Is it volunteer week or not? The 'spotlight on' weeks can be rather confusing - and dates can differ globally. Still, I've started a series of posts on volunteering (gift work) and discovering that it is actually National Volunteering Week in one country, has given me the excuse I need to write the next piece.

The 3rd step in my volunteering journey saw my active involvement in one of my business school Alumni groups. When we talk about the value of a business school education, there are a few different schools of though (pardon the pun). For me, it was, and still remains the lifetime value and the power of the network. Like anything however, this needs nurturing and attention.

Was it another happy accident? The programme that I was on, meant face time every few months, and whilst I had remote contact globally with others on the journey and at points spent a lot of time in the ground (see pics, who wouldn't?!) there was something to be said for investing some time in building connections with the wider community early on - enter, the Henley London Alumni Group.

I regularly started attending these once a month, informal events. Over time, as in any network, it became clear who the core attendees were and soon enough I was one of them also. Eventually, it was also a no-brainer that I play 'host' when the committee members weren't about. When the invitation came to formally join the committee, I accepted and looked after the marketing.

It didn't feel very different to the 18 months prior and I as the saying goes, when you do something because you want to, it's largely fun. It didn't feel like work, and in this particular volunteer scenario, it wasn't particularly time consuming. I signed up to a '1 year tenure' which simply rolled for a little while. Eventually life happened and I started to pull back after I took on my 4th volunteer role. For about 6 months however, the two ran concurrently.

I may no longer be active here but the current team continue with the consistency of these events. I calculate that the group is probably now been going in some way for over 30 years. As I referred to in my previous piece on gift work, the longevity of a volunteer cause or endeavour relies on fresh blood coming in at the right time and a core team in place.

I still look back on this time fondly. I remain an active member of a global network that will serve me and that I will continue to serve over the course of my lifetime. These days it is pretty cool to 'join-the-dots' when I meet Henley Alumni through daily life. This year I found one in my team in my current volunteer environment. We'd all do well to remember our points of anchoring - they serve well as ice breakers and often lead to relationships that blossom.

Henley Business School - ​https://www.henley.ac.uk/alumni/community-and-networking

No, seriously. Every since the 1990s, slowly but surely we've so called gurus pop up claiming to be experts in this field. Lo and behold, apps also popped up! 
Let's rewind a second. Defined in the Collins English Dictionary Millennium Edition, to meditate is:
                    'To think about something deeply; To reflect deeply on spiritual matters...'
Needless to say, the wikipedia version is a tad different. You can look that up yourself! :)

A few years ago, one of my best friends invited me to come along a meditation and wellbeing day that she was organising locally. She was raised in an environment where every Sunday there would be seva and meditation. I sort of knew what I was expecting ahead of time, apart from the meditation bit. Those that wanted were guided into a state of meditation for X hours - I fell asleep! I remember telling her that afterwards. She replied that this was fine, as most people do the first few times. Stillness brings out different things for everyone in the beginning, in some cases this can be a recognition of how tired our body and/or mind is or enjoying the stillness enough to carry us to a state of relaxation and rest. ​

As we progress to Lockdown UK Week 5, I've been reconnecting with ancient spiritual stories, such as The Mahabharat - people would go into meditative states for months, even years! So here's a thought, for some of us, this lockdown malarkey is giving us a little more time to allow ourselves to unlock the gateway to meditate. For others, sadly not at the moment. 

If you are truly open to owning your time, then do it! Here's a basic relaxation snipper that a friend of mine recorded. In my view, it works best if you'll permit yourself an uninterrupted nap, as a cure for insomnia or just before you intend to go off into dreamy dreamland.


​https://www.kirti168.com/post/mini-relaxation-session

We've entered into Week 4 of UK Lockdown - now also knowing that we have a few more weeks of this. A summary of the week's so far:

Week 1 - a minor adjustment to business as usual for me. Not hitting the road nor networking, I welcomed what felt like simply an extended period of 'admin time'.

Week 2 - much of the same, with the added sprinkle of navigating the odd change to home routines. For an introvert and someone used to being very autonomous with their time, the sudden increase in video conferencing and additional meetings from all directions were an interesting initial reaction to observe. 

Week 3 - Here I went into organise mode following an inevitable change to the time devoted to 'paid work'. By the end of the week though, I was super relaxed, valued the home time with loved ones and had found my creative flow once more.

This week, I'm not sure how much I've achieved and felt rather like a busy fool. What I have noticed however is that my penchant for naps has returned. Hoorah!

For the last year or so, I've been working on consciously listening to my body's needs (I'll expand on this another time). Often, external demands on this. However, our health and the shell that surrounds it is our guide to our own needs and we owe it to ourselves and listen.

A friend of mine has been releasing short videos to help us all during this period of change. Whether they are an opportunity for you to temporarily switch off, or when the call for a nap comes, give this a try. This particular one I'm sharing here has really helped because I am organically at the point where I am listening to the need to relax.

​www.kirti168.com/post/natural-breath-a-place-where-relaxation-starts

This is a piece that I've been meaning to write for a number of years and have perhaps told this some or all of this story in a number of ways. I sense a shift towards volunteering and hope that it is not a one-off, short-lived affair, but something that we all to some degree or another choose to do.

'Gift work' for those unfamiliar with the term was first coined by Charles Handy in 'The Elephant and the Flea' as part of one's portfolio career. Defined loosely as a type of work done with no (financial) reward expectation in return. To you and I, this is most synonymous with volunteering.

Here are a few reflections of my own entry & experiences into this world:

Whizz-Kidz - I'd recently left the corporate world for the first time. By way of synchronicity, I'd me the CEO of this medium-sized charity at a party and she'd said that they were always open to new volunteers and I was willing to explore how I could help out. A meeting with the then Volunteer Manager followed. It wasn't an interview per se - rather an exploration of fit, what I could bring to the table and what I too wanted out of it. 
I was placed in the Corporate Partnerships team - and had a very flexible work arrangement with the team. Here, I had my first real exposure to a not-for-profit, took part in fundraising events & made new friends. This is what led me to my next 'gift work' stint.

Find out more about Whizz Kidz - http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/

Unseen Tours - A co-founder of this fabulous little social enterprise was working at Whizz-Kidz at the same time I was volunteering there. We became friends and over time I found myself hanging out with the crew. To begin with, my involvement was quite informal. Over time, I became known as the 'Critical Friend' to the organisation providing a sounding board and commercial advice.
I certainly witnessed a few waves of evolution during the years I was actively involved and to my mind, the right people, and the right energy came and went naturally. The business model remains somewhat unique. Here, I learnt a lot about volunteer motivations, humility and had my first dabble with public speaking engagements, predominantly within educational establishments.

Although I'm now longer actively involved, I remain passionate about the cause and a strong advocate. I'm truly humbled by how people are currently giving their time, yet saddened by the effect on income streams for not-for-profits.

These are but two examples of gift work evolution in my own portfolio and I'll no doubt share others in due course. Other small doses of community and service are coming to the fore now - sometimes it may be our creative side that makes the world go round. My mum's brought her sewing machine out and makes a handful of masks per week for friend's and neighbours. Others are revisiting their hobbies for the same. That's humanity right there.

Find out more about Unseen Tours - ​https://unseentours.org.uk/

It's inevitable that our portfolio focus whilst in lockdown has shifted for all of us - be it by default of design. For those of you not familiar with the original theory behind a portfolio career, 'home work' was the segment dedicated to work done 'at home' - often unpaid and often that which the female would pick up. Over time, this work if you were of a certain economic background would be outsourced, and as a result we redefined homework as how we spent 'home time' and with whom.

Now it feels to me that there's been a major global reset in this area, with some culture adapting seamlessly; others less so. For me the first week or so of lockdown wasn't anything new. A remote worker for over 7 years, I simply felt like I was having additional admin time, with an added dose of this video conferencing malarkey. Then, like many others, I experienced my 'paid work' segment being impacted.

Frankly, I thought this was great. A few days of getting myself organised and crunching the numbers and voila! I knew this new found 'free time' would last for at least a month and thus would eventually give me the headspace required to stop, reflect and hopefully allow my creative streak to pop its head up again.

Whilst the split or balance of home work in each household may indeed differ, there is something to be said for us going back to the future in our experiences here:

• Food/Cooking - Granted, pre-lockdown I was fortunate enough to have access to fresh food and freshly cooked food most days. Now, not only do I appreciate this more, I've thoroughly enjoyed the act of cooking most meals from scratch (in fact, whilst writing this piece, I got up to grind some black pepper by hand) and learning hand me down recipes from both of my parents. The freshest, healthiest ingredients need not cost an arm and a leg - a little really does go a long way.
• Cleaning/General Chores - This type of 'work' may be brought in house for many as a result of what we are experiencing. Many of us who may do all or part of this in any case will also have favourite and not so desirable activities. I don't mind the washing up, laundry and grocery shopping but not so keen on everything else! One cannot fault the medidative and exercise benefits these activities yield however once we are in flow.
• Gardening - Rewind 10 years and you would NEVER find me in the garden. My mother knows who she can thank for this new found willingness - another medidative, natural exercise activity. This activity heightened, not only by the thought of planting this season's produce but also the metaphorical seed sowing of new beginnings and redirection.

When we come out the other side, perhaps we'll all have a realisation of what 'home' really means to us. I for one am grateful for the additional quality​ time I'm not getting to spend with my parents and what I will learn as a result.