This is specifically for all of you gamers who joined as fans of Athene, and it is also specifically for anyone else here on IPower.  I did not join because of my interests in gaming, although I can say I am a fan now.  Athene is the best gamer in the world and not because of his skill.  Games are not won with skill.  They are won with determination and heart.  We are not drawn here because of Athene but because of what he represents: authenticity and fearlessness in doing what is good all while being a badass.

In a little while, you will be watching a video about a gamer named Jane The Concussion Slayer.  In it, she has found a way to make gaming an effective strategy in our everyday lives and do it in a way that we feel and act like Athene when he plays.  She shows us how we can have what he has and that it's not even hard.  We don't even need a traumatic life changing event in order to achieve this personal growth.  I don't know about you, but I'd like to find easy personal growth without having to have another life altering traumatic event.  Depression and thoughts of suicide are not fun.  Not doing that again.  Period.

Her easy and scientifically validated game of life technique can add up to 10 years to your life, increase your own happiness, the happiness of others around you, and help you do everything that I believe IPower is about...and while you may enjoy lots of wonderful details about neuroscience like I do...you don't need to be a brain surgeon in order to benefit from or understand what she has to say.

In my short time here on IPower, I have begun to see what seems like a resurgence of members and the desire to be more active and proactive in our goal of creating personal revolutions (SDA).  I find this very exciting.  On another recent post of mine, I've been discussing the idea of playing with the intent to win.  Something I believe we need to do with IPower and something that Jane The Concussion Slayer also thinks we should do.

The idea goes something like this:

We're dealt something unfavorable in the game of life (something really bad inevitably happens and we're stuck with it for a while), and we have to play by a certain set of rules (the social policies and traditions of the world) in order to win the game (fix everything in the world which is bad).  Based on the rules, there is always the chance that we can lose (blow ourselves up in a nuclear war, die from disease, get hit by an asteroid, etc)...but also based on the rules, there are ways we can and must play if we are even going to have the chance to achieve our goals and win.

I believe that SDA is the way we must play in order to win the game.  IPower is the driving force behind this intent to win.  It has been tough and growth has been slow, but the most gigantic of rain storms start from the first drop of water falling from the clouds.  If rain stopped after the first drop, we wouldn't even notice it, but when the second drop falls and the third and the fourth and and the fifth and the suddenly when the entire sky opens and waters explode onto the earth, we know we have rain and we know we have a lot of rain.  IPower is one of the first drops of rain.  It is not and will never be a rain storm and I think it is a mistake to think that it could be.  But without it, the rain would never fall.  It is meant to be a way for us to set in motion events that will allow us to play with the intent to (and) win the game and do so feeling empowered and without fear of failure and in so doing set others free.

Games are something which allow us to further develop our decision making, improve relationships with people we know, and give us something fun to enjoy without risking anything of value to play.

This TED speaker, Jane McGonigal, talks about how she used games to turn herself from a suicidal concussion victim into someone who is happy, vibrant, and playing the game of life with the intent to win.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_...

And if you're interested in more SDA games, here's another one for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html