What do you do when you have some face paint on hand coupled with some music and backlights? For Tony Lister and everyone at the Legendary Spiritual AdventureRetreat, dancing the night away is just the natural answer! Brainstorming what they could do for the kids at the orphanage they stayed in, Tony and the other retreat participants realized that most of the kids had never attended a party.So in their traditional Nepali dress, they all experienced a night to remember.The kids didn't want the night to end and wore out the older folks. It was epic to witness their unguarded joy that reminded Tony of the wonder of being a child. Dive into this great episode that is even worth watching on the YouTube channel, "What The Flow".
I’m excited to have you with me here in this situation.This episode is going to be about creating epic magic. It's going to be hard to paint the picture, but I'm dressed in the traditional Nepali outfit and I’m sure you’re going to have to look it up on Google or something. It's a real traditional garb with the hat, the pants and the special shirt with the little ceremonial clothing. I'm sitting at an orphanage next to one of our friends that we've made and the bed that I’ll be sleeping in. They volunteer their beds for us. This is part of the Legendary Spiritual Retreat that my friend, Gerald Rogers, puts on and co-facilitates. We're in Nepal outside of Kathmandu in the Himalayas at this beautiful orphanage. EFM is the acronym that Gerald uses,Epic F-ing Magic.
We played soccer with these kids and we did some cool things with these kids. There was this conversation of what have they never experienced here at the orphanage. Some ideas came together and we got a hold of some glowing face paint. I’ve got a mark for each of my children and I’ve got the mark of the lover on one side and the Oracle on the other side of my face.It's glowing face paint. These kids have joined in and they are painting each other. We are having a little dance party where we’re joined in their special Nepali garb that they wear. They wear their traditional clothing. The women wore the special dresses. The women and the girls all put each other beautiful makeup and the guys all painted each other’s face. We have a black light to light the glowing experience. We're having an epic dance party with these kids.At least from what we're hearing, they've never had a party quite like this here in the orphanage.
I was contemplating creating a show from this and I’ve been thinking about the message I'd like to share. It was interesting, as I contemplated these kids, we went and played soccer. I got to know some of them.I would look at each of them and wonder about their opportunities in life. I have kids that’s similar in age as these kids. They're ranging anywhere from 6 to 20 years old. I was looking at each of them. Some of them have different layers of pain and trauma. As I asked them, “How long have you lived here at the orphanage?” some of them have lived here for 10, 11 years. Some of them have lived here for two years. I was struggling with looking at each of them and wondering what opportunity did they have to reshape their life and tore shape their world? They were dealt a hand in life. I can't imagine how many of them will break out of it.
What I thought was going to be this sweet touching heart-filled experience was difficult for me to digest as I got to know them. I got to hear some of their stories and I got to look at the realities of the world. There's so much work, energy and effort in the work that I’ve done over the years to help people create opportunities for themselves and to reshape possibilities and their story about themselves to create skills, the flow state, the superpower. I’ve spent fifteen years of my life teaching people howto love, to shift that inner dialogue, to shift the emotional state, to get rid of the broken stories, to love themselves better, to develop skills in sales,marketing, communication, negotiations, things that they can take out into the world and make money.
My clients, our conversation is about making pretty large sums of money in order for someone to hire me for coaching, for one-on-one work. They are up to something big. They’re up to big financial gains. It's interesting for me to be in this place where I look around at their beds. They sleep in here in the bunk room. These kids left and they've given up their beds for us so we can stay the night here at the orphanage as their guests and they don't have much. There’s an interesting dialogue I’m experiencing of looking at each of them and wondering what's possible in their world. What's possible for their future? What’s possible for things they are going to experience as human beings here on planet Earth? I sat back and watched how they interacted with each other.
My assessment of them and what's possible in life, maybe they don't ever make any money. Maybe they don't ever have financial success. I’ve watched these kids and how they are huddled together, and the kindness that they show each other, the community that they have created here for all these different ages and it was fascinating. We played soccer and they're very good. They were way better than we were. They were very competitive, and yet there was kindness to them and they care for each other. It has mere considering what's possible for them in the world. Maybe my assessment of what counts is completely wrong.
Maybe my story of leveling up is an illusion that always requires the next level. You never actually get to the place that we think we're going to get to in the way that I have been teaching a lot. I experienced these kids that were handed what I saw as life that would be very difficult.They were also given a gift here in this community to be treated like valued human beings, to be part of the camaraderie, friendship, and care for each other that is missing in a lot of places. I got to go out there on the dance floor with these kids and have a good time, laugh, feel the level of inclusion that they offered me, some stranger that they just met. They invited me into the dance circle and encouraged me to go out and have the center stage. I am touched with the humanity that I rarely see.
A couple of thoughts as I do this. I’m going to go back and dance and contemplating your world. What does leveling up mean to you? Having anew story about leveling up in my dialogue and my contemplation about what it means that it has often meant financial gain for me. It’s often some material success and some experience that is out of reach. Sometimes it has meant connectedness. Sometimes it's meant deeper intimacy or richer connection or friendship, but I wonder if the game of leveling up is simply learning to love and then once you've got that part, it’s just day-to-day life.
The other thing that I would play around with is where can you create magic with a little bit of creativity, fun, and ingenuity? Where can you create an experience for other people that is transformative and doesn't require much at all? It’s the action that we should have. Those are the thoughts I wanted to share. I was sitting there thinking about sharing it. I want to share what's happening. I invite you to take a look at what epic magicare you intentionally creating in your life? What stories do you have going on that says, “I can’t put up a magic? I can't do that with the resources that I have?” I'm witnessing these kids have an experience that's unlike anything they've ever had.
That was done on a few dollars’ worth of face paint, a couple of black lights, some speakers and some henna tattoos. Also,with people that were willing to get out of their comfort zone and play. It's creating quite a memory of being up at the top of the Himalayas having a dance party in Nepali traditional clothing with face paint. I wanted to share what was happening. I invite you to figure out in your life where you can level up where it counts from one human being to another. Level up in how you can play bigger and create magic for you and those around you. I look forward to talking to you in the next episode. In the meantime, treat yourself a fantastic day.