GAME Support Group Developing Nationwide Network: 10 Days In

Today marks the tenth day since I knew with every cell of my being, for my absolute truth, that the next appropriate steps for the New Horizons/Small “Zones Of Peace” Network and ME just had to be – the developing of a nationwide support group network to help our citizens (and ourselves) brave the coronavirus pandemic.  

The next day, March 20, we held our first conference call GAME Support Group. It was wonderful, a safe port in a ferocious storm.

Since then we've had a group meeting almost everyday -- and -- we are so grateful for it!

Now with ten days in, what have we gained?

If, merely lightening the emotional load people are now carrying is a start, we've already accomplished something. 

"Something big or something small," you ask?

And I say that "Big and small seem to be occurring together, the synchronicity, sometimes awesome, more often received with a deep and quiet gratitude from our just being together with one another, with compassion and caring. 

Here "metoo" means something like I'm concerned about the number of confirmed cases of the virus and the deaths from it, in my state.

Other times our awareness of the the synchronicity opens up appreciation for technology that is enabling us to hear one another's voices in this quasi-group setting we are now creating

All week long I've been trying to write to tell you, readers, what is going on with us, the New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" Board Members, behind the scenes, as we establish, for our own benefit, and organize for others our new nationwide GAME Support Group initiative and as one, something, we can do to bolster one another up during these trying times. 

(FYI. I developed and ran a city-wide support network in the Washington, D.C. area, beginning in the early '80s through 1998 when I lost my eyesight, making me one of the most experienced consultants around to guide and mentor a project of this type, especially under the circumstances prompting it -- the virus pandemic. 

Yippee!!! I am so grateful to have this to offer in service!)

Of course, we are going to invite all of you to join us, as quickly as possible but it is going to take us a bit of start up time though we are on it! 

First things first, however. Right now we are going slowly, inviting new members in, very selectively and one-on-one so as to build a firm foundation, as we learn how to update a formerly person-to-person support group model and make it applicable for what we have now in front of us.

The problem with my writing, this past week or so, to share our happenings, is that I am feeling somewhat like Anne Frank wanting to write my own diary of this difficult time from behind my sheltering-in-place, but getting through my writer's block is holding me back.

Too many emotions bottled up are not yet allowing me access to my writer's mind.

So, for now, I'll just stay with the wanting to stay in touch and hope that even these few words of mine might possibly offer inspiration to you out there, striving like me to move through this ordeal on a high road.

Personally, I am doing exceptionally well but not always with ease.

More later to tell you how it is behind my/our closed doors -- and -- also how things are going here as we strive to create our nationwide support group network.

Connection! Connection! Connection at safe distances.

Best Wishes, Anastasia

Breaking News!!! Truth Or Dare GAME Community To Open Its Door With Daily Support and Storytelling Groups, Nationwide

Free of charge for all qualified participants due to the coronavirus pandemic!

Find out, too, how you can now become a New Horizons/Small "Zones Of Peace" Csonference Call Support and Storytelling Group facilitator.

Announcement!!

The New Horizons/Small "Zones Of Peace" Truth Or Dare GAME Community Is Announcing Expansion Plans Due To The Coronavirus Pandemic

Our first step is the organizing and implementing of a daily, if needed, GAME Support and Storytelling Group -- already in motion --

-- having had, as of now -- THREE Support Storytelling Groups to help us keep our coronavirus fears, anxieties, limitations and coping "adventures" from taking us down.

Find out how you can be a part of our Truth Or Dare GAME Support and Storytelling Group

For Details and Reservations Contact: Anastasia at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com

Hi folks, storytelling is my shtick -- and -- communal storytelling is among my greatest loves.

So, now, let's put that of me to good use, multiply its benefit and make it grow!

Come and join me, with stories of your own, to help each and everyone one of us to get through this god-awful coronavirus ordeal with daily chats via our special line at FreeConferenceCall.com. 

With lots of sharing, stories galore of our pandemic wins and challenges, healthy survival tips, caring and compassion.

Hi Dearie, it's me, Anastasia, The Storyteller.
How you doing?  What's your story?
I'd like to know.

Possible Human, Possible Society Study Reboot Launches This Week With A Preliminary Survey

More links coming soon!

Also see A Big Week Ahead For Me – And

My oh my! And, goodness me!

There’s so much chaos and upheaval in this country of ours these days, we are way too early to get right back into the update of our Possible Human, Possible Society Study directly.

What with the aborted impeachment trials of Donald Trump, the presidential election campaigns heating up and Harvey Weinstein found guilty of something, at last, though not as much as some wanted to see -- 

and the coronavirus, bordering on a threatened pandemic -- 

and Kobe Bryant and his young daughter, Gianna, killed in a helicopter crash along with a handful of others who are now gone too soon, who can begin to imagine a new world view, even a morning after the next election?

After our organization tried out a few interviews for our updated study back in the spring, last year we got waylaid, once again, in our search to find discernable pathways to stabilizing our country, let alone a sampling of people inclined in that direction, other than ourselves, who would be up for exploring the “possible?” 

Contact Anastasia at
MountainWomanRJ@aol.com

Of course, we did bring in the Pro-Truth Pledge, our Truth Or Dare GAME and our Truth Or Dare Movement. 
But they haven’t been enough yet to help us get out of the quicksand we, at New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace,” – and – possibly yourself, along with us, have been stuck in since the morning after "Election 2016."

On top of the detours brought about by my eye crises which are now stabilized, we, at New Horizons/Small “Zones Of Peace,” have decided that the sane path for us is to take up the work of some of our long overdue remodeling projects to upgrade the “zone of peace” we hold at our Harpers Ferry Retreat Center and also to now start to develop a forest bathing sanctuary, finding our own peace as we do it.

More on that topic later.

Today’s news, however, is that we "believe" we have now found a reasonable path forward, regarding our study, by easing into it with a preliminary survey that will help us gather the data we need for visioning life in these United States after November – and/or the January, 2021 inauguration.

But who knows for sure, right? 

Still we will give it our usual best.

Facing such a highly charged, unknown future, with the high stakes and everyday drama involved in determining how our country is to be run for, at least, the coming four years is, without doubt stressful. 

Behind that, of course, are several main questions that our “Preliminary Survey” will concern itself with, such as --

• What will our society be facing, if Donald Trump wins the election? 
• What will the U.S.A. be adjusting to, if a Democratic candidate (or an Independent or write-in) wins?

Regardless of who wins in 2020, our country will be polarized in 2021! 

This we know.

• What does this mean to you?
• Is there anything/something you’d like to do about the situation, as it stands now?

These are some of the questions we want input on from our “Preliminary Survey.”

Our main vehicle for obtaining answers will be focused on, not only getting responses to our questions, but especially wanting to draw out the personal stories behind these – and – also finding out how people are managing the chaos and stress all this upheaval is bringing into their lives.

So here we go on our next steps forward!

We hope you will want to join us and participate in our “Preliminary Survey,”  beginning today!

If you would like to contribute to our survey data collecting – and – possibly in the larger study when we get back to it, please contact me at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com.

Our original Possible Human, Possible Society Study had the interviewing of 400 participants as our intention. We interrupted the process at around 250 interviewees, give or take, due to the chaos of the 2016 presidential campaign cycle. 

The outcome of that election was a doozie, dontcha think? 

And the aftermath of the election hardly brought any calm that would lend itself to imagining a desirable future, especially one in which an average voting citizen might have any say. Thus we are, at least, 150 shy of our original goal, planning to reach that mark, even possibly go beyond it as we take up this next phase. So your participation would be most welcome.

We are thinking and hoping that our “Preliminary Survey” can help us aid ordinary folks in taking back our days and nights, if we do a bit of advance planning for a future in this U.S.A. that just might hold some of what we’d like it to be.  

At New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” some of the things we’d like to be doing are:

• Coffee House Conversations – with people of diversity who would prefer to build bridges rather than divide;
• Encouraging storytelling as a way for people to get to know one another and other cultures;
• Overcoming Polarization, in general, in our local area, our region and our country;
• Aiding relationships, personal and in the workplace to move “Beyond Gender Tyranny;”
• Teaching people the art of “Climbing The Mountain Of Awe” and how to "Dialogue rather than Debate” and bunches of other things that bring people together rather than dividing them.

On and on for the good stuff that has for most of the years of my life represented the American Dream, with anything other than politics dominating our lives!

Isn't that why we vote and DELEGATE the running of our government to officials we'd like to be able to count on to manage things satisfactorily, while we give our attentions to bettering the quality of life closer in to our day-to-day responsibilities?

That's how I remember the old balancing of powers and would hope to see it again.

Why Murat? And Why Now?

You might ask -- "Why Murat? And Why Now?"

And, I might reply -- "The answer my friend is blowing in the wing."

But that wouldn't be my true answer. 

I've been asked this question lately by readers and a few times by associates. So, by way of introducing my answer, I wrote this piece. I hope it inspires you.

Purchase books by Murat Yagan from "Zones of Peace" on eBay, now featuring The Abkhazian Book Of Longevity And Well-Being, as a fundraiser for New Horizons/Small "Zones Of Peace".

Reflections On Leadership, After Trump’s Aborted Impeachment Trials 

Abkhazian Elder, Murat Yagan

If you would like to comment, even better, converse on what this article evokes in you,  I would welcome hearing from you at:

MountainWomanRJ @aol.com

Murat Yagan And His Books: Fundraiser

Did you know this man?

If you had, you would have known wonder!

Murat Yagan, world-renowned Abkhasian Elder was New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” Community Development mentor, from 1999 until his death in 2013.

(The sbove link connects to a beautiful obituary of Murat. However, it does have at least one error: Murat was born in the Caucasus, not Turkey.)

Anastasia, New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” Executive Director, had the honor of being Murat’s student, until his death in 2013. Through Anastasia, we at New Horizons are blessed to be able to carry forward, on a small scale, Murat’s vision and his teachings of “universal awe.”  

Now, as our organization expands its mission, we invite you to discover the wonder of Murat and his teachings through our sale of his books – and – through the programs and trainings of our organization.

Today, New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" honors Murat by bringing his books to you through our eBay store. Click here to make your purchase. (Today, only one of Murat's books was listed, Ahmsta Kebzeh: The Science Of Universal Awe: Volume I -- and -- it has already sold!) 

Check back later this week for more books by Murat.

"Elite" Truth Or Dare GAME #16: Saturday, February 8, 2020

New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” Elite Truth Or Dare GAME celebrated its sixteenth GAME last Saturday! 

Also see 

Seeking Sanctuary In These Turbulent Times,,,

After taking an obligatory and lengthy hiatus (1999 – 2018) due to my losing my eyesight and almost all things New Horizons needing to go on hold, we are so extremely grateful, these days, to be back in action that each GAME day is cause for rejoicing, extra specially.  

Past GAME days (or weekends, as the rule had been back in those days, 1976 -- 1998) had been eagerly anticipated, almost with reverence, most players knowing that whatever pain would be endured would be well worth the gain in the end. Rightfully we expected to be able to reach a collective “awe,” albeit briefly.

in our GAME!

Rarely were we disappointed.

(Well, there was that one time when two sex addicts, formerly strangers before our GAME weekend began, hooked up in our retreat center hot tub, the night before the GAME really got going. 

What a mess that was trying to sort out all the dark stuff and regain our truth-telling stability!

But we did come through it, okay because, even with extreme challenges, that is who and what we were helping one another become.) 

Now that we are back in action – and regularly, it seemed appropriate, in January, for us to now start taking stock of how each of has grown and changed since the first of our “new” GAMES, held in September, 2018.

Indeed, we are evolving, each one of us in our own unique way, quite beautifully.  Thanks to our having, once again, created a New Horizons small “zone of peace” sanctuary through our GAME, its principles and processes.

However, each of us is aware that achieving this personal progress, up against the backdrop of the three recent years of chaos in our country, since the new administration took office in January, 2017, has been particularly challenging, as we find ourselves now, like never before, obstructed, not only by our own proclivities, our relationships, personal and professional, and our immediate surroundings but also, like never before in America in peace time, confronted by the many upsets going on in our government, infringing, almost daily, on our peace of mind. 

Like a roller coaster ride, our organization and the people in it have gone round and round, up and down trying to successfully guide the mission of our organization, the creating – and sustaining of small “zones of peace,” a mission inspired by the following words of Mahatma Gandhi, regarding world peace. 

“We do best to begin by carving out territories or zones of peace in our personal relations where violence and deceit won’t be used.” 

Our vision of what it is to be doing well in directing this objective, “thinking globally, acting locally,” has never been an easy one to achieve. After all, if freedom from violence and deceit were easy to come by, wouldn’t most people now have that with ease?

Still, our mission is a tall order under the best of circumstances.

However, in this sea of turbulence, this era of extreme divisiveness, like we have never seen before in America, it has been particularly challenging, as you, no doubt know yourselves. 

That is, if such ideals matter to you, which obviously, as things stand, does not seem to be a goal for everyone.

Nonetheless, we are not the kind of organization to just sit back and be steam-rolled or discouraged when our best laid plans fail to come to fruition, as they have, time and time again, these past three years.

So we are ever more grateful for our GAME days, our small “zone of peace” sanctuary and what we are accomplishing with one another in our very special healing and transforming environment, the GAME, based on truth-telling, truth-listening and our pledges to integrity and loving kindness.

One of our board members who survived the California Carr Fire and much added distress after sent me a text, following Saturday’s GAME, with the following, in spite of all she has been through.

I woke up feeling so beautiful about what we achieved yesterday. I will work to hold that and transform it. 

Her words affirmed for me that New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” Truth Or Dare GAME is accomplishing what the world around us is apparently having more trouble with than we are, the members of our “elite” Truth Or Dare GAME.

I offer this report to you, with the hope that you will be inspired by what I am sharing here, in this time of America’s distress. And pretty soon are going to figure out how you, too, can get in the action with us which, by the way, is as close as your phone, if you cannot be with us in person.

Here is one of my versions of "Why Play New Horizons Truth Or Dare GAME."

Find out your own version by learning to play with us and attaining the transformation, personally and collectively, this powerful process, the GAME, promises to teach you.

Want To Ask Anastasia (Almost) Anything? Here Are Our Board Members Suggestions To Help You Get Started

(Under construction)

Want to go all the way to the top, get into our GAME and become an "elite" Truth Or Dare GAME player like our current board members and our alums?  

(P.S. Our "Elite GAME players, a.k.a. the Truth Squad are highly adept at truth-talk and truth-listening.)

Or, at least begin preparing yourself for the adventure?

Or, perhaps you just want to support the New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" Mission but aren't sure which one or two questions you might ask Anastasia to make your $25 donation for 15 minutes worthwhile?

Note: If you haven't realized it before, the New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" Mission is

To educate and train individuals and groups to create Small “Zones Of Peace” wherever they go wherein violence and deceit will ultimately become obsolete. 

Ask Anastasia
The Super Sleuth

To this end, our Board Members are going to help you out with a few suggestions to consider that might get you started asking Anastasia (almost) anything.  (It will take us a bit of time to get these organized. So be sure to check back on this list, from time to time.)

By the way if you aren't quite ready, financially or otherwise, to invest $500 for 2 hours plus another 30 by text or email to be the beneficiary of Anastasia's unique guidance, be assured you can reserve 15 minutes for $25 multiple times, as long as you follow the guidelines eBay sets out and those that we do.

Here goes some suggestions, if you are ready to take your next steps with us and get into some action, past simply reading our blogs and listening to our broadcast/podcasts.

Topics and/or questions you might ask Anastasia to answer or discuss with you

(Under construction)

On The National Level

• What should I do if I am upset about the "State Of The (U.S.A.) Union" ?
• What should I do, if I am a pro-Trumper, and my friends and family who are anti-Trump are upset with me about this position of mine?
• What should I do, if I am a Democrat or other anti-Trump who is in conflict with my friends and family over this?
• I am depressed/sad/angry about the outcome of the impeachment trials regarding Donald Trump. What should I do to come out of this?

On Truth-Telling

• Why do you (Anastasia) keep stressing the importance of truth-telling, especially when so many others don't seem to care at all about it?
• How would truth-telling (or more truth-telling) benefit me?
• What if more truth-telling on my part would cause me added stress and problems?
• How can I learn to speak truth to power?
• How can I learn to be impactful in speaking truth to power

On Playing New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" GAME 

On Personal Relationships

• How might I Be An Enabler Of Gender Tyranny Without Even Knowing It?
• How Can I Become A Better, More Fulfilled Man/Woman In This Era of #MeToo?

On Community-Building?

How can I make a difference in improving our present day society and politics?

Other General Topics

Emotional Abuse In Our Society

Politics

Personal Transformation

Relationship Transformation

Collective Transformation

More to come so be sure to stop back again and again. Congress might have gone as far as it's going to go to clean up our society and politics but we have just begun!