Shift – A Game About Love, Fear and Life

Here’s the inspirational message from their homepage. Click here to go their site to listen to the hour interview with Gail Lynn Godwin.

Nicole Casanova
October 29, 2008
About seven years ago I decided to walk away from my fancy corporate job to do something of more purpose. Up until that point, I was pretty sure that I was just “Victim Of The World.” Then I was introduced to A Course in Miracles and numerous other universal principles that all said the same thing- that I was in control. For the first time ever, I learned that my thoughts created my reality and that what I felt internally was exactly what showed up for me externally.

I decided to make it my mission to create a tool that explained just that and was accessible to the masses. It showed up as a board game. Yeah, it surprised me too. Yet, because it was experiential, people were willing to step out of their comfort zones and start seeing what was driving them. I quit that job in 2001 and have been working towards Shift’s mission, to remind as many people as possible that we are love and loved, ever since. Playing the game in my daily life and remembering to choose love in every moment has turned out to be the ultimate exercise in working my mental muscles.

I’ve been playing at shifting the game and have certainly had my opportunities to feel like the game was playing me. And now, I’m starting to play my hand a very different way by stepping into a whole new level of trust and letting go. Every day I’m reminded that one small shift in thought can shift my life. What do you think? Can a game change your life?

Shift is a psychological game, in the sense that we, through self-examination and laughter, can begin to understand where our thoughts are coming from and the power they hold. In fact, we have no neutral thoughts. All of our thoughts come from love or fear and once we are able to recognize where our thoughts come from, we can further understand where our thoughts are taking us.

The point of the game is to move from fear to love, and drop your defenses. Our defenses are what we do, not what we are: it’s just our behavior. In order to drop our defenses, we must be able to recognize when we have acted as those defenses, and, when we have not. This, in turn, can show us why we use those defenses, and why we don’t need to at all.

The reason I created this game is simple. I want to remind you that you can control your thoughts once you are aware of what you are thinking. What you believe is exactly what you will experience. If after playing this game, you start seeing where your thoughts are coming from then we all win. And, if you can actually change those thoughts that hold you back, can you imagine what we will be able to shift?

Check out the great videos from the other Leap! participants such as Joe Vitale and Gary Renard.

Here’s a clip they posted with my discussion of what living in the illusion means to me…

Here’s a piece of my interview from the movie which is slated for release later this year. It includes interviews from Dan Millmen, Gary Renard, Robert Scheinfeld, Joe Vitale and others and asks us to decide what really is reality and what is illusion.

See more at LeapBeyondIllusion.com

I’ve recently connected with Stephen Dinan at The Institute for Noetic Sciences. They are one of the oldest and most established organizations in Self Development and are host to numerous authors and educators. They just launched a new, and very dear, project. It’s called The One Minute Shift and offers empowering video messages from today’s top Self Help Leaders.

Here’s a recent one from Deepak Chopra. Go to their site, OneMinuteShift.com, to see more and to share the word with others.

Straight from Spirituality and Health’s site… to read other questions go to their site..

Hello Rabbi Rami,

I knew you as a child in Miami and am so excited to see you here. Real simple, how do I support my Jewish mother by acknowledging the holidays when I find more in the language that doesn’t resonate than does. I have a hard time believing we’re still slaves in Egypt or chosen for that matter. And although I know we should remember, I feel we’ve been reinforcing an identity of victim. In fact, I created a game called Shift that shows us that our thoughts create our reality. You can play a demo at www.shiftthegame.com.

So, how do I acknowledge my heritage and support my mom when I feel I’m moving further from my religion? My answer was to acknowledge the holiday my way and let go of my mother’s vision of what a good jew looks like. I chose to acknowledge what I wanted to let go of from last year and what I wanted to bring in for the new year on Yom Kippur. I made a brisket too. And yet, I do not see myself as Jewish anymore. I see that as limiting. I’d rather be a citizen of the world. I guess it’s being detached from the other person’s expectation. Did I just answer my question?

It’d be great to hear from you though. Blessings and love,
Nicole
Submitted by Nicole Casanova on Sep 29, 2007

Rabbi Rami Shapiro: You are not alone in this. Lots of Jews find the Judaism of their parents irrelevant to their lives. It may well be that your mother felt the same about the Judaism of her parents and grandparents.

There are two issues here, and you already grasp them. First, there is the matter of being a dutiful daughter. Second, there is the matter of being true to oneself.

I suggest you do what you already seem to be doing: reinventing Judaism for yourself. For example, Passover is about liberating oneself from Mitzrayim, literally the narrow places in which one is enslaved. Everyone can relate to that. And Yom Kippur is about awakening to your oneness with God.

Recently I spoke with one of my spiritual teachers about the challenge of identifying with one tribe or another in a world that needs to become increasingly post tribal and global. He said I was putting too much drama into a word. Being a Jew, he told me, is just another garment we wear. Put it on and take it off as seems appropriate.

I do not look forward to a homogenious world, a world without diversity. I have no problem with people belonging to different tribes, religions, etc. as long as we realize these are garments, and beneath them all we are all equal manifestations of God.

Come listen this Saturday with Rob McNealy…
www.StartupStoryRadio.com or
www.AM760.net

Welcome to Startup Story Radio – your place for anything to do with starting, running and growing your own business! Catch our show at our new time and location between 3:00 and 4:00pm on Saturdays on KKZN AM 760. Your host is Rob McNealy, and most weeks he’ll be joined by a special guest host from the Colorado business community.

Call us to speak with our guests live during the show at 303-713-7600. Too shy to call? Send us an instant message while we’re live on the air by sending an AOL Instant Message to “StartupStory”.

Check out this blog. She correlates her thoughts and intentions to the traffic she received. It’s a great piece and here’s my response:

Wendy,
I just found your site because someone mentioned Alexa and then ironically, I read your post which was only too perfect. It was the exact message I needed to hear. I created a game called Shift that, like The Secret, shows us that our thoughts create our reality. Yet it actually shows us what those thoughts are.

I admit I’ve been ignoring my blogging to focus on our corporate trainings and the work we do with kids… and all that other stuff that as women working from home, takes precedence. (I commit to baking a cake for my husband’s birthday this weekend- that and the laundry will happen!). So, I went to check our traffic, which unlike you and your readers has received little of my attention even though I sold internet advertising for 7 years in SF and thought I knew everything about viral marketing. I guess I just gave up on it because I started to believe we’d need a PR agency or at least some college students to start posting for us. And yet, I’ve really been ok seeing that our traffic is consistent without growth.

Then I came to your post and got so excited about who you are, what you’re doing and your amazing chart that shows the correlation of your thought with your traffic rankings. I love it. Like most of us, I’m sure, I’ve had my valleys and my pinnacles and notice that when I’m in it or just running my male energy because there’s so much on my plate, I stop writing.

For me, writing is my catharsis and I think I’ve censored myself a bit and only wrote when I thought I could represent “The Shift.” Yes, a shift in thought can shift your life…and yes, it can happen in an instant. And yet, there are times when shifting is a gradual change of direction, like a ship changing course and after reading your post, I feel you’ve given me a reminder to be gentle with myself and let it all show on my blog…

After all, I’m training my mental muscles and some days it really is like bending spoons. Thank you for reminding me that the good stuff comes before what we grow into and it’s ok to be in that place too.

Thank you,
Nicole

I almost went through the whole day not realizing it was Earth Day. As I came down from the mountains at Chataqua Park in Boulder, a normal Boulder-type Earth loving bearded guy stood near the road with a big sign reminding us and yelling Happy Earth Day. He chose to make it his purpose to remind us all to remember to celebrate the Earth today.

I don’t know that I really did anything special for the Earth today. I don’t think I drove less or unplugged more appliances. I’m not really sure that I ate local although I did have lunch at my friend’s house and that’s pretty close to home. Did I celebrate the Earth or show her any more love today? Not really.

However, what did the Earth do for me today. I think that’s the point. The Earth does for us. What do we do for her?

I am so incredibly fortunate to live in Boulder and to be able to be so close to nature. When I needed a break today, the Earth was there for me, no questions asked. I went on a two hour walk in National Geographic-picturesque surroundings. I soaked in the sun. I witnessed the insane abundance of tulips and daffodils running rampant. (As a native of the tropics who never experienced Spring or flowers that bloom other than orchids, I can’t tell you how amazed I am when the flowers come up each season. I’m like a child in disbelief. I know my friends are sick of me saying, “look they’re here again!”) I literally climbed a mountain and then descended into the glorious green valley of Chataqua park where dogs ran and frisbees flew. I walked through a postcard and the Earth held out her arms and abundance and said, enjoy!

The Earth is here for me, for all of us, all the time and I think she’s getting pretty tired of showing up for us when we don’t show up for her. I know that because of where I live I share the same glazed expression of gratitude that many Boulderites glean. However, I know that I’m certainly to blame for not supporting her as much as I can.

I was in Thailand in November and loved living so simply. I stayed in huts with one light and no flushing toilets. My footprint was so minimal when I ate what the fisherman caught and limited my water consumption to the few seconds I could handle the ice cold water in between soaping up.

Now I’m back living in America, driving my Honda. Yes, I get tons of miles and my husband runs biodiesal in his truck, yet I know I can make a shift in even that. My road bike is tuned and race ready and I’m psyched to ride it into town for work now that it’s nice. That’s a way to burn the calories I committed to this winter and support Mother Earth at the same time.

I commit to making sure that we will always continue to publish the game in the US on recycled fiberboard.

I commit to continuing to recycle all that I can, including my girlfriend’s clothes (a special thanks to Donna and Val specifically), and all of our leftovers unless of course they’re so old they look like they’re ready to don their own walking shoes and take themselves to the garbage.

And I commit to acknowledging the gorgeous surroundings I get to live in every day by celebrating them every time I see the majestic Flatirons, the scheduled splash of color and even (yep even after this winter I can still say it) a peaceful blanket of white. When I acknowlegde things and am in gratitude, it’s easier to create action for those things I’m grateful for because they’re first and foremost in my thoughts.

Hey Earth, Thank you for today.

We’ve had so much going on lately… we had an amazing evening playing Shift with some of Colorado’s top executives from companies such as Crocs, Corporate Express, Bowne, Mclain Finlon, WorldWit, Entercom, Strategize & Organize, Sassy Martini Radio 107 FM, at the owner of SieGal Media, Candy Campbell’s stunning home. Be on the lookout for the upcoming article and series in Colorado Company Magazine.

We just exhibited as a feature presenter at the World Wellness Weekend. There were incredible keynotes from T. Harv Eker and Jean Huston. We got to connect with amazing people including Mark Victor Hansen, Reggie Rivers and Rod Smith. We’ve had so much fun meeting and playing Shift with everyone.

We had our first Shift Circles of the year last night at the Tattered Cover and started to work our mental muscles by conditioning our Gratitude muscle.

LOTS GOING ON… and I have so much to write about… yet there’s much to do… so I’ll leave you with this. It was the closing meditation we read last night. It is our new Shift Meditation that we read to acknowledge the work we’ve done. Enjoy.

The Shift Meditation
I am abundance, joy and peace.
And I acknowledge all that I am.
I Trust, I am open and I live in gratitude.
And I acknowledge all that I do.
I am complete and know I need ask and I’ll receive.
And I acknowledge all that I have.

I am loved and I know that loving is my purpose.
I am a catalyst for change and my shifts start within. I walk in triumph for I have made a choice and the choice I’ve made is Love.

Another year is upon us and perhaps it’s a placebo effect, but I’m psyched to make some shifts in the new year. I feel a rebirth the way I do when spring rolls around and I get that unexplainable giddyness. Whatever I accomplished or didn’t last year no longer matters. It’s 2007 and here I am, new again.

My husband and I just did the coolest thing. I wanted us to write our visions for 2007 and I had us start by writing our gratitudes for 2006. What an amazing exercise. Before that, we checked in on our 8 Step Process (it’s a tool for getting clarity in any relationship because you go through your expectations and shift them into goals and operating instructions etc.). We felt as if 95% of the things we put down a year ago where now things we do regularly or things we no longer have an issue with. The one place where we realy needed to continue our work was around money- we decided to put tools into place to get clarity on our budget. I felt myself getting really tense because he’s been supporting me lately and it’s been one of my biggest lessons to learn to receive- especially from a man.

I had been reading A Course in Miracles that morning and it said that we teach everything. We teach how we should be treated in relationship by what we believe about ourselves. If I feel loved and whole and powerful, you bet the person I’m connecting with will get that. And when we feel somehow less than, we’re teaching that person that that’s who we are too. When we started to talk about money, I shrunk into feeling not good enough. I had just read him a line from the course that says,” Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him?” I joked that I was teaching him that I was the sparrow.

Still feeling a bit uneasy and wanting to avoid more money talk, I switched gears so that we could get on with the Gratitude/Vision exercise. We each wrote our gratitudes and my experience was powerful. By number four I was almost in tears. The feelings I had a second before immediately shifted when I started reviewing the year and all the wonderful experiences I’d had. I got married, went on a honeymoon, created a wonderful home, celebrated with my friends and family in the place my soul loves most…) It was interesting to see what I valued most. My relationship and friends and family were at the top. I didn’t mention work until number 8. We shared our lists and then wrote our visions and shared those.

There’s a quote that says it’s impossible to be upset when we are giving thanks. Gratitude has always been the number one way for me to make a shift. I think my Gratitude list was even more powerful than my vision because it’s based on acknowledging what’s real for me now. Maybe it’s because it’s past and that conveys a more solid reality for me where my vision is a want in the future that I believe I can manifest. Maybe it’s my scientific or egoic mind that wants to base things on what’s concrete, what’s transpired. In reality, both my vision and my reflection of my past and what I’m grateful for all come down to the filters and judgments I place on them. It’s all still a perception that I make real or more real.

Whew- when I see what’s shown up for me in just 2006, I know I am blessed. Gratitude, time and again, squashes all of my insecurities and self doubts. I decided to post my list on the wall behind my computer screen (along with my Bootstrapper’s Manifesto- Seth Godin, Massive collage/treasure map of what I want to manifest and my success meditation by John Randolph Price).

We completed by reading the success meditation. I’m reading it daily. You may want to include in your New Year too.
OK, 2007, BRING IT ON!

Success Meditation
John Randolph Price

All that the universal presence of God has is mine, for God and the expression of God cannot be separated.

I live in the Eternal Now with the Infinite All and nothing is missing from my life.

I am the power of God to have.

I am the fiery strength of God, the living force of vitality that goes forth with divine intention and authority.

My creativity is love in action and everything I do is victorious.

My divine power is the thought that I will and every door swings open before that power.

I have divine aspirations to fulfill my highest destiny, and with enthusiasm I move forward, forever illuminated by my higher vision. I see that which is mine to do and I do it with ease, devotion and gladness and I am blessed with the treasures of the divine for that is what I see.

I walk in the footsteps of my Self and my path is sure. My ideals have been formulated in the crucible of my mind and are forged in divine design in my heart. In joyful freedom I now follow my heart for I have seen my destiny and what I see I know.