Playing Our Way to Transformation
It’s time to reclaim WOO. The World Outside Ordinary holds what we don’t yet see and the future we long for.
For too long, WOO has gotten a bad rap. It has been dismissed as something frivolous, irrational, or reserved for people who’ve lost touch with reality.
Yikes! We need WOO or the sane among us will be going down a rabbit hole of despair. WOO is the doorway to a much more expansive reality, one that’s available right here, right now, in the midst of our ordinary lives.
We hear a great deal these days about expanded consciousness, awakening, and transformation. Much of it is fascinating. And much of it remains theoretical, intellectual, something to study, discuss, or aspire to.
But what if the doorway is much closer than we think?
Innovation comes from the mind.
Creativity comes from the soul.
Transformation comes from the Mystery.
And I’m discovering that the Mystery appreciates a curious, playful approach.
That said, I want you to have your own experience. I have no interest in convincing anyone to believe what I believe. You are an original, and your relationship with the Mystery is your own as well.
There are plenty of theories about consciousness, frameworks for transformation, and steps to enlightenment. Some are really useful, but even the most brilliant framework can become another construct and way of organizing what we already know.
I’m interested in what we don’t know yet. I invite people to experiment. Try this. Play with it. Notice what happens. Make it yours. Or not. Throw away what doesn’t resonate and follow what awakens within you.
At some point, we have to become available to something beyond the familiar boundaries of our thinking.
That’s where WOO comes in. WOO doesn’t ask us to abandon our minds. It invites us to discover what else we can know when our minds are no longer running the whole show.
I vote for curiosity instead of certainty. Experimentation instead of instruction. Discovery instead of doctrine.
And play instead of trying so hard to figure it out and get it right!
Remember the Queen in Alice in Wonderland? Why, sometimes she believed at least six impossible things before breakfast!
In our just-completed Transformational Listening® for Evolutionaries Immersion at MEAWisdom, we’d had a big day of walking the labyrinth with our ancestors at dawn, welcoming support, releasing grief and old patterns and stories, and generally clearing out. It was all High Play of sorts, but we were ready for some hilarity!
So the next morning, before breakfast, we practiced laughter yoga and sang childhood songs. As the hilarity increased, we created a song for MEA’s founder Chip Conley, found a wonderfully irreverent name for our Circle, and discovered the big question that mattered to us all for our Listening Together later that morning.
Recognizing that the new world is already within us, how do we want to be?
Read the story we co-created in response to that question.
And, satisfied we had accomplished at least three impossible things before breakfast, we put on our own feedbag and then visited the ranch horses.
Horseplay
Now, horses respond to who we are, not who we’re trying to appear to be. You can think all you want about having an open heart. You can study presence and develop an impressive understanding of consciousness. But you can’t fool a horse.
Out in a vast field, the horses who in the past had often ignored us to continue with their grazing, came toward us, curious and eager to play. Out at the far fenceline were two enormous Percheron draft horses, Mucho and Mongo, and I wanted to get to know them. Kim and I stood about 50 feet from them, imagining them as new playmates, and they instantly came toward us ready to be met and loved on.
There was no performance or technique or attempt on our part to make anything happen. Just the extraordinary possibility of meeting another living being without an agenda.
This is the WOO I’m reclaiming.
WOO is not an escape from the ordinary world, but a living relationship with what we cannot always see or explain. It changes how we show up in the world. We lead with curiosity and an open heart, making room for creative amazements.
Of course, entering this territory takes a certain amount of trust. We can’t predict exactly what will happen as we make room for what wants to emerge. (And many in our Transformational Listening group had already experienced Transformational Speaking and knew me well enough to anticipate that we were not going to be following a script!)
Do You Really Want Business As Usual?
Let’s face it. Business as usual isn’t creating the world most of us want to live in. What if we tried something different?
What if we brought WOO into the very places we might least expect it?
A business strategist from our group returned to her work with a financial organization and introduced WOO to a group of twenty leaders. She shared how we’d Listened Together to hear a new story emerge and what becomes possible when a group comes into resonance. Then she invited them to opt in to another session and give it a try.
She tells me the excitement was palpable! Now she wants to join the movement to normalize WOO. I love that idea!
Want to help reclaim WOO?
Here are at least three ways to join us:
1. Open your own doorway. Experiment with wonder, curiosity, and opening your heart to the unknown in your everyday life. See what happens when you make room for WOO in Terra Firma.
2. Pass it on. Share this email with someone who might welcome a little more WOO in their life. Start a conversation. Invite them to play.
3. Come play with us. Join us at our Transformational Listening Playground at MEA’s Rising Circle Ranch in 2027. Apply now (Word doc that will usually open in your browser window) for May 27–31 and October 31-November 4.
Enter a field in which you can discover what’s true for you. You don’t have to believe anything to join in, but do bring your curiosity and your willingness to be surprised!
We were, in oh so many ways.
Let’s make WOO welcome in Terra Firma and discover what becomes possible when the two worlds meet.
Don’t bore the Mystery!
To love and play,
Gail
© 2026 Real Speaking LLC
P.S. Live call Wednesday! In Transformational Listening, we learn to trust Life. In Transformational Speaking, we learn to trust ourselves. Just a reminder that I’m joining Derek Gehl at MEA this Wednesday, October 28, at 11am MDT for a lively conversation about Transformational Speaking—and what’s possible when we get out of the jet lag of our lives and show up as who we’ve become. [Register to join us here.]
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Transformational Speaking: April 2-7, 2027
Transformational Listening for Evolutionaries: May 27-31, 2027
Transformational Speaking: September 20-25, 2027
Transformational Listening for Evolutionaries: October 31-November 4, 2027
Rising Circle Ranch
Santa Fe NM
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