Amy Basingstoke, Author at Yanik Silver

Pandemic Pause = Purposeful Pause

July 12, 2023 by Amy Basingstoke

I’ve been having a lot of deep and interesting conversations about what really happened in 2020 & 2021…here’s what I wrote at the beginning. Interesting to reflect on now. What do you think?

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Pandemic Pause = Purposeful Pause

There’s an idea of a sacred pause where you stop and reconnect to your intention.
Collectively we are all experiencing this is the exact same moment… The Universe literally just hit ⏸
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A pause to truly hear what your heart is whispering…and what the Earth is attempting to tell us. “Business as usual” is no longer an option.
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This is a pause to decide if we want to hit ▶️ on the same movie or change the story.
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Could this moment be the catalyst we collectively require to see just how truly interconnected we are and how our institutions are failing us in creating a thriving world.
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The “micro” is being reflected in the “macro” of our planet’s health.
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This is the Pause to consider what our future can be as a species…to awaken fully…to be in harmony with all of life.
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This is the time to listen to the grandmothers and grandfathers of all our nations. 🌎🌍🌏 The virus is real – but it’s actually the virus of believing in clicking instead of connecting and scrolling instead of sharing stories.
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This is a Perfect Pause for each of us to consider our path forward. We are at a choice point. ↖️↗️ A divine “Y” to uncover our true WHY.
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This is the globe’s ✨ Cosmic Alarm Clock ✨- will we hit 💤 snooze or answer it?
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Do we even have much more time to sleep in? I don’t think so. As a species, we are like the sleepy teenager (I have 2 😝) who have had school cancelled and we might need to push them out of bed to get into action.
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And your assistance is needed at these pivotal times – doing what we can with what we have. –

Then we can consider with consciousness what movie we hit PLAY on again…(Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the ending!)

Is Your Mission ‘More’ Important Than Your Family?

January 4, 2022 by Amy Basingstoke

This past weekend two interesting attention-getters showed up.

First, I got the new Will Smith book, WILL, on Audible read by the actor. It’s damn good and highly recommended! I knew I liked him before but never knew how much – plus we share the same birthday of 9/25. So that’s pretty cool! The vulnerability here is so powerful and follows the arc many of the most successful Mavericks I know go through…and then come out the other side. It’s really incredible.

And second attention-getter, I met a wonderful Swedish elder/wisdom keeper at the le Ciel symposium which brought together many different changemakers from around the world. I’m in a group working on sacred sites and architecture to help “re-sacredize” the world. (More on that another time and how she made me cry!)

Now I had started the Will Smith book driving my son, Zack, to a hockey game in Philly a few weeks ago. It was a 2.5-hour drive and he listened for a little over an hour, so he was actually pretty engaged. (We tradeoff between question time in the car or listening to something or him on his phone on his own.)

I listened to a lot more of the WILL audio on the plane ride to Spain for the symposium and one of the sections stood out so much, I just had to note it down in my journal. Will is talking about how he frequently speaks to entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, change makers, etc. and this is the conversation…

In case it is a little too hard to read, here’s what it says…

“There’s a secret conversation that always seems to arise, “How can we fully pursue and realize our vision while at the same time cultivating love, a thriving family and fulfilling relationships? Here’s the harsh reality for everyone who loves a dreamer. Everything comes second to the dream! The attainment of the dream became an act of survival. In my darkest nights – my dreams – saved my life. It was my light…my food! My vision of brighter days sustained me. It was my whole purpose.” – Will Smith

As a Maverick Visionary does that hit you square between the eyes?

It sure felt spot on for me even today…

And it also reminded me of a radically honest conversation I had in Sweden with a Maverick member’s wife a few years ago.

Quick background and then on to the conversation…

The Ice Hotel had been on my Ultimate Life List ever since I heard about the remarkable “hotel” where you get to sleep in a balmy -5° and everything is built from snow and ice each year.

Harvested from the Torne River, huge blocks of crystal-clear ice are pieced together to build this magnificent hotel in December until it melts back into the river come April.

That’s something I found interesting to ponder. Imagine if your entire business ‘melted’ each year and you had to start anew. What would you keep? What would you change? It’s a really good exercise to consider since many times we keep things status quo for too long until outside forces or competitors force us to change. But what if the natural cycle of creation is closer to the way the Ice Hotel operates and we need to renew and rebuild each year?

Nearly all the members enjoyed sleeping in an ornate and totally unique art suite created by artists from all over the world. Each one features an entirely different design and look with amazing sculptures and other cool features. My art suite was called ‘Cold and Crazy’ and it was pretty perfect for me at this moment. It was a beautifully whimsical expression of the fun and joy associated with snow and ice.

This was definitely one of my top 5 trips ever and I feel like we have to bring it back. (Let us know if you’d want in!)

One part of the adventure took us deep into the Lapland in the Arctic circle. And that’s where this question came forward…

“Is Your Mission ‘More’ Important Than Your Family?”

That’s the question one of our Maverick1000 member’s wife, “D,” asked me.

But let me set the scene for you. We were in the Swedish Arctic, basically in the middle of nowhere. It was midnight, everyone had just driven their own team of dogs out to the Wilderness Lodge and a few of us were outside by the fire. These are the kind of meaningful conversations I enjoy.I

t’s a tough question and I decided to be more honest with her than I have ever been – even with myself.

I took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”

“Yes, my mission is the most important part of my life.”

I think I detected a small gasp since this was not the politically correct answer, but it’s true.

The big lie

To me, one of the big lies we tell ourselves as entrepreneurs is, “I’m doing this all for my family.”

Are you really? Is that why you’re home at 8pm and barely see any of the kids’ activities? Or why you’ve got an iPhone glued to your ear while playing catch outside.

Perhaps you believe your sacrifice will create a better tomorrow for your family.

Maybe. Maybe not.

Do you really think your kids will care whether or not you closed one extra deal at the office, or would they remember you coming home early and hanging out to play? It’s an easy lie to feed ourselves and swallow so we feel acknowledged for our work.

But really you’re just working because a) You are driven by your business mission & purpose or b) Your workaholic nature is rationalized by the “rewards” you bestow upon your family.

I’ve seen a lot of entrepreneurs who have done big things in their business but couldn’t hold their families together. They obviously put their business ahead of anything else and perhaps it’s the NOT admitting of such truths that creates the rift.

One couple I hang out with both socially and in business is a husband-and-wife team, D & M. We’ve had conversations about this a lot. He told me his wife understands why he works so hard, and that’s because what they’re building together benefits both of them and their family. Now that’s something that leads to more harmony instead of resentment.

Live your truth

Entrepreneurs out to do something big should not be embarrassed by their ambition. And they don’t need to wrap it in a socially palatable wrapper of, “I’m doing it all for my family.”

(Note: I wrote this section years ago and right now I would say the masculine energy is really what I am talking about here.)

Men are driven by mission and purpose. I think many female entrepreneurs are too, but they’re in an even more delicate position of trying to be a super mom, wife, business leader, etc. I can only give you my perspective as a male – but what we’re really talking about is the active “male” energy of creation that either sex can harness.

If you have read David Deida’s, The Way of the Superior Man book – this exchange comes from his book. Picture a WWII soldier saying his teary goodbyes to his girlfriend or wife.

Girl: “Don’t go. Stay with me!”

Scenario 1: Guy: “Ok, you’re right. I’m staying with you.”

Scenario 2: Guy “I have to go honey. It’s my duty and mission to help save the world.”

I would bet in scenario #1, you would have less respect for him, right? Scenario #2 is the way men are naturally wired.

I realized why I was struggling with admitting my mission is the most important thing for me. And it’s because when I’m home I create intention about how I spend the time with my family. (I am by no means perfect but simply having more awareness and clarity instead of attempting to mix it all together has created more mindfulness.)

One thing I told “D” around that fire was that even with my travel and work schedule, I never miss one of my kid’s birthdays or an important event. I remember missing an experience on an African Safari at Richard Branson’s private game resort so I could be home for Zoe’s 3rd birthday. Would she remember? Of course not. But that’s part of my commitment and I wasn’t bitter about it (even when I heard the amazing stories from the Mavericks who went).

(Note: This has remained constant! I still haven’t missed the big & little moments even as the kids are now 16 & 14. Zack had a hockey game today at 3:20pm and I was there freezing my butt off and loving it! Plus, I help coach his other travel hockey team.) 😉

My bigger and broader mission truly encompasses my family

My epiphany came as I talked through this in Sweden with the others: actually, a portion of my mission that I wasn’t totally seeing directly engulfs my family, too.

The working draft of my personal mission is to connect, catalyze and co-create a bigger future for entrepreneurs using transformative experiences, resources, education and inspiration. I’m driven by the desire to help entrepreneurs destined for greatness to get to the next level in their business, happiness and global cosmic contribution.

(Note: This was the original Maverick DNA before we changed to a tree to represent growth.)

Inside these 3 interconnected circles – it makes complete sense that your family and personal relationship need to be a piece of it. Part of your impact is with the immediate people around you and a big part of your lifestyle comes from the happiness around your relationships.

Today I look at what I do with my family through a Transformer lens for other entrepreneurial families. I want to apply the resources and lessons as they’re being learned to hopefully become better road maps for others with their families, raising entrepreneurial kids and creating meaningful relationships.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons we’ve put on our Family Freedom events for entrepreneurial families. (It’s time to bring these back too!) The parents have discussions on being better parents and raising more entrepreneurial kids, while the kids learn about business and go out on the streets to sell. During this, there are fun adventures that create meaningful family memories. It wasn’t profitable but I did it to make sure I create situations that will benefit my family and other Maverick entrepreneur families around me.

One of the things I believe that trips up entrepreneurs is not having values in a hierarchy. We always show what we value based on the time and attention we provide it. So why not do it with intention. One of my first encounters doing this was back in 1998(!) with Hyrum Smith’s book 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management.

One of the best exercises in that book was to create your values and then rank them. Here’s what I had for quite a long time in my planner:

I’d say almost all of these apply in most ways, but the order might be different. Being true to myself #5 (Following my Dreams and Ambitions) would actually be #1 now because it can lead to everything else.

(Updated: Now re-looking at this again many years later I think a version of #9 – I am spiritually & emotionally sound would be #1 value for me.)

Your order will vary. Your values will be different but having this as a road map for you really helps when you feel conflicted or divided about what is the most important ‘thing’ to do.

Ok so back to Sweden…” D’s” husband, Maverick member, “M”, actually thanked me the next day. He said I’d given voice to something he had struggled with for a long time.

His commitment to his mission seems to overshadow his relationship.

What do you think?

Cosmic Breath and Breadcrumbs

November 5, 2021 by Amy Basingstoke

With our kids we have something in our family called “Make Magic.” These are magical synchronicities where something happens that is simply beyond a coincidence. (There’s a longer story about this inside the Cosmic Journal.)

Now “chance” connections seem to accelerate some of these magical moments.

For Summer Solstice Mavericks participated in a sacred fire ceremony conducted by Eduardo Griego Gonzales, Ajq’ij, meaning counter of the days. Eduardo was introduced to us through two mutual connections in Taos that also magically occurred.

Eduardo has been a student of the Olmec and Maya Teachings in the Tradition of the K’iche’ Maya for the last 30 years. And he feels very strongly that there is real importance in applying these ancient traditions to our present day lives, which I think anyone who participated with us would agree.

After the event Eduardo and I have connected multiple times now where he’s shared with “Hummingbird breath.” As he says, “Breathing is the most important thing you do 23,000 times every day. Breathwork is “Breathing with Intention.” As he describes it:

“The Hummingbird Breath re-connects our lungs, heart, and brain so they can function as they were intended. It can also activate the Vagus nerve which may help heal our internal organs. This amazingly powerful human ability will eventually begin to be used by those who choose to be “co-creators” of Future Earth and Future Heaven.”

I’ve been doing this breathwork each day now for over a month and it’s quite powerful. In fact, we just had Eduardo do a special Maverick Masterclass and you can catch the recording here. (This was exclusive for Maverick1000 members but I believe even more of this wisdom needs to get out.)

Star Sign

Eduardo also did my Mayan horoscope and it’s pretty different from any western type. You see in the Mayan cosmology there are 20 signs (glyphs) and 13 numbers. Each day had a significance based on the combination of the two. That adds up to 260 combos.

From our Summit in 2012, I had studied up on this and thought I was a “Lamat” which is a rabbit but also a star or starseed. And he told me it’s not quite right. Since I was born in Russia, you have to translate to what time it would be in Mesoamerica where the Mayans were. So I was born on 9/24 instead of 9/25 and that makes me a “Manik” or Deer.

My wife Missy laughed because “M” for Missy and “anik” for me – almost as cool as Bennifer!

As Eduardo is telling me this and the characteristics of Manik, a deer literally walks up to his window that he shows me on Zoom.

Then the next day in the morning I saw a deer. Not that big a deal since we have them a lot. But then I held my hand out and she came over and licked my hand. Whoa! That’s never happened before and I’ve tried calling them.

Make magic!

And then a few days later I’m outside at night looking at the moon and a deer came walking over again without me even calling. She nuzzled my hand. Again!

Missy totally thinks I was lying. And that makes me laugh because of all the other unusual things I’ve shared with her, this is what she thinks is made up. Ha!

But the synchronicities don’t stop there. Before Eduardo started working together there were some unique nudges from the Universe.

Our family spent a few days at the beach and on the last day we went back to our friends place to get the car and go. We tried starting the car…nothing….it just clicked and clicked.

The other family there had jumper cables. We tried one of their cars – nothing. Tried a different car and had a better battery hook-up. Yeah! Our car started.

We drove about 15-20 min down the road to our place and even left the car on a little longer to try and recharge the battery. Missy smartly decided we should park it outside instead of the garage in case we didn’t start and we needed a jump the next morning. Well as soon as we turned it off, the car wouldn’t restart. Bummer.

Now the parking situation in this one beach town is interesting and this meter started at 11pm. I set an alarm and came back outside to pay for the parking but as I’m walking to the meter I see a $10 bill folded on the ground next to our car.

I pick it up and it’s actually a $10, three $50s and one $100 bill. That adds up to $260. Pretty good!

The next morning I called a local auto place and they came to jump the car and then we went back to the shop (thankfully they had the battery in stock) and did everything in about 45 min. We had to check out by 10am and I started the process at 8am. Now as I’m going to pay…the bill is….<<drum roll>> $262.50. And even better, I asked if they prefer cash and they said, “Yes the credit card machine just went down.” Pretty darn good.

This occurred a few weeks before the Mayan fire ceremony and 260 is a significant number for the Mayan Tzolkin.

Shoot for the Stars

July 27, 2021 by Amy Basingstoke

When you get a last-minute invite to join Richard Branson for his first space flight, you re-arrange your schedule to make it happen. So it was back to New Mexico again for Sophia and I after previously being there for our Maverick Summer Solstice Summit.

Getting to Spaceport is in the appropriately named town of Truth or Consequences and one of the truths is it’s definitely not the easiest.

However, when you can witness a little bit of history in the making – you do what you can.

This has been a long time coming and quite a journey

As you might know, I’ve been a Virgin Galactic ticket holder for many years, fourteen to be more exact.

Fact is, I’ve followed the program since it began with the very first X-prize created by Peter Diamandis. (We actually had Peter at a Maverick event and he shared the story of how the prize was born out of his own frustration and deep desire to go into space. It’s a great example of pursuing your deepest passion without a clear roadmap of how it can happen. My friend Nick Nanton created a documentary celebrating Peter called “Visioneer” that’s worth checking out.)

To set the stage; The X-prize was awarded to a vehicle that goes to space twice in two weeks, with that company receiving ten million dollars as the prize. The prize was won by Scaled Composites and then Richard Branson and the Virgin team quickly licensed the tech to become Virgin Galactic.

Once tickets were going to be on sale, I registered my interest on the Virgin Galactic website. However I was one of 40,000 people who did the same thing and their team had no idea who was really a prospect and who wasn’t. Somehow I never got contacted.

The Magic Zero-G flight

Now fast forward two or three years later and I’m taking a group from my Mastermind to play in Zero-G with me. This is where a specially outfitted 737 flies parabolas and imitates different lunar, Martian and zero gravity environments. It’s only for about 30 seconds each time – but the smile on your face goes from ear to ear as you bounce around in zero-gravity just like space.

Our plane had some mechanical problems and the crew would have logged too many hours so we had to wait to swap out for another team. We finally get onboard again and I start talking to my new seatmate about Zero-g and then to the topic of space. Within a few minutes, I shared that Virgin Galactic never responded to me and she told me adamantly, “Oh don’t worry, I’ll make sure they take your money.”

Haha! And who was sitting next to me?

None other than Loretta Hildalgo Whitesides who is very active in the space community herself plus her husband, George Whitesides, ended up being the CEO of Virgin Galactic itself before switching roles recently for their next phase. The odds of me meeting Loretta like this seem pretty astronomical and the synchronicity of this moment is never lost on me.

So I put in a good chunk of cash and was officially in. (Funny side note: I promised my wife, Missy, I wouldn’t touch our savings and I didn’t because I ended up selling a workshop to pay for my spot. I was just sharing this with a high-level group of copywriters about how you can write yourself pretty much whatever you want with this skill. I haven’t taught copywriting in quite some time but I’m considering doing a Cosmic Creativity exploration. If you want to know more make sure you sign up for the Cosmic Tuesday emails here.)

Okay back to our story.

At this point, I’d never met Richard and was thrilled to get this letter kinda from him:

Nobody thought it would be this long but throughout the years Galactic has continued to send all sorts of gear and interesting gifts. The very first item you get is an epic 2-foot tall book detailing spaceflight history plus incredible high-resolution pictures of that X-prize winning flight. I’ve never seen a book this size or this impressive. (In the bottom picture is an oversized publication so you can get a little bit of a relative feel for how big this book is.)

And we got a cool model of the ship that Zack promptly started to fly around the house.

That might have been a collector’s item but little kids and fragile models don’t really mix well. 😉

Magic and Tragedy

The program hit more milestones and more magic unfolded including the unveiling of Spaceship Two literally on my 40th birthday, exactly September 25, 2013! But then a tragedy struck nearly one year later on October 31, 2014. Spaceship Two VSS Enterprise test flight disintegrated midair because of an error activating the feather mechanism too early.

I remember hearing about that accident while eating lunch with futurist Barbara Marx Hubbard, literally discussing how she’d want to meditate in space to send back an evolutionary activation to everyone on Earth. I started tearing up and crying as I got the news from Missy via text.

It wasn’t because, “Boo hoo, it’ll take longer for Yanik to reach space,” but because of what I believe space means for humanity. And I’m not alone. Inside each person’s spacesuit is a quote from famed cosmologist and physicist Stephen Hawking, which reads:

“Taking more and more passengers out into space will enable them and us to look both outwards and back, but with a fresh perspective in both directions.”

The good news from the disastrous crash is there is a better fail-safe mechanism now installed for the VSS Unity and Richard himself always wanted to prove the safety of the spaceship by flying himself on one of the earliest flights.

And on July 11, 2021 that’s exactly what happened.

All of us had quite an early wake-up call with buses leaving from the hotel at 3:15AM. Yep – brutal but I was pretty excited and ready to go!

Several other Mavericks were also invited including John Ratliff and Ben Richter who have been with us to Necker multiple times. (Note: Necker is on again and can’t wait to host another gathering there for Mavericks and visionary leaders. This will be our 11th or 12th year there. If you’d like to apply and get more details please go here.)

The amazing part was getting to see everything from the “inside.”

There was a bigger part of the Spaceport set up for media (200+) plus special invited guests and future astronauts. You were still pretty lucky to get inside there, but we were even more fortunate to be invited to witness Richard’s flight right alongside his family, close friends and key partners in another section of Spaceport.

In a surreal way it seems like a regular Sunday morning for Richard. He was just eating breakfast as we walked in to give him a good luck hug. And Richard being Richard actually thanked us several times for being there!

There was a lot of energy swirling around.

Getting to to talk to Richard’s daughter, Holly, the next day she said she was vividly reliving many of the emotions she felt when she was just a kid and her dad took on so many adventures and even had his near-death misses. You could see this mixture of excitement and nervousness from a lot of us as Richard and the rest of the flight team walked out to their Land Rovers taking them to the ship. (Pretty good sponsorship opp for Land Rover!)

3…2…1…Release…release

I brought my big binoculars (which took up like 1/3 of my carry-on luggage) so I could see the flight directly instead of just watching the livecast playing there. I got goosebumps watching VSS Unity disengage from the mother ship and fire up its rocket engine going straight up.

Once it was out of my sight I went back inside to monitor the flight status and transmission feed. I loved the fact that as the ship reaches space, Richard relays this message:

“To all you kids down there. I was once a child with a dream looking up to the stars. Now I’m an adult in a spaceship with lots of other wonderful adults looking down to our beautiful, beautiful Earth. To the next generation of dreamers, if we can do this… just imagine what you can do.”

And then he unclips to go play in Zero-gravity followed by a few exclamations of “Incredible” and “Oh my!”

Then we welcomed him back to Earth with fist bumps and huge grins.

Next it was off to the main stage for the beautiful astronaut wings celebration and a few remarks. I’d say it’s definitely pretty fun to be so close you get some of the celebratory champagne sprayed on you!

Everyone at Spaceport was so excited and happy as we hugged each other and high-fived watching this historic flight – but then I started seeing some other takes that had a completely different energy.

The question is: why shouldn’t billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson use their resources to solve problems on Earth instead of “wasting” money on space or catering to a bunch of “rich space tourists.”

As the Stephen Hawking quote said, there’s something bigger here than simply boasting about being an astronaut at the next cocktail party. There’s something called the Overview Effect that previous astronauts have talked of that happens when you see the Earth without borders and floating against the inky blackness of space. You start seeing how precious and beautiful our home really is and many are moved to do more to steward it.

After the first space missions, an American writer, Steward Brand, pressured NASA to release an image of the Earth taken from outer space so others could marvel at this blue marble. This became the inspiration for the “whole earth,” essentially the bible for all things green and eco-friendly.

There’s no doubt there is much work to be done on Earth, however we need to look at the entire planet as a whole and these kinds of moments lead to a more holistic expanse. I believe this new space focus will create a greater evolutionary pull towards greater cosmic consciousness. That’s obviously where I get excited.

Maverick Space Flight?

There’s also some talk of having a Maverick spaceship charter. I know there are 2 or 3 members seriously talking about it. Or if you don’t want to spring for the ticket yet, you can enter to win 2 spots via www.Omaze.com/space

As all of this unfolded I imagined myself going up. I’m ticket holder #144 so if they do one flight per month, the timing might work out to be flying on or around my 50th birthday.

You’re all invited and champagne’s on me!

Sic Itur Ad Astra

New Rules. New Language. New Story.

February 22, 2021 by Amy Basingstoke

“If you want to win the revolution – them must win it with RASTA. You cannot win other way. Because if you win other way, you gonna fight again. When you RASTA win – no more war!” – Bob Marley, Rastaman chant

This concept Bob Marley is talking about has been coming to me so much lately.

Think about it.

There is so much “fighting” against something…

And this only leads to pushing back.

Again and again and again….cycles of fighting and revenge….reaction and escalation.

You see this everywhere right now and the 2020 election in the U.S. was a huge showcase.

But what if we moved beyond the polarity of right and wrong to a third, more elevated way?

What if there was a better game (for business, education, finance, health, etc.) that attracted the players to utilize collaboration, cooperation and shared gifts in their highest expression?

And what if that truly felt like PLAY?

With a better choice, the old structures simple topple because what came before is no longer the best option.

What has been coming to me is this:

New Rules
New Language
New Story

New Rules

Let’s create new rules for the “game” to reward what we want to see in the world.

I recently saw a video shared by one of our Maverick Book Club selection author’s, Arlan Hamilton, an incredible VC of BackStage Capital, who is funding underrepresented founders.

She shared a video that showed how people behaved in a social experiment playing monopoly when one was arbitrary given more money and the ability to 2x their rolls. The behavior became more aggressive and over the top. You can see a 2-minute explanation here.

Some of us would extrapolate this to mean those with greater wealth will act this way to the detriment of collective society. That’s one conclusion however I think it’s due to the “rules.”

The rules of Monopoly are to bankrupt the other players.

We’ve been taught to win someone else has to lose instead of another way where everyone can win instead of this…

The new rules for the 21^st century are around collaboration, connection, co-creation and community. You can only WIN when others do as well.

I started calling these ideas “Evil Schemes for Global Good.”

And one of my favorite questions to ask is, “Who has even more to gain than I do by this working?”

My friends from Israel have created something called the Fresh Biz Game (FreshBizGame.com) where you win by unlocking collaboration and creativity. And it’s working – they have hundreds of facilitators running workshops and playing games with companies and leaders all across the globe.

Somehow we’ve been led to believe we are in a zero-sum game and that’s simply not true. Look at the radical abundance of nature. The common notion of “survival of the fittest” is inaccurately thrust upon us and that’s not how nature operates.

What if we create new rules like this:

New Language

Your words are the magic spell that build stories that either serve you or muffle your dreams. What words are you speaking forth into the world at this moment?

Listen carefully to those around you.

What do you hear?

Our language determines what we believe is possible or impossible. Our words truly create worlds.

We can create our own new language in order to more fully represent what we want to see in the world. I started as a copywriter so words have immense power and “new language” can take something known and adding a new context.

If you notice in Rule #1 from above I wrote “PLAY(fully).”

What does that even mean?

We know what play means but playfully means fully expressing who you are in the most playful way. It’s about playing but playing full out! Fully is in parenthesis for a specific reason.

Playing full out and not being smaller for whatever reason. Utilizing your fullest and most unique expression or another bit of language I really like is…

Effortless effort!

Seems odd, right? In yoga you can find this beautiful mix sometimes in a pose of just pushing your edges but not overdoing it.

As you play fully, you’ll start to develop a sense of when to push and when to just allow.

There’s a dance of action and surrendering. Of doing and being.

By putting your full heart and 100 percent effort into something, you actually win.

Putting in the work er….play! (if it’s from a true place of purpose) is itself your reward. It’s only the attachment to results that creates disappointment, frustration, depression, etc.

What I’m taking about is not making work “playful”…but doing what feels like play!

Check in with your internal energy. When do you feel drained and when do you feel like you could keep going and going even without food?

For me, I absolutely love collaborating & co-creating new ideas, concepts, business models, communities, etc. that have unique facets of impact layered into them. And part of that is coming up with “Purposeful play” that creates more of this for everyone around, especially if they have the leverage to really create tremendous ripples. That’s fun for me! As I call it, “Catalyzing the catalysts!” That’s completely joyful and feels like play.

Then from my playing fully, the inevitable byproducts are purpose(fully) and profit(fully).

How?

Well if you noticed mine is tied into the impact piece. Just brainstorming new ideas is not as exciting as actually overlaying the impact elements in unique ways that also enhance the marketing, story, collaboration opportunities, etc.

That’s frickin fun!

(Note: If your company is 7, 8 or 9-figures – this is the kind of work we do with Maverick Visionaries. You can reach out at Maverick1000.com to inquire more.)

Our purpose is linked to everything up to this point which has brought you right here with the exact right set of circumstance, experiences, learnings, relationships, “successes,” and “failures,” etc. to play(fully).

And then the final piece is Profit(fully) with…

Infinite Dollars

Imagine, on the day you were born, the Universe set up an unlimited bank account drawn on Infinite dollars paid to you for rendering your unique contribution to the evolutionary game…your ONE thing (ie. the ONE thing that felt like play!)

Infinite dollars are more valuable than any kind of contrived monetary unit like U.S. dollars, Euros or even bitcoin. These are your fullest rewards for completing your “Cosmic assignment” aligned purpose(fully) with your why.

This is all connected to the idea of business being the greatest lever to make a difference in the world with…

Evolved Enterprise

Another new language example is the term “Evolved Enterprise” – it combines two known concepts into something that has a higher aspect. It’s also the name of my book showing how the concept of an Evolved Enterprise® is about the greater impact companies can create which unlocks greater profits and more joy and fulfillment for everyone.

It’s about moving from a transactional company to transformational to even transcending business as usual. (See more at EvolvedEnterprise.com or get the book from your favorite bookseller.)

Another one of my favorite new language words I’ve been using for quite some time is, “RE-remember.”

And what about “old” words and language?

Maverick member, Derek Coburn, recently had spiritual teacher, Rob Bell, on for a cadre event and he shared about the origin of the word, “Apocalypse.” The common definition has something frightening for us but really it is from the Greek to “uncover, disclose or reveal.” This is exactly the part of the story we are in right now.

But you won’t know that unless you know our place in the bigger story…

“New” Story:

The new Cosmic story takes place in three acts:

I: Unity
II: Separation
III: Return home

I say “new” in quotes because this is the most ancient story we can (RE)remember. Our place in the coming ascending age or this approximate 26,000 Great Year cycle.

Many ancient civilizations predicted great periods of darkness followed by light. There are different ages of our world, and it moves more in a cycle than just a straight line. Just like day and night is a 24-hour period and the seasons repeat after one solar year, there are even greater cycles within cycles.

Science has labeled the wobble of the earth as precession over a period of roughly 25,000+ years; however, what if this was known much earlier and there was a different reason for this happening? What if this was associated with our consciousness as a people?

The Mayans were one of the greatest time-keeping civilizations, and they had 13 different calendars they tracked, with one of the longest being a 5,128-year cycle.

Why the heck would they be interested in 5,000-year cycles? When you multiply that number by five, you get 25,640—pretty much in line with precession and this Great Year.

What if instead of history only being linear and a continual evolution, there was a circular aspect? We are going to discover humanity is older than the official story.

The ancients also focused on certain spots on our planet as sacred places. Why were incredible monuments built in stone? What was the message that would stand for generations? Many of the mysteries of these locations will be uncovered again and reactivated in a ceremony.

Recognizing THE bigger cosmic story is also part of recognizing YOUR part to play in this collective story emerging. This decade is discovering your role to play in the greatest shift of consciousness our world has seen. And then your process of awakening wakes others up to their part. I like to even think of it as a game of Cosmic “Hide and Seek.”

This is also perfect timing to share (or be reminded of) the prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor.

You can read more of it here on Pachamama Alliance’s blog:
https://blog.pachamama.org/the-eagle-and-the-condor-prophecy

I’ll quote from here:
“The path of the Condor is the path of heart, of intuition, and of the feminine. The path of the Eagle is the path of the mind, of the industrial, and of the masculine.”

The prophecy says when the Eagle and the Condor come together to fly in the same sky, this will bring in a new level of consciousness for humanity.

And as we head more and more into the most transformative 2020s decade, this is the moment for you to bring forth the story you want to write. We can stop being only “actors” in our roles and become the writers (and producers) of our own mythic story.

Here let me start it for you…

“Once upon a time….”

Download this as PDF so you can share:

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