Thursday, January 24, 2008

Mindfulness Meditation in Oakland Public Schools

Quick blog about yesterday.  I spent the morning/afternoon with my friend Megan.  We went to a local high school in the Oakland area where I watched her teach sessions of mindfulness to students.  My job was to provide an extra set of eyes and see if there was anything that I could suggest.  We had lunch afterwards with the program director.  Lots of amazing things happened, students seem to really be impacted by this practice.  Can't really elaborate further in a public context though.

 

In the afternoon, met up with a gentleman I'll call Hugh (for anonymity reasons).  Amazing dude.  Has been the CEO of multiple organizations, now in his 60's or 70's.  He chooses to have no car and no cell phone and remains a fan of simplicity.  He and his wife take daily walks, and about a decade ago he realized that there was a lot of change lying around on the ground.  He started picking it up and giving whatever he found to the local food bank.  When he met us he said he had found and donated THOUSANDS of dollars in this way.  But that was just the start of it.  Then he started telling us his stories.  How even though he and his wife tried their best to remain anonymous, somehow people found out what they were up to, and on many occasions even homeless people were moved to give spare change in the hopes of helping others.  generosity at its purest.  he wanted to see if it was possible to get the word out about doing this to others and have more folks donate in this way to good causes.

 

The evening ended with the weekly Wednesday meditation in Santa Clara.  The thought of the week was on blessings.  Seems like all I've done in 2008 so far is receive blessings.  I can't tell you how much gratitude I have.  Sometimes i just spontaneously tear up for no particular reason other than gratitude.  Tomorrow I have a karmatube meeting and more chances to connect with folks that are being the change they wish to see in the world.  Life is good.  Onward.