so easy and it really doesn’t need to take a lot of money or time. Thanks for stopping by and have a great and safe New Year!