Name of the Game: Bigger Games in Russia.
Compelling Purpose: Invite, inspire and teach people how to imagine what is possible for each other and ourselves by returning to the sacredness of our spirits.
People are hungry all around the world for ways to discover what is possible in their lives and for our world. It is from this knowing in my own bones and from the knowing heard in the stories of others that one of my Bigger Games was born. Bigger Game workshops in Russia.
I have had what could be called a terrifying love affair with Russia since I was seven years old. Terrifying because a conversation I overheard between my parents in 1957 about Russia’s sputnik left me feeling unsafe and vulnerable. The air raid drills that followed for the next years in school did nothing to ease my fears of the imminent attack by the Russians. Nor did learning the biased definition of propaganda as, all the lies that Russians tell about American people.
Then in my history books I saw beautiful pictures of Russian churches and palaces and wondered how bad, scary people could create such magnificence. Confused by this I raised my hand in my fifth grade class and wondered my confusion out loud. Whoops! I did not know it was apparently wrong to ask an innocent question that suggested Russia was more than an evil empire. Nor did I know then what I do know now. Unbeknownst to me a Bigger Game was being born on my walk to the Principal’s office that day.
Fifty-one years after the first sputnik launch I left my Comfort Zones and boarded a plane to St. Petersburg, Russia. Several days later I stood in front of a room of Russians and shared this story as I began the half day introduction to The Bigger Game to two different groups. Standing in a huge Gulp I reminded myself of the many games that had brought me to deepen my belief in the goodness and power of the human spirit. With much Hunger for a world of possibilities I stepped into my own Compelling Purpose and was vulnerable in front of them as I invited them to be partners in a Bigger Game. Their faces told me that they understood my story even though their stories were very different. The connection created an impact for the work of Bigger Games in our world that was more profound then I could have imagined.
This experience created new Allies for me. I would like to especially thank Rachel Shackleton, the owner of Concept Training and Development Services in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the Concept Team. Our continued conversations of Assessment and their continued Investments in marketing The Bigger Game have now provided another opportunity for me to return to Russia in November 2009. Our conversations also serve to inspire the fire in belly for this Bigger Game.
When I returned home I realized that I have never known the Russian definition for sputnik. Here it is . . . . . . . Sputnik literally means "co-traveler" or "traveling companion".
How fascinating!
Debby Doig is a Bigger Game Certified Trainer and is working with Concept Training and Development Services (www.concept-training.com) to bring the Bigger Game to Russia.
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