So a while ago I wrote about superpowers.
Actually, I write about superpowers kind of a lot. Remember Joseph? That kid was the best.
Superpowers are important.
When we’re rallying it up at Rally (Rally!), we invent/invoke superpowers all the time.
Usually while we’re Schmurphling, which involves throwing things (badly) and also butt-monsters.
Anyway, I need to tell you about this so that I can describe this new and marvelous thing that is the Book of Superpowers.
Or possibly the Anthology of Superpowers. It has not been decided yet.
Local customs regarding superpowers….
In my mostly-imaginary cultural tour guide to the fascinating world of the Playground, there would definitely be a very thorough and ever-expanding section about local customs.
So pretend this is the section about Superpowers.
As you might imagine, there are certain agreed-upon conventions of this process of naming superpowers at Rally.
Here they are:
- You can always declare silent retreat! You don’t have to come up with superpowers.
- Superpowers are not finite. If someone else names a superpower that you would like to have, you can have it too. There is enough for everyone.
- No, really. Consciously deciding to bring the power that someone else asked for into your life/space/force-field does not in any way diminish their power.
- There is no limit on how many superpowers you can have. Lovingly examine the internal rules that say if you have X, you have to give up Y.
- We always invoke the superpower of being able to believe that you’re allowed to have more superpowers!
- If you don’t want anyone to know what superpowers you desire, you can secretly think of superpowers and throw them into the pot. Or bring them to the fountain.
And there are always bonus superpowers for anyone who wants…
In fact, let’s name some superpowers right now.
Because then it will be even more awesome when I tell you the next part.
These are just SOME of the superpowers we have called upon at this September Rally (Rally #13!).
And we’re not even done. We have all of today. With another two rounds of madcap Shivanauttery, not to mention the Final Chickening.
But here are some.
“The superpower I’d like to have right now is…”
- To make myself perfectly understood at all times.
- To know everything there is to know about the healing properties of sparkles…
- Being receptive to what is already there.
- Ignoring what other people think.
- The power of being able to talk to plants and receive their truth and believe everything they say.
- Super visual clarity: to see into the heart of the matter without obfuscations.
- Power, strength and balance.
- To be able to communicate my New York elbows without having to explain!
- The ability to start anything I’m afraid of (just to start!).
- To be in many places at once.
- Instant relaxation!
- To remember to take care of myself while traveling.
- Internal earplugs for all internal chatter — they also keep out other people’s stuff.
- A force field accessory that allows in those select few ideas that will make my project easier and keeps out the ones that will make it harder.
- Transposition! Switching places with people when it’s mutually beneficial and agreed-upon.
- I can instantly appear anywhere someone is talking about me.
- Unstoppable serenity!
- To conjure a bubble of silence and darkness at will — no sensory input!
- Agility.
- Overnight recovery.
- Instant awesome hairdo change at will!
- Always knowing what to do next.
- To really and truly believe in my superpowers.
Here’s the neat part.
And not just from this Rally, but from every Rally we’ve had.
The superpowers we call on end up coming true in some weird and unlikely way.
Or sometimes in a really obvious way (because epiphanies are stooopid!).
And sometimes even in a literal and immediate way.
The person who asked for balance and strength discovered the next morning that it was suddenly WAY easier to get up the stairs in his chair.
The person who asked for the ability to fall asleep instantly got her wish the very next night.
The person from two Rallies ago who channeled the superpower of being able to appreciate softness ended up filling her house with cushions after Rally, and now she really does appreciate softness.
Some powers take longer to figure out. But it’s always neat to name them and watch them float around the Playground like buoyant, colorful, happy bubbles.
So. The Anthology of Superpowers.
It’s so much fun to discover what superpowers people think of, crave, desire, invent, and gwish into being.
And not just fun, but often really moving or inspiring.
So I am collecting.
And we are going to make a giant binder at Rally.
With one or two powers to a page. And maybe illustrations, if people feel like illustrating.
Until we have a massive accumulation of collective superpowers to flip through, read and choose from. And add to!
I am very excited about this. It will be the companion book to the PLUM (the Playground User Manual) and to the Book of Yum (the growing compendium of good things to eat in the neighborhood).
Also one day it might be another coloring book. We’ll see.
Superpowers help.
This particular Rally isn’t even over yet, but the results, realizations, epiphanies and surprises people are already having this week are shiny and amazing.
Including:
- The person who discovered their book. Discovery!
- “Oh! I can nap on my issues instead of napping to avoid them: napping can be a way of planting solutions!”
- Someone finished a project on the first day that she’d thought would take her all week!
- “The realization that the thing I thought I hate most is sometimes also the thing I crave/need.”
- “Some desires that I thought were paradoxical can actually help each other out. They can co-exist!”
- After a day of interacting with some walls and creatively sneaking around the stuck, one woman then accomplished “a year’s worth of personal growth and about six weeks of project work in about two hours”
Yes, Rally is outrageously great for so many reasons. But you know what really helps? All the superpowers floating around.
And the way the naming of the powers you want lets you identify the ones you already have.
Play with me! And comment zen for today…
If you would like to invent and invoke superpowers and list them here, you are welcome to. That would be awesome.
If you would like to take any of the superpowers that I mentioned, go for it. There is enough to go around.
If you would like to say “SILENT RETREAT!!!”, just because you can, that’s cool too.
We all have our stuff. We let everyone have their stuff. We don’t tell each other what to do or how to feel. We play.
Tiny Rally-related postscripts!
- If you’re longing to escape American Thanksgiving, there’s 1 spot left for the extra-long Great Ducking Out Rally. Next week we’ll probably open registration for November 2012.
- According to a note from the First Mate, 2012 Rallies are filling up. The ones closest to getting slapped with an orange SOLD OUT sticker: January, March, April and June.
- The list of dates for the 2012 Rallies: on the Rally page. Rally! Prices go up in January.
- If you need a Stowawayship Scholarship-ship, go here.
I think that’s everything!
Love, as always, to the commenter mice, the Beloved Lurkers and everyone who reads.
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I would like the Superpower of Not Caring What Other People Think or Do in Reaction to Something I do.
I know it’s what you call Sovereignty… and while I act in accordance with it all the time (i.e. I say what I think, make the first move, make myself an open book because one of my main themes in life is fighting stigmas and telling the truth about certain things) – but I am constantly having panic attacks after I act, and it’s…
well.
It’s about really really KNOWING that Now is Not Then, and having truly healed from the past… not expecting I’ll get rejected because I have been before, and not caring if I do.
So I want the Superpower of No Fear of Rejection, I guess.
The one superpower I truly wish for is consistent, good, nightmare-free sleep so that I have the energy to accomplish my daytime, living dreams.
Oh my gosh do I love Super Powers!
A Few I’m Snagging from Above:
– Being receptive to what’s already there
– Ignoring what other people think
A Few from Before:
– Radical radical trust in myself and the universe.
– Knowing it’ll be okay without knowing how it’ll be okay. So curiosity, excitement, security…
A Story:
– I’ve gotten so much better at trusting since those two superpowers from past Rallies.
– Actual *proof* that trusting myself works and that it’s all turning out wonderfully.
– Seriously, it’s fabulous. It’s changed everything.
Some New Ones:
– An excellent singing voice
– Or just my voice from before my fifth chakra went wonky (my own voice! That’s a superpower for sure)
– Beauty
– A self-cleaning house
There is this thing that sometimes happens when I’m sick — not hugely sick, just a little bit sick, say, with a cold or similar virus.
I drop the rock. Because I feel too crummy to hold it any longer.
I’m incredibly relaxed, because I don’t have the energy to be tense. I’m highly spontaneous, because I don’t have the capacity to over-think anything. I’m playful and punchy, because why the hell not?
I think this may be a superpower. And I’d love to be able to invoke it even when I don’t have a cold.
Dropping the rock! (Into the fountain — why not? SPLOOSH!)
I can definitely use: Ignoring what other people think, Seeing into the heart of the matter, and Absolute trust in myself and in the universe.
I would also like:
The ability to daydream *while* walking *while* still paying attention to the pup and what he’s doing.
The ability to see a myriad of possibilities.
Instant confidence – like an invisible cape that I can put on at will.
Serendipity and Play and Flow.
well if we’re talking superpowers then i want to be able to fly – for real – in the air – really fast.
that would probably get me all the other superpowers I’d want anyway – like being listened to by my children!
Cathy
The superpower of seeing the good and skipping over peoples complaints !
The superpower of sleep
The superpower of feeling good enough and knowing i worked hard and not second-guessing myself
The super force shield of bouncing of unwanted doubts projections and other energy intrusions
The superpower of satisfaction
The superpower of home
I currently have the super power for free clothes. Seriously, I would like to share this superpower.
A superpower in relation to this one that I would like is to be able to graciously accept things such as compliments, aforementioned free clothes, and stuff. “Gracious Acceptance”, there we go 🙂
Like Elizabeth, I want that instant confidence and ignoring what other people think. I want that ability to just be sure of myself and not see doubt in othe people’s eyes.
Also, I want an abundance of time. I don’t know how to get this, but I want it as a superpower. I want to go, bam, time abundance and get it. 🙂 Maybe a hat or a bracelet or something to symbolize that it’s time for this.
I want the same superpower the Care Bears had– to be able to beam pink rays of love out of my belly at anyone who’s up-tight or crazy mean and make them relax and be loving too. 😉
Discovery of an internal energy fountain — like a chocolate fountain — that you can just dip your fruit, marshmallow or head into and get all messy with. (Yay for hanging prepositions.) It’s the kind of messy that makes everything clear. Clear and sparkly is the color of energy. This fountain only shoots in one direction, one convenient to where I already am.
Also, extreme nerd superpowers for a brain that melts together with information for hours at a time, producing from the river of knowledge many bucolic trickles of solutions in all directions with a sturdy, whimsical origami boat that know which trickle to take!
Finally, appreciation superpowers for this chance to play, unfortunately far from the Playground.
I would like the superpower of ignoring all the “experts” and replacing their chatter with a deep, unshakable inner knowing of what my body needs to feel its best.
I would also like the superpower of knowing exactly what to do to get the stuck energy of a space moving again.
And probably a thousand others once I think about it more. Must make a page in my book of me.
Re: the force field accessory — I call those filters and use them quite a bit.
“The superpower I’d like to have right now is…”
Functional, Flexible, Focus! Superpower, INVOKE!
Bravery, in the face of all things skeery! Go, Go, BRAVERY MOUSE!
The automated organizational skills of Martha Stewart, but without the jail time, perfectionism, or semi robotic superacheiver domestic-goddess weirdness. ACTIVATE, INSTAMATIC-ORGANIZER POWER!
Superpowers! Exciting!
I want the superpower of being able to clearly express what I see in my head – I really struggle explaining the way I’m thinking of things sometimes because I don’t have the words! Or maybe the superpower of just implanting what I see into someone elses’ head so they can see it, too. Whatever would be easier. 😉
I want the superpower of coming up with amazing metaphors for things! Metaphorizing? Metaphorosis?
And the superpower of awesome napping. I always either sleep too long or too short and wake up with a headache. I’d rather wake up feeling refreshed and with epiphanies. Please.
On the slightly more mundane side of things, I want the superpower of being able to ride my bike with my walking cast still on, haha.
I would like the super power of the eternal (or hour long) sunshine of the spotless mind.
And I’d like the SP of carrying the rock a little longer. I drop it too often.
And the SP of intestines that all work together in harmony to do their job.
oh yes. dropping the rock. choosing the rock. and choosing when to drop it.
transmuting incoming snarls and snickers to sparkles and happy sighs
paying all the bills
way finding
disentanglement
OOO
@Tori – those are the most perfect superpowers in the whole world!! INVOKE!!
@Cathy Presland – ability to fly was one of the later Superpowers today at Rally! You must have been channeling us.
To Havi and all,
Thank you so much for these, your post and comments and more Superpowers help me remember/realize (as opposed to just knowing intellectually) that Rally is something that continues. And that was my last Superpower wish, remembering/realizing this! Coming true already! Awesome!
Well, I noticed that lots of people want the superpower of not caring what other people think. I noticed that I have the super power to see an upcoming blog post for my site about that topic. It’ll be called “13 things that magically happen when you don’t care so much about what other people think”. I’m writing it now!
I have summoned/invoked the super power to:
-Daydream when I walk the dog and keep in connection to her and in communication (it happened today on our walk! I wanted to try it out before I posted – thanks for the idea!)
– To open my arms and heart wide to support for my creative endeavours
– To find the magical combination of words that have the most resonance for those that need what I’m willing to share
– Spontaneously heal my body
– Be compassionate and present in situations where I’ve been challenged to do that before this moment
– To always recognize and honour the signs and symbols that my life speaks to me through
@Sabrina – “To find the magical combination of words that have the most resonance for those that need what I’m willing to share”. This is beautiful, me too! INVOKE!!
Invoking the superpower of not worrying that I’m (in my natural state) too loud or aggressive or in-your-face or RAW or something.
Not getting irritated when people want me to be other-than-I-am.
The superpower of OWNING my superpowers of being hot and complex and garlicky and intense. (When I AM that. Which is not ALWAYS, btw, just sometimes, and when it is those times I want the superpower of knowing that those qualities are OKAY to be).
All these superpowers are fantastic. xxxx
(In other words: sovereignty. Probably the best darn superpower a girl like me could wish for).
Also: the superpower of always having a clean kitchen. (Please!)
INVOKE!
* the superpower of perceiving people’s state of mind and body language while talking on the phone
* the superpower of not taking responsibility for other people’s sovereignty
otherwise known as
* the superpower of being able to suppose that other people will tell me if and when I am crossing their boundaries instead of assuming that I am doing so by default
* the superpower of invoking instant sovereignty
* the superpower of giving highest priority to taking care of my own well-being (mental and physical)
* the superpower of apparition
* the superpower of creating additional in-between days for refueling, unnoticed by the outer world
YES! I would like the superpower of VISION! I can see myself and others clearly. Like, “This situation you are lying awake worrying about is so tiny its barely visible in your own ife, much less in the world, you silly silly chick!” (You is me, in case that’s not obvious. You are allowed to lie awake thinking about whatever you like.)
VISION! SEEING CLEARLY! YES!
PS I actually already HAVE this superpower, I am just not able to FIND it. Does it involve a costume? A phone booth? Taking off my glasses? I must figure that out.
Yay!
I would like to invoke:
The power to remember I am loved.
The power to help other people remember they are loved.
The power of words.
The power of being like a dog, if a dog had the power of words and opposable thumbs and an 80-odd-year lifespan.
The power of lucid dreams.
The power of being punctual without being like Mr. Banks.
The power of creative neatness.
The power of creative messiness.
The power of forgiving, no really, actually forgiving.
And of course, the power of inventing new superpowers! 😀
Wheeee. I think I’m gonna have a superpower-playing afternoon. To the workbook!
(To me ‘workbook’ has a big overtone of play and happiness – I remember them from maths when maths was still about colouring things in and doing addition and measuring. And little friendly illustrations took you through the book, and where you are was always good – you didn’t have to rush, or go back. Mmmm. And there were little numbered pictures on the front, like a long row of flowers, which you’d colour in when you finished all the exercises on that page number. Thank you, happy workbooks!)
I remember when I first encountered Havi’s idea of superpowers, and I immediately realized that I have a superpower of finding good teachers at the right time.
Looking back, it seems like the power only kicks in once I
– realize I need help, and
– have some idea of the kind of help I need.
Once I have that clarity, the teacher appears (academic advisors, mentors, yoga teacher, whatever).
I think what I need is the complementary superpower of always knowing when I need a teacher/mentor and what kind of person I need!
I need the superpower of Writing! Writing frequently and regularly!
Tomorrow I need clean-the-house super powers!
The first superpower on the list, To make myself perfectly understood at all times, is one I really need and keep working working working away at trying to find.
I also could really use its complement, to perfectly understand others first time, at all times.
I would like the superpower of Always Having Enough Time.
Maybe sometimes I wouldn’t invoke it, just so as to get a tiny taste of remembering what things used to be like, for variety. But in general I would go around with Always Enough Time. It would have a sort of calm, grounded, effortless flavour.
::ponders::
From the above, I would like to invoke the superpower of creating additional in-between days for refueling, unnoticed by the outer world. That is genius.
My own superpowers include:
– the power to always be able to leave.
– the power to cover seven miles in a single step.
– the power to take pain and fear and humiliation and transform them into joy.
– the power to make everything better with tea.
A big resounding YES to these powers! Amen. Especially that last one, what a great reminder.