Truth Archives - Yanik Silver

Illuminations from the Dark

November 20, 2023 by Yanik Silver

For my 50th birthday I had planned on something quite a bit different. I was to spend 4 days/nights in complete darkness. It was profound.

This was definitely an odd way to spend this milestone bday as many of my friends and family told me. Lots of people thought I was crazy but I knew there was a powerful medicine here for me.

Ever since hearing about this ancient practice of going into full darkness, I had equal parts attraction and trepidation of what would show up.

What happens when it’s just you and yourself in the infinite void?

A darkness retreat is a small room that’s completely pitch black with zero light coming in. You’ve got one bed, yoga mat, meditation cushion, futon and a bathroom with a shower. There’s a little shelf for you to eat your meals delivered through a 2-way box. (You can check more at BlissHaven.yoga)

I had 2 friends who each did 10 days at this same location. I didn’t really research where it was and there’s real magic to this little spot in Mazunte, Mexico. It’s the most southern point of Mexico with a really powerful energy. I learned from healer (only a day before I left for home) that this land was known by indigenous people as the sacred womb of the Americas.

I felt like my last 10 years of spiritual practices, ceremonies and journeys had helped prepare me for this sacred initiation.

To start the ceremony, you are escorted back into your room with a single candle. A tiny bit of light to get acquainted and mentally map out your room. (I did have a wall disappear on me. My caretaker confirmed that happened we to her too. Remember it’s the infinite void in there!)

You’re the one who blows out the candle so you start your ceremony and I thought I’d be freaked out for a brief moment, but it was incredibly peaceful. My friend, Emily Fletcher, just did a 5 day darkness retreat shared how the darkness is feminine, gentle womb-like medicine. It doesn’t have to be scary.

I sat for my first mediation and immediately got so peaceful about everything.

One insight came up that seems so simple:

“For Not Against”

“What do you want more of?” Essentially stop giving more energy to what we don’t want and connect to what we do want. (Here’s a page written in the dark.) 😉

“Control vs freedom” (ie so much censorship happening)

“poisons vs nurturing.”

Consumption vs creation.”

Everything you could ever need or want is truly in the palm of your hands.

What are you creating right now?

One good way to check is to see what IS showing up in your “reality.”

Cosmic Catalyst Journaling Invitation

Q: What am I “For” not “against?

M.A.G.I.C. Meditation

My very first meditation in there was for the magic and gratitude of cacao. I had the caretaker serve me cacao each morning. It was my guide. I brought an art pad in the dark and never knew which colors I was using. Here’s the first one after meditating on the magical threads cacao has connected to me in my life.

So believe it or not, I brought a sketch pad with me in the darkness and also 50 different colored markers. (It was my 50^th remember?) I had no idea what color I was selecting or anything like and simply drew from the feelings and energies that were opened up after the meditations or breathwork sessions.

This is the very first one I doodled in there:

This Cosmic Doodle represents the joyful appreciation of my Mentors, Allies, Guides, Inner Circle and Catalysts in my life across all different stages. (Did you get it? M.A.G.I.C.) 😉

Also as you’re looking at the picture it carries this energy too. (Special Deal: I’ll send you a signed Cosmic Journal if you can tell me what plant is represented here.)

This was such a powerful meditation because it filled me up with gratitude, appreciation and magic for the next 4 days and nights in the complete dark. I held a recent gathering for our ONE Thousand Suns and shared this same M.A.G.I.C. Meditation with them.

Have a listen if you like.

It’s less than 10 minutes so give it a try. Also you are welcome to share with others, but please forward this entire email.

Now after your meditation answer the following…

Cosmic Catalyst Journaling Invitation

Q: “Who is on my M.A.G.I.C. Team?”

Bonus action: Send 2 or 3 of them handwritten notes of appreciation. (You can read the blog post here – https://yaniksilver.com/handwritten-note/ if you need more of a reason to do this.)

Cozy Cosmic Cocoon…

Now my wife, Missy, gave me the intention of “cozy.” I connected to that and it never felt scary – but just like a “Cozy Cosmic Cocoon.”

My intention was “Joyful RE emergence in Full Being.”

And part of that was my review of the different phases of my life:

Stage 1) I connected deeply in there with the 11-year old Yanik, the fun, creative, goofy little starchild.

Stage 2) The Athlete phase or competitor phase when I was deep into competitive ice hockey and volleyball.

Stage 3) The Achiever/Entrepreneur phase and all the incredible teachers that “randomly” came into my life. From Dan Kennedy to Ted Nicholas, Earl Nightingale, Foster Hibbard-type material to the Internet world and then all the incredible icons I’ve met since.

Stage 4) My spiritual awakening at 39 prompted punctuated by a praying mantis at the door the day before my birthday.

I feel like the last 10 years+ of practices, ceremony and earth wisdom all prepared me for what’s to come.

The entire time inside the darkness felt like a deep initiation into this next phase of my life. In some ways like a phoenix. Actually, in there, I had several meditations of growing wings and envisioned phoenix wings. (And the “make magic” moment is when I came out sitting at the table next to me was a guy with a phoenix tattoo on his back. Seriously!)

I integrated all these previous parts and wrote this in the dark as the next phase:

**Stage V Initiation:**
**Cosmic Evolutionary connected to the pulse of the Universe.**
**Your hands are its tools**

Cosmic Catalyst Journaling Invitation

Q: “What is your next cosmic evolutionary stage?”

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:

20 Predictions for the Transformative 2020s (time stamp: 1/20/2020)

January 20, 2020 by Yanik Silver

Can you feel it?

We are on the verge of a new age. Everything is accelerating faster and faster, and nearly every system is ready to be rebuilt to truly serve our world.

We stand at the threshold of a great potential…

This coming decade will see more exponential growth, accelerated change and transformation than we have witnessed over the last 50—or maybe even 100—years (or more). And the good news is we actually get to consciously co-create our next stage.

The year 2020 is truly a landmark year. Just as 20/20 equals perfect vision, these enlightening predictions are a preview of what is on the horizon and what will happen in tandem with an increased awakening of consciousness.

This growing consciousness then becomes the true bedrock for all our decisions, actions, thoughts, and intentions, impacting everything spanning our communities, culture, commerce, and even a greater cosmic story, all unfolding here this decade…

Download this special report below.

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.)

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.

Be open to saying “YES” that day.
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.

Illuminations from the Dark

M.A.G.I.C. Meditation

Cozy Cosmic Cocoon…