Yanik Silver

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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

Filed Under: Adventure & Experiences, Creativity, Happiness

The “Silly” Cosmic Checkbox Experiment

September 19, 2019 by Yanik Silver

I want to share with you something so small…so easy…and so silly that you won’t believe it’ll work. 

It’s a way to be fully in flow with what you love to do most and have that open up in the most wonderful ways you couldn’t even imagine. (At least that’s been my story so far.)

What started as an interesting experiment turned into something so much bigger….

Here’s what happened….  

Originally I saw a challenge online for 100 days of art. It seemed interesting, but I dismissed it because I didn’t really think I could do it with all my travel and other things going on. In fact, I distinctly remember writing in my journal about my uncertainty but then working through to a realization that I’d just do it and see what happened. 

However, instead of just 100, I wanted to make it more meaningful and committed to 108.

Why 108?

In yogic traditions, 108 is a sacred number connected to the earth, sun, and moon. 

The very first thing I did was to create 108 empty boxes to check off as I went along. 

Here’s my actual page in the front of the journal. I started this on April 3, 2018, and each night I’d check the box as I created an illustrated picture and journal entry.

It felt incredible to check that box after I was done. 

So many nights I really didn’t want to sit down and work on a new entry. Sometimes it meant a few 4 a.m. nights, but I had made that commitment. I remember one night I literally fell asleep as I was drawing a quote and my pen slipped, but the entry ended up being so much more powerful with that “on-purpose mistake.”

Sometimes I couldn’t believe “I” had written it. It just flowed through me. Normally, I’d meditate and then just see what wanted to come through me. Pretty personal and sometimes a bit out there, these were direct downloads from the Universe. 

I created this Cosmic Journal just for myself and had no idea where it would lead. The only thing I focused on was checking off the “Cosmic Checkbox” each day. 

Draw. Write. Check.

Draw. Write. Check.

Draw. Write. Check.

And this creativity spilled over into all my other everyday responsibilities in my companies and at home. 

Try This Experiment 

You can give it a try too with your own “Cosmic Checkbox of Joy and Play.”

Is there something you would really enjoy that you could see progress on each day? 

Something that is fun, playful, and joyful? 

Something that’s challenging but makes you better?

It doesn’t have to be 108 days either, but just having that silly little Cosmic Checkbox will move you along further and faster than you can imagine. You just have to create the checkbox and then mark it off day by day.

As another incentive, I noticed the more prolific I was, the better the insights and drawings became. For example, on Day #78 or so, this page came out:

Originally it was just going to be the first few words of “You don’t need to see the full path…just the next step…”

And that would be it. But I trusted my intuition and kept going. The message started blending with exactly where I was in the twists and turns of the labyrinth too. It was magical. Totally in-flow and one of my favorite checkboxes earned that night. 

Now, I didn’t intend to publish my personal Cosmic Journal, but as I slowly shared a few entries with friends, they gushed about it and loved it. 

Then, very hesitantly, I put a couple out on Instagram and got a great response. And then I showed them to former Camp Maverick counselor Eric Lochtefeld at breakfast one day. He looked at them and could tell this lit me up. That’s all he cares about – investing in bliss. 

He said he would fund a limited-run published version, thereby ensuring I actually paid attention and made it a real book. I have to give a huge thank you to Eric for nudging this into creation.

I’ve never had a project like this or edited any type of book like this. I had no specific order to the pages when I wrote them for myself; it was just whatever showed up that night. 

I sent the original journal to get scanned and got back these little 2”x 2” squares for each page. My entire kitchen island was covered in these thumbnails as I figured out where they went. 

And I knew I was on the right track because I finished them at exactly 1:11 a.m. and same thing for the left-hand prompt pages – 1:11 a.m. Wow! Serious magic!

We published 888 copies of this special limited edition Cosmic Journal, available here until they’re gone: www.CosmicJournal.com.

Not all 108 entries made it in here, but you’ve got 101 in here, so if your Cosmic Checkbox is doing one journal page entry, you have time to get your copy. 😉

The Cosmic Journal can be read from beginning to end all the way through, or an even more powerful way is to use it like an oracle. Simply hold your question or intention in mind then flip to a page at “random” to see the perfect message awaiting you there from the Universe.

It’s almost uncanny how the signs, symbols, and synchronicities line up. 

Even if you have tried journaling but stopped or have never done it, you’ll love the Cosmic Journal. It’s totally different because it’s like getting a direct download from the Universe.

I’ve started calling it “The galactic instruction manual you were missing when you were born to RE-remember your destiny.”

And this still isn’t the end of the story….

My friend Jeff Walker introduced me to the president of Hay House Publishing (the same people that publish Wayne Dyer), and after a quick breakfast meeting, he said he’s never seen anything quite like this. So I immediately got a book deal for the Cosmic Journal and an oracle deck. They’ve fast-tracked it for November of this year…and if you know much about traditional publishing, that’s super fast! 

The revised Hay House version will be out soon, and you can already pre-order it on Amazon, BN.com, or any other bookseller online. (Save your receipt because we’ll be doing special bonuses for pre-orders.) Also, I’d really love your voices/help getting this out more. 

We’ve had a lot of people buy multiple copies of the Cosmic Journal as gifts for their audience or their team. You can buy them in package sets on the site. Or if you are interested in more than 100, let us know as we can do something special or custom for you.

Give the “Cosmic Checkbox of Joy and Play” a try, and see how it goes. I’d love to hear what happens as a result of your experiment.

Filed Under: Creativity, Happiness, Public, Transformation

Why Drinking Could be Derailing Your Destiny of Greatness

August 28, 2018 by Yanik Silver

I feel like I’m going to get some grief for this, but it’s worth it.

First off, I’m not going to make an “always” or “never” statement here, but if this strikes a nerve or triggers an emotional response, there’s something here for you to examine.

So here goes….

Most highly talented entrepreneurs I know are drinking way too much to cover up for NOT doing their most important work here.

By drinking and partying, we don’t have to examine what our REAL purpose is or what our greatest expression of who we could become.

This really struck me when I took 33 days off from drinking a few summers ago.

I was drinking too much (at least for me) because I realized I hadn’t strung together more than two days concurrently without having a glass of wine, bourbon, beer, etc. It was never a lot, but it was enough that I couldn’t recall a long period of time spent not drinking.

No doubt, I had already cut back a bit on my hard-drinking days, but I wasn’t totally beyond it. And I noticed that at some events I attended or was a part of, the vibe was actually too much of a party. I used to love drunk conversations with smart friends, but I realized I was just fooling myself.

I was using alcohol to help me “loosen up.”

To help me socialize more. To assist me with getting my ideas flowing.

Or whatever excuse you want to use.

Frankly, drinking is just woven into so many social situations.

I get it. I play men’s league ice hockey, and after each game, we have beers in the locker room or parking lot. I meet up for drinks with friends. I have wine with dinner. I want something when I head to a restaurant, etc. The list goes on and on. But that’s not even the deeper issue. What I’ve seen is that some of the smartest and most talented individuals I know get hammered!

Why?

Perhaps it’s because we want to forget our “responsibilities” for a little while.

I’m not talking about responsibilities like putting the sheets in the dryer or taking out the recycling but more like our Destiny of Greatness and true Dharma. Yep, the BIG stuff!

I knew I had to change something because I was drinking so regularly. I didn’t have a problem necessarily, but I hated the feeling that something could influence me more than I could influence it.

So I did a little experiment…

I like 33 days for the length of time to experiment with because it’s a specific number, it forces you beyond just one month, and 33 has become quite symbolic for me in the last few years. (It actually shows up in some really synchronistic ways that are hard to explain as simply being coincidences. More on that another time.)

The 33-Day No-Drinking Experiment

About 3 weeks in, I had “amnesia” about what date I said I’d stop. I knew the date, of course, but was considering if I had somehow miscalculated. Finally, at midnight on the final night, I was so excited to drink again that I grabbed a semi-cold hard cider and sat on my front steps.

Hmm…moving into an observer role here and realized I hadn’t really changed too much, but I was still proud for completing this experiment.

The next summer I tried again. This time after the 33 days, I did cut back on my drinking a bit. It eventually took one more 33-day period to really get this to stick and for me to develop a new practice. I’ve realized I can be much more mindful, intentional, and conscious about it. Previously, it was just habitual. Of course you have a glass of bourbon at 5 p.m. after back-to-back meetings because that’s what you do.

It’s fascinating watching your friends react in social situations. The big question is always “WHY?” I play ice hockey, so the boys never got it, but I stood my ground.

Now I’ve become more aware and exacting about when and what I’ll drink.

If I’m having a great meal, I might (or might not) want to pair up a good wine with it. Or if there’s a big celebration, like the BVI Art Reef sinking, I’ll have some champagne. On a recent trip to Necker, Richard wanted to do our signature shot. I had never actually done shots with him over the many years we’ve been together, so I figured this was a moment I wanted to share. (We have a special shot called the “BBG” on Necker that’s become a Maverick tradition.)

Or enjoying Patron with John Paul DeJoria, the co-founder of Patron, at his family’s ranch with other Mavericks a few years back? To me, that’s a good moment to enjoy this spirit.

It’s interesting that the word “spirit” references both the alcohol and our inner essence.

I’ve  realized when I am aligned with my greatest purpose, I really, really want to be at my optimal so that I don’t miss any moments or subtle insights. Full awareness. Pay attention. For me, I definitely feel less intuitive for about 2 days after drinking. It’s subtle, but these subtle energies are where the greatest “downloads from the universe” come from like my Cosmic Journal.

Perhaps this is an experiment you want to take on?  (Let me know if you do.)

Filed Under: Creativity, Happiness, Transformation, Truth

What will you say “YES” to?

April 16, 2018 by Yanik Silver

For me, I decided to take this 100-day project challenge (The100dayproject.org) of one creative art piece per day. I’m 10 days into it now – and I picked journal illustrations as my project.

It’s funny, I wasn’t totally sure if I wanted to actually commit 100 days. Wasn’t sure if I could come up with enough of my own ideas for full pages, putting in the time each day while traveling, etc. But I decided at the end of the 100 days (actually I’m doing 108 days because it’s more meaningful to me) I’d have something really interesting regardless. It would be worth it.

Maybe I’ll publish the illustrations maybe I won’t. Not totally sure.

But I can tell I’m really enjoying this process of having a focused block of creative time each day to draw and write. I’ve already seen it carry over into other areas of my life. I feel like it’s opened even more creative capacity in my businesses and what I’m doing.

I’m including a few illustrations here if you want to check them out. Would love your comments and more importantly try the “YES” Experiment:

Write the word “YES” in a journal or calendar on a random page or date ahead.

  1. Be open to saying “YES” that day.
  2. Share what happens. #yesexperiment

Even bigger idea is what are you hesitating to saying, “yes” to in your own life?

Update: I’m sharing quite a few via my Instagram account – follow me: www.instagram.com/yaniksilver

Update #2: I finished all 108 days of this challenge and it’s been the most in-flow project I’ve ever created. You can see some more here about how it happened and the end result is the Cosmic Journal! Available here or anywhere you prefer to buy books.

Filed Under: Abundance, Creativity, Happiness, Public, Truth

Fully Embracing The Obstacles On Our Path as Gifts

March 20, 2018 by Yanik Silver

In my journal the other night, I drew this picture of Ganesha, the Hindu deity that is the placer and remover of obstacles.

Why?

I think I’ve been in a funk lately.

I guess I can admit it.

I had mistakenly thought I had one big dip I went through several years back when the business nearly collapsed. And when I came out the other side, I thought I was done with these downturns.

Maybe not.

As I’ve really gotten clearer on my highest purpose – to “catalyze the catalysts” – it’s become pretty apparent to me that the marketplace has only “rewarded” me when I put something out with my full heart. It’s not good enough anymore to just deliver significant value – it has to be in complete service to my greatest work or I seem to get lukewarm results.

From an elevated point of view, I can look at each setback as a course correction or a nudge for me to get back onto my true work. That’s the benefit of these obstacles actually.

Several years back, it took going through my biggest reversals in my company and $400,000.00 to originally get that lesson. That was the big enough number I needed to get my attention. Anything else and I wouldn’t have really felt it.

As we hit upon our 10-year anniversary at Maverick, I am totally grateful for having gone through that because it forced me to reevaluate what I was doing. My greatest impact wouldn’t have been from simply running an adventure travel company.  That’s when I was forced to see what my biggest WHY really was. And it gave me a way to clear the decks. I wouldn’t have ever come up with the interconnected EcoVerse and our mission of “changing the way business is played.”

This has become the cornerstone for what I was meant to do.

Lately, I’ve been experiencing a few minor “setbacks” again in our businesses (nothing near what happened before) as we continue evolving how to truly fulfill the big idea of “lighting 1,000 suns who can light another 1,000 suns.”

One of our members called me an artist because I’m never satisfied with what we are delivering. And maybe that’s true.

At first, as I was seeing some of these smaller dips, I was really annoyed and even feeling shame. I felt like I’ve been through this…why hadn’t I seen this earlier?

It gets difficult when I look at some of my friends who are “crushing it.” And it’s even harder knowing some of those colleagues learned what they are doing from me. But as I tell my kids, every time you compare, it makes you unhappy. I realize I have everything I already need, and getting caught up in comparing is a losing proposition.

At my core, I do believe wherever we are, we’re in the perfect spot, regardless of what our ego might believe. And my sharing this and teaching it is just another reminder to myself.

Objectively, I am in a much different place now. In fact, I can actually welcome this situation as a way to continue aligning more deeply with my greatest work.

Normally if I feel some sort of lack, I go straight into counting my blessings and writing down what I’m grateful for. But this time I want to truly honor some of these feelings and emotions – to not push anything away but also not to let it get stuck inside me.

In the drawing, I also illustrated the words “Embrace fully” and “Play fully” – this is the idea of fully embracing everything that shows up and actually seeing it as a gift.

That makes the space to receive.

I look at these situations as new ways for me to decide how I do want to react, how to remain centered and fully open to anything life shows me. It’s an opportunity to work through it with a clear sense of gratitude. And to have the appreciation of having another chance at watching the elevated viewpoint of how this situation will ultimately uncover something even greater (even if I don’t totally see it now).

To be in a state of “effortless effort,” truly putting everything I’ve got into what we’re doing in service of the world, like the Global Goals we’ve been aligning with.

If I trust the Universe has even more in store for me than I’ve even expected, then this situation takes on a sense of curiosity. What’s next? What will open up?

So much of this is in our beliefs.

What if we believe we have bad luck or nothing ever works out or that this is part of a bigger downfall? You can guess what happens then.

Our world seems to exactly mirror our deepest held beliefs.

If we have a choice in what to believe, why not believe we’re part of a bigger plan the Universe has in store for us? Believe in Maverick Magic and the term we coined at Camp Maverick; “Synchro-Maverick-nicity.”

And then TRUST that these obstacles are being placed in our path to nudge us toward something even better.

 

Filed Under: Abundance, Happiness, Public, Transformation, Truth

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