Nicole Casanova
When I was 26 I decided to walk away from my fancy corporate job to do something of more purpose. I had excelled in school and made a ton of money as a dotcomer and I was great at doing everything, including partying. 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. 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 incorporates content from big thinkers such as Buddha, Gandhi and Marianne Williamson with humor from our very own stand-up comedian.Shift is both a psychological and incredibly fun game that utilizes self-examination and laughter to give us an understanding of 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?
