stefanravalli – Serve Conscious

All Posts by stefanravalli

Ep. 32. Action Yoga: Your Power To Convert Any Situation To A Self-Development Practice

Yoga & meditation are not just meant to be an isolated, but a practice you bring into everything – including, especially, any kind of work. I discuss an ancient practice that allows you to meet any challenge with enthusiasm, inspiration and wisdom.

Conversation with Rebecca Shafir, speech pathologist, mindful communication and business coach and author of Zen of Listening (a very important book for me). We discuss communication techniques, pitfalls and mindful living.

Mindful Ninja Moves | Nos. 06-10 | Serve Yourself | Being Parental | Being Human | Mindfulness Anywhere = Everywhere | Boundaries

The life-upgrading power of Mindful Ninja Moves transcribed as a weekly review with links to Serve Conscious articles, guides and podcast episodes that take you deeper into the techniques and wisdom they propose.

Host of the Innerbloom AND Positive Head Podcast Alexa Houser discusses her story, EFT healing practice and mission to help the world transcend its issues…by processing hers along with them.

Mindful Ninja Moves | Nos. 01-05 | Meeting Triggering Moments | Connecting Through Need | Helping Others | Listening | Breaking Obligations

We look at an emotional mastery system that allows you to work with your most “unwanted” emotions to master yourself, live mindfully and be an absolute service Jedi.

Rachael Kable’s mission is educate the world on simple, practical and methodical ways of incorporating mindfulness into every aspect of your life. She tells her story and discusses how mindfulness helps harness the potential of emotional sensitivity. 

Industry-leader Dushan Zaric discusses the responsibility we have to serve with care and presence; powerful insights forged from a life of passion, deep self-exploration and hardship.

Founder & CEO of JoJo tea discusses tea as a spiritual practice and a spiritual livelihood…as well as a wide range of other principles that can facilitate a life of integrity and inspiration – from acting, to breathing, to remaining humble.

Founder/Host of The Meaning Movement discusses work as a journey towards finding meaning…and the balance we need to find between generating a livelihood and living our mission.

I try to not be a hypocrite while teaching about the power of listening by speaking uninterrupted for over an hour. I discuss how challenges you experience in listening actually come from a disconnection from yourself.

The conclusion of our wonderful discussion about life, the spiritual journey and all the silliness and hardship we need to embrace along the way.

This article stands alone, but also serves as an extension of themes discussed in of part I. The Case of the Two-Faced Server. One of the most prominent bits of restaurant industry lore concerns an idea that the servers that are the most gracious, sweet and beloved by their guests are the vile once they […]

Funny, insightful and super real discussion with Cory Hardaker, a meditation and martial arts teacher and host of the Mindfulness of Doom podcast

I discuss my present situation and share stories and cases that reveal how you’re always growing and evolving…even (sometimes especially) when you’re “going backwards” .

We discuss mindful journaling and other conscious reflection techniques, slowing down and having hobbies…real ones.

Discussion on the art of mindful conflict resolution. The Yogic path of self-understanding meets mediation in powerful ways.

Self-development coach David Tian and I discuss the ways we live in contradiction to our “higher values”…and the power that space has to instruct and expand who we are.

Interview with Greg Clowminzer about mindful communication, understanding the nature of thought and the self-knowledge you acquire from seeing through it.

Humanity as the new spirituality! Talk with Jonni Pollard about his book The Golden Sequence, a total guide to conscious living as a participant in society. Self-development is worth much unless you’re of service!

An interview with the co-founder of the KYO App discussing the power of journaling and asking yourself the right questions to improve your life

Master identifying needs, get what you want through compassion, and break the subtle conditioning that keeps us from communicating honestly.

At any moment we have the power to initiate a teacher-student dynamic. Discusses the important and delicate nuances of this dynamic and how to respect them.

Powerful Ways The Service Environment Reveals & Tests Our Ability to Be Our Authentic Selves Probably the most played out bit of wisdom we get from people of all positions and disciplines is encouragement to “just be you” rather than whatever you think people expect of you. It’s something we always do well to be […]

Ep. 12 Mastering Something Means Mastering Your Need For Instant Gratification

How to master skills, which then shape us into people that are even more awesome. Reveals the value of sticking with something especially when it gets boring and repetitive.

Originally written for the Be Here Now Network. Check out the original article here. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” -T.S. Eliot It’s many years ago, and a much younger Stefan is in the […]

Ep. 11 Searching For Significance: Serving Means Directing People To Their Highest Selves

Skillful ways of speaking to the highest place in people without seeming manipulative. People are awesome and it’s in your best interest to discover that.

Ep. 10 Service That Connects When It Could Divide: Interview w/ Angie Vroom

Conversation with meditation teacher Angie Vroom on the crucial marriage of spirituality with activism, social justice and critical thinking.

Ep. 09 Being Your True Self Is Not What You Think It Is: Interview w/ David Tian

Discussion with self-development coach David Tian about being yourself…and the surprising ways that really being yourself means being focused beyond it.

The most recent Serve Conscious podcast episode was about living with an abundance mentality. The concept might have seemed more controversial than I first considered and probably would have benefitted from a more thorough explanation of what it is and what it is not. In case there are fears that this idea conflicts with your […]

Ep. 08 The Importance of an Abundance Mindset (Not Just On Thanksgiving)

How to serve anything well through generosity – having a sense of endless resources and an enthusiasm for sharing them.

Ep. 07 Everything Improves When You Live As An Information Gatherer

Mastering the art of information gathering to free you from the challenges of difficult people.

Ep. 06 The Art of Mentoring w/ Jeremy Moreau

We discuss service culture around the world and Jeremy’s educational program that mentors service professionals in a more mindful and holistic way.

For the first time in awhile, I don’t have a management role where I work. Right now, all I want to do is moonlight at a restaurant, rather than invest the hours into running some aspect of it. Currently, I have too much else to do. So I’m not a leader there. Technically. However, that […]

Ep. 05 Next Level Conscientiousness: Engineering Unique Moments

Service principles that put mindfulness to work; service mindsets that can provide you with success in every area of life.

Ep. 04 Taking The Higher Ground With Skill, Strength & Compassion

Stealthily sweet techniques for dealing with difficult people and situations without being confrontational.

Ep. 03 Meditation: The Most Powerful Tool For Upgrading The Way We Serve

Learn how to meditate effortlessly and adapt powerful ancient principles to your daily life.

Ep. 02 Servers With Attitude: When & Why We Love Them

A look at the phenomenon of “snarky server” restaurants and bars. What attracts people to them and, more importantly, what is repelling them from somewhere full of friendly accommodating staff.

Ep. 01 Good Service = Self Awareness: Interview w/ Kevin von Behren

Founder of Fly Awake Tea House in Portland Oregon shares his deep sense of service and what it takes to create a unique gathering space.

Originally written for the Be Here Now Network. What is service? On the surface, it sounds so simple: the act of identifying needs and working to fulfill them. Service is often thought of as oriented to others, but the target should just as often be yourself. Service is often thought of as a professional imperative (i.e. […]

Lessons From Service & Moviegoing: Let Others Be The Hero & You Always Win

How do we end up rooting for anti-heros? Film and television characters that aren’t 100% virtuous have always managed to get our full support. They don’t always do the right thing, but we want them to succeed at whatever they are doing (even if it’s something with questionable morality). In a sense, we aren’t cheering […]

I used to think I took the art of service seriously…until I encountered tea ceremony. Both the Chinese & Japanese ways of tea have changed my life in different ways. Each have different priorities, and this article will focus on the Japanese tradition to reveal an aspect of service that I think no one trying […]

In part I of this article, I illustrated my current easier-than-usual work environment where I still find tremendous challenges to serving others. I’ve found that this is because of the innate limitations of being human and connecting to other humans. This exercise has allowed me to look at the finer points of service and […]

Years ago, I retired from the bar/restaurant industry to take my meditation knowledge further and become trained as a teacher. Last year, I returned. For love, fascination…and, yeah…for money. I was excited to be back in my element. And dreading it a bit since I know the industry can take its toll on ones health […]

Originally written for the Be Here Now Network. Check it out here. A 2007 study by political scientist RD Putnam discovered that people are more likely to socially retreat when in ethnically diverse environments. Our tendency to hide away and avoid connecting to those that seem different than us was the focus of Grace Rodriguez’ […]

In different stages of life, we all have holes in our game that we hope others don’t see. “Impostor syndrome” is the belief that we are riddled with deficiencies. That we are fundamentally lacking in something (i.e. reliable skills) that makes us the useful, valuable human we are somehow obligated to be – and we’re just around the corner from being found out. The most successful people on the planet continue to get struck by this feeling every time they put themselves out there in a big way. But, everyday, even the smallest interactions can trigger it.

The ego is often misunderstood as something you need to get rid of. It’s more like a part of you that needs to be kept healthy. Those mystical experiences where the ego “dissolves” is more of a chokehold being released from your true self – the ego’s still there, just non-attached, not defining and limiting your experience.   I discuss the unexpected ways that “enlarging” it helps you break out of its limitations. And provide some useful techniques that you can use to strengthen your ego so you can serve everything better and just generally live your full potential.

My first love affair with service and restaurants was with bartending just as it was becoming a highly respected craft in the Western world. However, the eastern approach revealed how much we were missing. How the Japanese Way of Tea and the one-pointed path of the Shokunin is just beginning to reveal the possibilities of serving as true hospitality people.