Pupak and a 'Gift Existence'

This is what I talked about with Pupak, artist and founder at Trees for Hope, an organization that has the goal to heal the ecological and socially devastated landscapes in the Middle East. She shared how silence and meditation can open the space for the unexpected and help to connect with our deepest calling; how she had to die to be able to reborn as herself and how to become anything we want.

I met Pupak in the silence of the 6:30 am Meditation. Day after day her presence, together with a small group of people, has been with me during this practice so precious to me. I believe that it gave me the opportunity to connect with her on a spiritual level even before I had the opportunity to know her story.

During our interview Pupak told me that the days when she manages to go to the Silent Meditation[1] at 6:30 am in the Community’s Main Sanctuary are beautiful. Nevertheless, she honestly admits that it is an activity that requires lots of energy and that it has an impact on the rest of her day because she often feels tired afterwards. But when she can spend some time meditating Pupak starts an inner dialogue through which she asks questions and receives answers.

In her experience, spending time in silence opens the space for the unexpected. What she receives doesn't always follow with a logical interpretation, but sometimes Pupak has visions and feels clear about the message that she is receiving; at that point she knows what to do. The time she spends meditating is an opportunity to pause and make self analysis that allows her to see her behaviors and mental attitudes, and release what is not necessary anymore. In this way she is able to balance her mind.

Furthermore, for Pupak meditating is strictly connected with the idea of service through taking care of herself, her house, her community and the world. While I was listening I had the imagine of a person who is consciously aligning with the idea of ‘love’ and is gradually irradiating it within herself and all around: in the environment where she lives, in her community and eventually in the rest of the world.

Another practice that, Pupak uses during her meditations is the Ho’ponopono[2] as a way to ask for forgiveness both to other people but also to the water or the earth or any other kind of energy. Life for Pupak is not a linear path and awareness often brings pain and grief. For this reason having the capacity to ask for forgiveness is very important.

Pupak arrived at Findhorn thanks to the Ecological Ecovillage Design Education course, which changed her life radically through a process that she describes as dying. Before that she felt blocked in a system that was not serving her, stuck in a marriage that she didn’t belong to. She knew in herself that there were other possibilities but they were not feasible in ‘that life’. So she had to release, and create space and to be reborn. To make me better understand, Pupak compares this experience to the birth of a baby - a process which is beautiful but at the same time painful. Nevertheless, for her the knowledge of what is arriving makes possible to sustain any pain.

She now lives in an ecological house called Lighthaven, designed by her partner, and with low energy consumption and a greatly-reduced impact on the environment. For her this is an example of reducing our modern day excessive use of resources. Pupak has taken the opportunity of living in this house as a gift, and she shares the value and significance of it with her friends. Another gift that she has received from the Community is Chrystal, a workshop space dedicated to creativity. In this studio Pupak can not only work on her art and craft projects but can also receive answers, intuitions or develop new ideas. She sees it as a space for experimenting with the ‘gift culture’ that can be further developed in the future.

**After releasing who she had been before, her belief systems and most of her material belongings, Pupak started to ask how she can serve the greater good of the planet at this time.**

Thanks to her story I can have a glimpse of a new life style and most importantly broaden my mind’s ability to dream. In fact, Pupak has started to weave a reality based on gifts since she moved to the Findhorn Community . After releasing who she had been before, her belief systems and most of her material belongings, Pupak started to ask how she can serve the greater good of the planet at this time.

Because she moved to the Field of Dreams[3] she felt as if she was in a magic place where dreams become real and where it is possible to ask for anything. As a consequence she understood that she had to open up to the possibility of receiving what she was asking for and learn to be generous with herself too. What she tells gives me the possibility to think about the fact that receiving can be much harder then giving and being generous: do I consider myself as worth of receiving from others?

In Pupak’s world money is still necessary but on a smaller scale. Therefore, she still has a job that brings her some money. But at the same time Pupak is experimenting with a new way to fulfill her needs, and is slowly moving towards a ‘gift existence’.

For example, she doesn’t need to buy clothes anymore because she can find what she needs in the Boutique: a place for free exchange of clothes, books and other items in the Findhorn Community. Often, moreover, she trades her skills for other services like, for example, she can offer a massage in exchange for singing lessons. In this way Pupak says she is experiencing an abundance that she didn’t have in the past. Her hope is that this kind of economy, the ‘gift economy’, will one day also operate in the wider world, beyond the Findhorn Community, which often functions like an incubator for new ideas and projects.

Conscious of her privileged life situation, compared to so many people on the planet, she has developed the desire to share this abundance with the rest of the world and more specifically to become an agent of change for her native land, the Fertile Crescent and the Hyrcanian Forest of northern Iran. In this way the Tree for Hope project was born[4].

Looking for the right balance and awareness between love, power and wisdom.

Thanks to the life she has had in Findhorn, Pupak has also had to accept her own power. In her experience it is through looking for the right balance and awareness between love, power and wisdom that we can all be able to serve others.

What she would like to share with anyone who is reading this interview is the encouragement to spend time in silence and to seek out their deepest calling. She believes that the multiple crises we are faced by nowadays, such as global warming and the extinction of many species, can be a way to realise that humans need to evaluate their lifestyle.

This can be an occasion to release the old unaligned ‘disconnected Self’ and focus instead on the ‘connected Self’ and with the truth in our hearts. Pupak would like to encourage as many people as possible to invest time to stay with our self, listening, and expand. For her in the silence there is the possibility not only to deepen our own knowledge but also to heal our wounds and grow stronger.

Pupak told me that she feels aligned with her calling and she knows she is doing what she is supposed to. Although she has to work in order to realise her project Tree for Hope she experiences it as a joyful labour because this is what she wants to do and it is what she dreamt of and asked for in the past.

For Pupak human beings are ‘co-creators[5]’ , as is often said in the Findhorn Community. In this view it is possible to become anything we want: we just need to be aware, express our desire and then move towards its realisation. Pupak says that when she starts this mechanism and starts to do little actions, she can feel the Universe coming towards her, and that she is walking towards the world and the life she wants to have.

Pupak believes in the ability to determine our experiences so deeply that she even warns to be careful with our desires, because they will become true. Therefore, truly listen and be ready to receive and to give back:. ‘We are here to truly live our lives as a gift’.

What about you: are you able to go through your life as if it was a beautiful gift? What if I help you to start! Book a free 15 minutes chat with me: Carolina’s calendar.

To know more about Pupak Project Tree for Hope: //www.treesforhope.net/

[1] During the week there is a silent meditation from 6:30 am to 7:30am in the two Main Sanctuary of the Findhorn Community .

[2] Ho’ponopono in an ancient Hawaiian practice for forgiveness and reconciliation that says: ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you’.

[3] The Field of Dreams is one of the residential areas of the Findhorn Community.

[4] This project is about creating community through the reforestation of the geographic area between Palestine and Afghanistan. To know more: //www.treesforhope.net/

[5] This means that human being have the ability and therefore the responsibility to create their own reality.