Shift - A Game About Love, Fear and Life

Today, February 7th, was gorgeous outside.  I’m a summer kid any way you look at it, and for a day like this in the middle of winter, I couldn’t have asked for any more.  I had to run some errands and took advantage of the sunshine and breeze, rolled the windows down, turned the music up.  There is something about driving with the wind in your hair that makes you feel like a badass.  No way around it. 

When I feel "not good enough," or a little loser like, I remind myself of that moment.  When I’m alone I am invincible, when I’m singing at the top of my lungs  out of tune I am invincible, and when I’m in the corner of a crowded room I am invincible - that it - if I let myself…

Roll down your windows and sing as loud as you can.  Love who you are.

Carry it with you every where you go.

We are so incredibly fortunate to have our lovely new friend Liz C, volunteer to put together some game nights for us in Boulder.

The next one is at Bookends (Boulder Bookstore’s cafe) on Thursday February the 16th at 6:30.

Please come play… Meet your neighbours, find out what’s driving them and have some fun!

Shift will be exhibiting in booth 6063 at the American International Toy Fair in New York February 12-16.

We’re off to Toy Fair tomorrow and I am pumped. The last week or so, I was quite aware that I’m a beginner when it comes to mind control. Actually, I’m just lazy. I’ll let my mind cycle and run and process and constantly think of to do lists and just plain ol crap. And I let it run run run. The last few weeks I allowed myself to feel overwhelmed at times. I couldn’t even sit in meditation. I really considered getting up and leaving.

That mindset changed last Friday night. I had a crazy day where I was running an hour or two behind to everything and just couldn’t get it all done. My girlfriends were going out (the first time we’ve done that in months) and before I left I sat there crying (ruining my newly done makeup) because I didn’t want to ruin their night with my negative attitude and my complaining.

My boyfriend yelled at me- that’s not the Miami girl I know. You need to go out and dance! Go stand on a bar or something. Reluctantly I went. While I was driving there a great song came on and I screamed- this was not singing- I screamed the lyrics as loud as I could and it felt great. I decided to just leave everything back at the house and show up for a great night.

It was fantastic. One of those nights were everything falls into place- including the live reggae band. There’s nothing like a night out with the girls (for me anyway) to clear away the debris and muck and get down to fun.

A night of fun can do wonders!!!!!!! I’m still feeling it.

More to come from New York- wish us luck,
Nicole

Kristen and I are in New York for Toy Fair and today was day one. We woke to almost 2 feet of snow, thunder (is that normal?) and wind. Since we know “the only constant is change,” we decided to nix our beatiful girls in Shift shirts promotion and let them sleep in. After all, it was a Sunday and there was a blizzard. We went with the flow and trudged some blocks in the snow, then turned and huffed another three or so in the direction of the wind coming off the Hudson. I’ll soon attach the pics here so you can see our before and after shots. Wet is not our look unless it’s poolside.

It was a mellow first day. We were mostly exhibitors chilling in our booths reviewing our pitches, walking the floor checking out the competition or comparing notes on manufacturers and distribution. Kristen and I wore our Love shirts today so we could start the show in love (get it?) and now at nearly midnight, I’m questioning whether today’s clothing choice had any affect on where I actually chose to come from.

You see it’s 11:56 and I’m sitting here reviewing the day and instead of being grateful and totally excited about some of our conversations, I’m being totally fearful. We had one woman from Hong Kong buy the game and then we had, (I’m still amazed) Dave and Kelly Long, the founders of SceneIt! stop by our booth to check us out specifically. We traded games- how cool is that? Yet I keep thinking about how I blabbed and blabbed and never really let them speak. I just went on and on about how great the game is and why and . . . and now at midnight I’m thinking, why would someone from Hong Kong be interested in the game? Why would the makers of SceneIt be interested? Is it because we really are representing the future of gaming and we might be able to do something cool together or is it because Shift represents the future of gaming and other people want to get in on it. Dare I say steal it? Or, are my not good enough thoughts so pervasive that I can’t believe that we are truly worth stopping and taking notice of. Could people in the game industry, big time players, actually be interested in us?

It’s disgusting that I still have these thoughts. I think that’s what too many years in the Dotcom industry taught me. I got conditioned to think that Corporate America is cut throat and that you’ve got to watch your back. Somewhere I got suckered into the idea that a contract makes you safe.

I created Shift for many reasons. One was so that I could have an experience of corporate life based on love. We did a check-in tonight with Joyce who’s holding down the fort back in Colorado and at the end of the call, we said I love you. It came so naturally because it’s the truth. I missed Toy Fair three times because I wasn’t ready and now, years later, we are here!! I know that I am here because I am supported and loved. How many CEOs can say that and feel it? I am grateful.

The game has a quote that says,”Teach only love for that is what you are.” If my intention is to be consistent in what I teach, then I need to step back and acknowlege myself and what I, rather what we, have created and see that it just might attract on it’s own merit. I’d like to open myself to that possibility.

I keep thinking of Marriane Williamson’s passage:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This is how I’ll approach the next few days. Let’s see how brightly I can shine and let’s see who shows up.

It’s a day or so after Toy Fair and I’m processing all the feedback and excitement. We had a great response and people really loved what we are doing. It’s really nice to get that acknowledgment. It feels fantastic.

I’m also finding out that the big players are interested in what we’ve created because they have their own projects in the works. The internet taught me it’s important to be first to market and if you were not first to market, get a massive audience going and supercede those that came first to market. It’s very possible that that might happen. After all, the combination of Kevin McNulty, the man who’s responsible for bringing Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary to market and Joel Osteen, the Christian pastor at Lakewood Church, who has the New York Times Bestseller, “Your Best Life Now” and has 30,000 attendees each Sunday and is broadcast live to over 80 million homes each week is an extremely powerful combination.

I was fortunate enough to meet with Kevin (might I say, the absolute rock star of the game industry) to talk about his new game. I’d tell you more about it but it’s still in development and they only have the box at this point. I wonder how they’ll transfer the book to a game. Not that that matters- he says they’ve already got a slot time on Oprah in June. They might have a huge hit on their hands.

Yet, I believe there’s space for everything.

My studies have taught me some things that the business world did not. Comparison is fear-based. Truth attracts truth and love attracts love. I keep hearing my fellow peeps from my Course in Miracles classes saying, “Create the game in its highest form and it will attract on its own merrit.” Charlotta, our gorgeous artist who is also the covergirl for February’s Spafinder magazine, says there’s always a market for the truth… it will find it’s home…it will find it’s audience- and we need not compare.

When I speak of truth, I mean Truth is what is real for you. The Buddha said, “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”

I truly believe that ideas are not owned. That something worth having is worth sharing. I’m happy to see that the project I’ve been working on for four years is creating a vertical within the game market to create benefits in the lives of the players.

There’s plenty of room for everyone and we have something truly different. It was made with love because I do believe that all that I give, I receive.

namaste

the events of toy fair are still running around my head, as if they have the New York energy, just as i’m settling back into my rocky mountain routine…
i havent had a chance to write yet, or more likely, i havent known what to write.

let me start with this.  i am 23 years old.  this, and toy fair speicifically, is the biggest thing i have ever been a part of.  and when you can stand back, and soak that in, it is a humbling feeling.
i love NY, i love everything about it, and feel as if every time i leave, i come home with a sense of inspiration and new found courage to go boldly. 

let me state how these lessons came to be on this trip.

we always say that our goal is to operate with ease and grace.  we arrived in NY, were picked up by our van service, dropped our stuff off, and made it to Charlotta’s easily.  we set up saturday morning, and spent the afternoon shopping.  ease and grace.
sunday, the opening day of toy fair, started with a boom - literally.  lightning, thunder, and over two feet of snow.  i questioned nicole for putting make-up on, just to walk through horizontal wet snow, and the miami girl in her continued to do so.  we bundled up, set out, and froze.  there is something about a city that is burried. there is a silence that can’t be explained, but only experienced.  i managed to fall on my butt, and even run into a man in the middle of the street because it was so painful to look up.  i was grumpy to say the least, and nicole learned from me, all it takes is five minutes, and i’m fine.

the first day was quiet.  we met many people.  as i like to think, we made friends.
the next few days came and went.  they were a blur.  but lessons were learned and i’m thankful for those people who stopped to learn about shift.
i learned that the game really works.  on a slow afternoon i played the game with the man from the booth next door.  before that, i knew his name, he made games, and he was silly.  after playing the game, i formed such an understanding with him that i was sad to say goodbye.  he knew me and i knew him and by the end, we were friends.  just because we took a half - hour to play the game.  i had never been so proud of the game.

i learned to believe in what you do and be proud.  it radiates. people can tell.
i learned to watch out for water puddles (as i stepped in one every day of toy fair…).
i learned that we are living the sugi tanka quote, "Don’t go with the flow.  You are the flow." 
…and, we are the future of games.
turns out toy fair is a lot like summer camp, in my opinion.   you are intimidated at first, you make these relationships, you learn the ways, and just as things get good, you need to pack up and go home.  granted there are no campfires or mosquito bites, but the bags are heavy, and everyone is exhausted when it is all said and done.  you go home and wonder if you were crazy for doing what you had done, but know that every experience makes you who you are and takes you where you are going. 


(i’ll add my after Toy Fair lessons…
 - you don’t think you can do something until you have to - then you do it and wonder what you were waiting for.  you feel fabulous.
-nothing works without communication.
-see only the present - love the past - and carry the lessons with you to the future.
-slow down.
-laugh with your whole body.
-go big or go home.
-live in the moment.)             -Thank You.