Social Gaming Sunday!!

As part of our concept G.I.V.E (Gratitude.Inspired.Vision.Exchange) we’ve collaborated with a brand called “Frame Gaming” to introduce, “Social Gaming Sunday”. Our pilot took place last evening and I must admit, I loved it!!! It takes a lot of spunk to walk into a world where games are played at many levels to assist non gamers to see how gaming can and has changed lives without having to plot

The concept revolves around connecting with the child within, so competitive, I realised it when all I wanted to do was WIN a game!! It is interesting, that the adult mind, goes to sleep and a child is born, chatting a little, playing a lot, just hanging out. When we met the Team from  Frame Gaming two  weeks ago, we were truly drawn to their outlook on gaming. Professional gamers who are passionate, exciting gang of gamers, who have grown in their passion to make a business out of it. When we discussed gaming, I felt that it would be a super gift of Gratitude to take it out for a spin so, we recommended “social gaming weekends” as a foray into gaming bringing people together onground and introducing the really people behind the gamer profiles on social networks and internet in general.

The venue, Café Ground Zero, not the kind of place I would’ve found without directions and yet, a place where I would hang out with friends. The little underground space, filled with people hanging out over sheesha and mocktails and 4 gaming consoles. The space, beautiful with bean bags and apt seating and funky dudes and dudettes, then again, maybe it’s the buzzing sda market that gets credit for all of this. A must try at the café, the Honey Chilli Potatoes, it is addictive… I would give the taco’s a miss, somehow, they don’t make you “want more”.

Most gamers (purely online for gaming) are an interesting lot, behind those hardcore profile pictures and updates. They’re these wonderful people who are inspired by the spirit of the game and their commitment to the game that helps them develop an online persona that is formidable and when you meet them, they’re these shy and filled with ideas personalities. It is also interesting that when you absorb or listen to their understanding of games, the insights are brilliant! You know, we’ll get them to you sooner that you think… Frame Gaming, will deliver some gaming delights over the next couple of months.

It is going to be an interesting journey, being a part of their “change gaming” with  “frame gaming”… exciting times ahead…

P.S. If you’d like to get invited to Gaming Sunday leave your email id on our page DeePositive Intertainment for us to mail you about the next meet up!!

Gratitude creates from Thought!

Gratitude is all about creating from thought and living in the now of things. We have learnt it through our experience, working with Gratitude the entire year. Not everyday is a Sunny day, yet the clouds have a story to tell.

Our initiatives and associations have taught us that there is a pandora’s box of “things to be done” to assist ourselves and others to live in Gratitude! That surely does not mean that we give away all that we have, resign to a life under a lamp-post and live on CHARITY! Gratitude allows us the incredible power to connect with all that we have and expand our thoughts to expand our reality. It isn’t about CHARITY… Gratitude is about CLARITY!!

When we meet people we learn new “thoughts” and how they’re becoming “things”… we learn something new about how to assist them to assist ourselves from the “no” we learn to generate new ideas of “how" and from the “yes” we learn that there are new people we have reached! Personally, I have learnt to detach from words and attach to the feeling that I experience in communication.

We all live in a bubble of information that affects and effects change, to choose from the options presented to us, it is imperative that we understand and consume with a deeper awareness of goodness. Even though, I agree, there is more of not so good that surrounds us, there is a personal choice we make that is, at the speed of thought, converting into our realities… and it is scary to see where we’re headed!!

Keep it a simple practice in your life to SMILE at every opportunity, it is the simplest way to stay positive. Yes! Even in times, when your personal world trembles… there is still scope to smile!! A smile, is your way of keeping away the negative KNOWINGS and INFORMATION!! A smile is a powerful tool in balancing thought. Think about it this way, when you smile, you’re sending your brain a signal to attract only a corresponding effect. Your words soften and your emotions begin to settle. You are consciously making a NEW choice to stay positively manifesting a new OUTCOME! This is a brilliant way to stay a THOUGHT AT A TIME Positive and remain in a neutral space of reaction, without totally negating the circumstance presented to you.

Another add on to smiling is the practiced ability to say “thank you”!! Thank you acknowledges the present and presents you with a pause to make a new choice forward. Look back at the moments in your life, when you’ve said “thank you” to someone, for something and with a smile. In that moment you acknowledge the very NOW of that moment with Gratitude. For most people, it is in that moment, that all else has faded and the choices born from Gratitude are presented, for a new choice to be made… and this choice, well, is a confidence booster!! Words split and invite a brand new meaning and this meaning… in my personal experience, Thank You has invited a plethora of new feelings and meanings to different words!!

Take time today to create a new tomorrow… smile… you know you are creating and don’t forget to say “thank you” often enough to feel the magic work within you and through you!!

 

10150 tokens of light… filling the space between GIVING and RECEIVING

When we decided to experiment with Santa Workshop Diwali, we intended to let the LIGHT we were celebrating guide us! We knew, that this wasn’t any ordinary intent, we understood that it wouldn’t be easy… yet we said… “let’s spread light” and YES, we were surprised… joyfully… at how much we got to learn from this one experiment… we set a new trend, a little silently… as people celebrated the festival of lights all around the city and gifts were exchanging hearts and hands at the frequency of light…

At the centre we were wrapping up “tokens of light”, smiling away, singing… knowing it was all going to be very special, this year… there was going to be a new beginning for all of us. We knew, that in the melee of celebrations, there are still some who GIVE with so much joy… we knew that there were some truly special people, who’d love to GIVE, especially during Diwali… So, I picked up the phone on Murphy Raphael John… a dear friend and the President of R.O.P.I.O Foundation… and asked, if his team… would like to play Santa for Diwali and spread “tokens of light” in the city!! What I got… was a BIG “YES” and that is where it all began

Like every new concept, we did find our famous question marks and we did find our blank expressions and we did find so many people who said “why”… in the middle of the melee we found three very special people… Manni & Pooja & Rahul … all of whom said “yes” with enthusiasm. And we were on with Santa Workshop|Tokens of Light!!

The Workshop was an experience… filled with Light & Love! We wrapped 10,000 gifts and then went out distributing… this time, we got very confused looking people… who, once we chatted with… did smile! People were surprised to get little gifts, especially since they don’t associate Diwali with free gifts from strangers, much less a foundation. It is amazing, how excited people get when they receive and the richer experience is really for the children who play Santa… the empowered giving is something we can learn from. They don’t see the WHO of the receivers, they’re just super excited to be giving.

One of our Santa’s Ajay of R.O.P.I.O did find it a little strange, he was worried about people’s reactions and the fear of rejection… natural. Well, says a lot about the truth, that people are scared of receiving just as much as they are of giving. And especially, when it comes without a condition. The smiles, with which we distribute, in my understanding is the fine line that needs to be crossed by the receivers. Then came the idea, to spread the light through the one place, where people go to buy literature that will change their lives and a resounding yes from “Teksons Bookshop” made it possible for us to share the light and love with people who read… in this way creating a parallel example for them to experience Gratitude and Intent, that we all wish to learn and master. The grandest surprise, well, when my dear friend, Veer Suklecha, initiated a mini workshop in Mumbai… it gives me great joy to see the expansion of a small effort… that people were moved to experiment and experience the magic. Mumbai is where I was born, my deep intent, was to have this workshop in Mumbai too!! Manifested through a friend!! As I write this piece I am filled with a sense of AWE… watching an idea, complete itself and teach me to continue to do the work I do… It is a GIFT to follow a less trodden path… and it is priceless to RECEIVE,  everything I needed for completion… and I still feel there is so much to learn… so much to go L.I.V.E with… and the most important of all… WE HAVE SO MUCH WE MUST DO… to assist people to GIVE and RECEIVE!

Giving isn’t about the Have, Have Nots and the Have a lot! Giving isn’t about shades of grey, here we are, clearing the air, teaching some how to give and still others how to receive and we do all of this to create a more gratitude filled knowing, that it is still possible to receive without tags or cash commitments. We are so grateful for the people who contribute to the cause to make it possible for us, so, it is a fact, that there are generous givers, who enable the process and share of their have’s for others to receive. What a brilliant way to create again a sense of SURPRISE and a deeper knowing, that everything isn’t simply taken away from us… we do receive!!! And the question really is… “ARE WE OPEN TO RECEIVE”

As I look back at the learning of this workshop, a workshop you can surely look forward to NEXT year… a larger number of givers and receivers… shall come together to create more Gratitude. We have much to learn about receiving as we do about giving. The one core ingredient that makes it all possible is our Gratitude for what we already have and all that we’ll ever want… we must be ready to RECEIVE as well as GIVE!

There is so much not right with our world, everyday, we have enough news to let us know that. Then again, someday, on some street, there will be someone who hands you a tiny gift and wishes you light and love and in accepting this gift, you accept GOODNESS, for the intent that the funds were raised, the gifts wrapped and the warmth with which they are given… is an indication that God is watching out to GIVE to you and maybe, just maybe, you have forgotten how to RECEIVE!

Give it a THOUGHT… we’re coming back with Santa Workshop|Tokens of Gratitude soon… and we’d love for you to be a part of the absolute joy of the energy and love!!

A video and a few pictures we’d like you to see…

The Wrapping … The Distribution … Santa Workshop 2011

and we hope to meet you in THOUGHT WORD and DEED at Santa Workshop|Tokens of Gratitude as we too transition from “Santa Hugs of Light” to “Santa Hugs of Gratitude”