Miracle In the Goulag: read this if you're overwhelmed.

Sometimes, even if you are doing everything right in life, things will blow up on you and you will be faced with unimaginable difficulty.

Having lived through WWII as a child and the communist era in Poland as an adult, my late grandfather Stan saw a lot of things and heard a lot of stories.

One powerful story he told me has stuck with me to this day, and I lean on it when I'm faced with overwhelming situations... it always gets me back on course.

He once befriended a woman who survived the Gulag (the Gulag was Stalin's version of forced labour camps in the arctic north of the Soviet Union for political prisoners and "undesirables".)

Having been separated from her family as a political prisoner and sent to the work camps, she arrived crammed like a sardine with others in a train car to the most inhospitable conditions imaginable.

Freezing cold temperatures, hunger, illness, brutal living and working conditions, and the worst atrocities that one might imagine taking in this place.

Like everyone else, she was given a choice, to work or die.

The trouble was that many of those who chose to work died anyway due to the conditions.

She was put on a production line for assembling lumber piles onto trains bound for the capitol.

Each day her task was to collect, process, and assemble 12 massive crates of lumber.

If she finished her task, she would receive a loaf of bread.

This was an almost impossible task for healthy individuals.

Now imagine having to do it while freezing cold, starving, ill and weak.

Each day she tried, each day she failed.

Even though others around her were somehow getting the job done, to her the task seemed simply unsurmountable, she began to give up hope and decided to resign herself to her fate.

Then one day, she met a man on the line who saved her life.

During a moment of courage and compassion, when the guards weren't looking, he quickly motioned the frail woman to come over to his line.

"Not like that poor child, if you do it like that you're going to die here!", he told her.

He then brought her over to one of the completed lumber piles he had created on his line.

He lifted the top layers of lumber off this pile and had her look inside..

Inside she saw only branches and twigs.

"That's how you do it! That's how you survive!"

The man was creating what appeared like completed lumber piles, but the insides were just filler. He knew the guards weren't even inspecting the loads, they just cared that 12 of them were completed as those were the requirements from up top.

Suddenly, she had hope, and she had a plan.

Recounting the story to my grandfather, the woman said "Stan, before that day, I was resigned to die... but that day I came alive."

She started making the 12-crate payload done day by day, she started receiving bread.

With the bread she was able to get her strength back, then trade for other goods, upgrade her situation, and eventually live to return home, mother children, and live a full life.

A grim story, I know... but one with many lessons.

What this story reminds me of is the simple and powerful wisdom of "one bite at a time" and the leverage of focusing only on what is essential.

When you're overwhelmed, when the situation is dire when it feels like the world is melting down all around you...

...9 times out of 10, it's because you're putting insurmountable expectations on yourself(and others) and trying to do it ALL, all at once...

...and you're likely not even taking care of yourself in the first place.

I'm not saying don't have goals or aspirations or try to do impossible things...

...but what I'm saying is that you're likely setting the bar way higher than you need to to begin with and expecting way too much from yourself all at once.

Very often we think we have to get those twelve crates of lumber filled...

...overwhelmed, we end up doing nothing and fall into despair.

...and we forget it's just about that one loaf of bread, and that there is something simple and obvious right in front of you that will make the biggest difference in your life and others.

We forget that those arbitrary "twelve crates of lumber in freezing inhospitable conditions" are the insane demands we put on ourselves(and others), ideas completely founded in delusion imprisoning ourselves and our dreams.

For example, do you know how long I have tried to write a weekly newsletter consistently?

It's been a decade.

I have sat on this newsletter and my writing for ten years and chose not to write and publish weekly because in my mind I built "12 crates of lumber" around the whole idea.

Do you want to know what my excuse was?

• I don't have a logo for it.

• I don't have a name for it.

• I don't know what to write about.

• I don't have the perfect topics.

• I don't know which day of the week to publish.

• I would have to copy/paste the newsletter to my blog, and that's too much work.

• I have to update my blog so I can do it, I need to find time for that.

• My audience is not in touch with the topics I want to write about now, I would turn off too many people

• Nobody cares about my message anyway.

I can go on.

I was trapped in the overwhelm of all the things I wanted it all to look like when it was perfect, and I did nothing.

Do you want to know what finally got me?

"Kacper, just shut up and write the first sentence of the next newsletter."

Those are my twigs and branches.

That's my loaf of bread.

Each week I write one sentence and it turns into gold, I ship it out, and each newsletter turns into more ideas for videos and content that helps people.

I've got enough material now to fill a book and have been writing for months.

* A special thank you to all those who have written in lately with words of gratitude and support for this newsletter, thank you!)

Another example has been with my sailing project "Sail the Stars", I started with the idea to take people sailing and bring their genius out of them through adventure.

That was 4 bloody years ago!

My "twelve crates" there were insane, even though I didn't see it at the time

• I need a $1,500,000 boat to do it.

• I need to raise the money all at once.

• We can't do it in an ordinary boat, it has to be an expedition-ready arctic-ready beast.

• We have to own the boat.

Four years went by as I fumbled with a vision because I saw where it would be 10 years ahead and wanted that vision to be right here and now... instead of just starting with the small bite.

In the end, it boiled down to the simple act of...

• Rent a boat somewhere beautiful, bring people together, and just go.

The particular pattern I'm speaking to is not just the fact that we overcomplicate things.

We deny our success by making up ridiculous demands of ourselves and others for things that are more available to us than air.

It's like telling yourself you can't get up at 6 am and start your day because you don't have a Rolex to tell the time.

Because to simplify things would mean that you might actually succeed... and that's scary.

You don't need the Rolex, you don't need to write all 300 newsletters all at once, and you don't need the Arctic expedition boat...

...you just need to do the next simple thing that will enable you to feel the momentum of getting going and staying true to the vision.

And just like being taken from your home and shipped off to Siberia as a political prisoner in the middle of the night...

... Sometimes, even if you are doing everything right, life will be unfair, and you will face what seems like impossible expectations.

That's when it's always time to take things one bite at a time and focus on the loaf of bread, not the twelve crates.

Where are you imprisoning yourself in the idea that your vision, dream or situation is a twelve crate deal?

How could you lower the barrier of entry to get the line going?

What seemingly simple repetitive task could you do that would totally simplify that enormous laundry list in your head?

Thanks for reading,

If you enjoyed reading this and would love assistance to unshackle your mind, free your vision, and build an awesome life, book a call with me here.

All the best,

Kacper

How I "Accidentally" Helped Millions of People

The art of getting out of your own way is greatly understated.

And you'll be surprised with what you're capable of when you finally do it...

One day, many years ago, the leaders of an underground health movement were happening to pass through my (back then) hometown of Vilcabamba, Ecuador.

This group had isolated several protocols for reversing cancer and a host of other "incurable" diseases and was spreading this information worldwide.

I had heard a little about it beforehand, but only bits and pieces, and not enough to be convinced.

Naturally, since I loved these kinds of topics and this was up my alley, my team and I arranged to interview these men.

I got my whole team together and we spent the whole day shooting an interview that blew our minds.

We were suddenly thrust into a world I previously only knew a little about... a radical discovery that could change the world if only more people knew about it and the science was presented in an easy to understand way to the public.

"The whole world needs to know about this!" was the agreed-upon consensus amongst my team, and we joyfully went back to the editing room.

The excitement was short-lived.

The next day as we looked at the footage, our stomachs took a plunge.

Someone had forgotten to put the triple-A batteries into the Sony voice recorder attached to me, so instead of an interview we only had the broken clips of one person, "Mark", talking.

The disappointment and frustration with the lead cameraman was palpable as the room buzzed into opinions of what to do next...

I could feel everyone's frustration... a whole day wasted, our hopes and dreams up in flames, and this important topic not being shared through our channel...

Only one person in the room wasn't phased... me.

I was busy staring at the footage and playing it over and over again with a big smile on my face, I couldn't even hear the room.

Amidst the broken footage... I saw something glaring back at me like a diamond in the mud sparkling in the sun.

I could feel something big coming.

Suddenly everyone turned to look at me, and the room went quiet.

"Yeah, guys... this is a documentary!" I suddenly proclaimed with excitement.

Several people laughed thinking it was one of my "wild-Kacper" moments and I was making a joke.

But I was dead serious...

In the broken pieces of our footage, I saw a masterpiece, the whole thing came to me like a download and I just knew we were making a documentary and this was the core footage and it was perfect.

If the batteries were in that recorder... I would have never even conceived of the idea... but because of the empty space... it all came to me.

I explained to the team exactly what we were going to do, and after a brief period of disbelief, everyone got to work.

We spent the next 6 months shooting and editing that documentary, it was hard work and we loved every moment of it as we tackled enormous challenges together.

Towards the end... we ran into a problem... we had a good little film, but didn't really have a powerful introduction for it...

...the most important part of the movie was the first 60 seconds and I knew we had to make it good... I had scripted something but it just didn't "feel" right.

I remember when it happened, I was sitting in a room with two camera operators and another team member...

Suddenly, without any script, without any preparation, a voice began to come through me.

I asked the team to roll the cameras, and I just... spoke... I channeled my heart out starting with the words "When I was a little boy..."

That became the iconic opening sequence to the documentary movie "Quantum Leap," about the oxidative medicinal properties of chlorine dioxide (otherwise known as MMS) which affected millions of people worldwide.

That movie went massively viral, has been deleted, shadowbanned and re-uploaded all over the internet, and even more aggressively since 2020.

I can't begin to tell you of how many miracles I've heard of because of the making of that movie.

One recent one... I was walking through the streets of Pisac, Peru, in the sacred valley, and ran into a man who had just spent months in Uganda.

He told me how he and his friend were so moved after watching the movie that he personally flew to Uganda and set up a massive operation with "pop-up tent clinics" and saved thousands of people from dying of Malaria before the red-cross and corrupt government tried to shut them down.

Story after story like this for years.

And the whole thing was technically an "accident," the result of someone forgetting to put the AAA batteries in the damn voice recorder... how cool.

I cannot take credit for any of it, as that credit goes to my team and the wonderful people behind the movement, including Mark Grenon, his sons, the late Jim Humble, and the tens of thousands of people who have been involved since the start.

However, I'm not sharing this to talk about the movie or that movement... that's another story.

The point I'm making is...

Imagine what would have happened if I just believed we had a failed interview?

Imagine if I didn't listen to that voice that said "Just go, just speak, don't even look at the notes, let your heart tell the story."

How many times have you stopped yourself short because you believed it wasn't going according to plan?

How many times have you thought you needed to be prepared or needed to have a plan to get to your destination?

How many times have you held a broken puzzle and stopped because you didn't have all the pieces?

I learned many important lessons from that experience, critical pieces of wisdom I rely on every day to this day.

#1. When something doesn't go according to plan, it's always because there is a higher plan trying to move through you.

I find this true over and over again in life in all circumstances.

When something doesn't go according to my expectations, I let go, relax, and get curious as to what's really trying to unfold.

You have to remember you are part of a much grander divine play, and often the divine has a much better plan than you could have conceived of.

#2. Just F***ing Go and Follow Your Heart 100%

When you feel something is real, it's real, follow it, and more real will come.

Even if you're holding the seemingly broken pieces of a dream, if you're feeling a calling in your heart, it's enough.

You don't need all the puzzle pieces to make a masterpiece, you just need one, and that's your willingness and your vision.

In your willingness to take the step ahead of you, the next one will appear.

#3. It's Happening Through You, Not From You

Had I thought I was making this movie, it would have never been done.

The entire first few minutes of that movie were entirely channeled and unscripted and spoke right to the heart of every man, woman, and child who would watch it.

I couldn't have written it better.

This is how I operate my whole business and life these days.

Minimum preparedness, maximum presence.

I turn a camera on and just speak my heart out, no plans or preparations, no scripting, or bullets, it's 100% real and raw and so much more powerful, plus this saves me loads of time.

Most of the things you think you need to "get ready" are just obstructions in your way and procrastination mechanisms.

To get out of your own way is to accept that you are ready as you are.

#4. The Real Impact of Your Work Is Far Beyond Your Imagination

Just as the bumble bee flies from destination to destination, flower to flower, its real work is in pollinating thousands of adjacent flowers as it flaps its wings and sends pollen flying.

Your inspired idea or calling isn't just coming to you for your own benefit, it is coming for the benefit of countless people whose lives you will touch...

The real impact of your work will come from the 2nd 3rd and 4th degree consequences that you cannot predict or plan for...

...and that's amazing.

...and that's what is calling your heart.

...and that's what you're saying "no" to if you don't listen and take action.

Thanks for reading.

Would you like my assistance in this area of your life?

If you're feeling the calling to get out of your own way, turn a vision into reality, and express your true gift out into the world, watch this video in which I explain how I can help, and book a call with me here.

Kacper

PS. This article isn't about the movie, but undoubtedly many will probably be writing in to ask me about the link. You can watch it here.

Please know I am not involved with this movement in any way and will not answer any questions about it, everything can be found in Jim Humble's books which are available on Amazon and I suggest you go there.

13 Years of Courage, Love, Adventure and Ferocity

This recent picture contains everything I currently own.

It wasn't always like this, a decade ago I lived a very different life...

"If I'm still living my life like this 3 years from now, I'm going to kill myself," I thought to myself as I was driving on a rainy winter day in Canada, some 14 years ago.

The thought startled me awake out of my highway trance.

"Did I just think that?"

Apparently I did.

That thought was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

There was no hiding from it anymore, everything had to change.

There was nothing particularly off about my life, by all normal standards things were well...

We had money, I was a successful entrepreneur and I was living in a comfortable home with my then partner and 12-month-old daughter.

Except... everything was wrong, and I knew it.

I felt like I was living a box life, a total lie.

I wasn't living who I knew I really was inside.

Every day was the same.

I would wake up in a box.

I lived in my comfortable box home.

I worked from my box at home and sat in front of a box to do my work.

To get food, I would get into a box to drive to a box store to buy more boxes that had food in them and drive back to my box home to sleep.

I had acquaintances, but no real deep and meaningful friendships, and all of them lived in box homes too.

Our box homes were far apart, separated by long drives, and our lives so full and busy that to see my "friends" I would have to call them and set up an appointment with them and jot the time and date into a box in a calendar.

I worked in my box every day... all just to do what? To continue this existence?

Nothing but boxes, day in and day out.

A quiet gray pain, everything was seemingly okay on the outside, but my soul was screaming in agony on the inside.

I escaped into my spirituality and connection with the divine, but after a while, even that voice told me there would be no respite unless I took action.

From deep inside I could hear the faint sound of my heart calling me as if from the bottom of a well saying "There is more, there is another way to live!"

I started obsessing about it, I didn't know when or how but I knew something big was coming, a huge change.

Watching the movie "Avatar" just put fuel on the fire, that scene where Jake Sully becomes a new being and starts living in the wild... breathing fresh air, riding strange beasts, hunting for his food, and drinking clean air from the dew drops of tropical leaves...

...In that moment I just knew that was the life I wanted to live.

I couldn't find another planet to escape to, but this kind of place had to exist.

At first, I tried to discharge this madness by getting creative and thought I'd just become a farmer at home and build my new planet in my backyard...

I got into bio-domes and started building one out of lumber from home-depot in our yard.

(This was the 40' Biodome, it towered above all the other houses in the area.)

The city officials didn't like it and told me to tare it down.

That was it, the last straw, I knew I wasn't going to live in a place where a man needed permission to build a bloody green-house and grow his own food.

("Had I known about sovereignty back then it would have been a different story")

One day while watching a YouTube channel, I saw a man inviting people to join a community down in Vilcabamba Ecuador...

I was scared, but I just knew I had to go.

I had never heard of Ecuador, I booked our tickets for the two of us and our little girl to check it out for one month.

One month turned into thirteen years.

Arriving in Ecuador was like going to a new planet, everything was different, the climate was warm, the people were alive, the nature was spectacular...

...Vilcabamba, Ecuador was where I finally learned to live.

The box life I knew ended overnight, and a completely new life began.

A life full of nature, outdoor living, evening campfires, UFO sightings and close encounters, waterfalls, rivers, Ayahuasca ceremonies, healing, adventure, epic food, dancing, and most of all... profoundly meaningful friendships and connections.

A day hasn't gone by where I didn't step outside my door-step and spent an unforgettable day with people I loved.

Not one day, and without highways or appointments.

The type of friendships that are still with me, and will be with me forever, the friends you can truly count on through thick and thin, the type of friends who I know I'll be with when they're on their death-beds, and the ones I know will be with me when I go.

For me, this chapter of life was one where every day was spent focusing on the most important questions of life:

"Who am I? How am I showing up? Is this the real me?"

Over thirteen years I stripped away everything that wasn't me, stepped into my power, found my voice, and launched many projects that moved the world.

I met three of the deepest and most life-altering loves of my life, I learned how to be a man, how to show up for a woman, how to not compromise in a relationship and how to continue to believe in love even when all you want to do is close down.

The wild of Latin America brings with it so much more than just rainbows, my life was also fraught with intensity and challenge.

My family has been through Earthquakes, violence, separation, loss, and horrible atrocities...

Ecuador taught me how to be strong in the darkest of times, how to never give up on those who I love, and how to have the courage to heal and love even in the hardest of times.

Tears of gratitude pour down my face as I write this letter, this period of life changed me forever.

I feel like I lived 6 lives in the span of one decade, I could fill a book (and maybe I will)

I'm writing and sharing this in hopes that it will inspire you.

Because if there is one thing I've learned through this time.

It is that life has so much more to offer you.

You just have to do what you're afraid to do. Period.

Take a leap of faith, then rinse and repeat, life will take care of the rest.

I am not the man I was 14 years ago driving from whole foods on that rainy day to my box - that man had no clue what life could be.

I've become a god-loving wild savage with an open heart capable of moving mountains and doing impossibly hard things.

I magnetize deep friendships and connections wherever I go, love follows me as I walk my path, because I'm not scared to lose it.

Tarantulas, snakes, and people with guns don't scare me anymore, I'm ready to die with no regrets.

But you want to know what scares me?

Staying the same, and not loving as fully and deeply as I can, not sharing what is my heart with the world.

That's why a couple months ago, I did one of the hardest things I've ever done...

I climbed a mountain one morning, got to the top, and through a tearful goodbye, just knew it was time to go.

I left, for good.

It gave me everything it had to give, I knew if I stayed I would stagnate.

What's calling me now is a new frontier: Sailing, a life on the Ocean, global adventure, sharing my real message, and embracing fatherhood more deeply as I'm facing the challenges of fathering my teenage daughter in Spain.

I'm having to get out of my comfort zone again, big time.

I won't lie to you, it's challenging as hell.

This transition has been harder than I ever expected.

We are two months away from our first sailing voyage in Greece with Sail the Stars, everything in my life is changing, and there have been many unforeseen challenges.

Sometimes my mind freaks out on me for leaving everything behind and embracing the unknown... what the hell are you doing uprooting your whole life like this?

... that's when I pat myself on the back and remind myself that I'm one wild man doing things that would terrify me years ago.

The alternative is staying the same, and that's not an option.

Don't relent.

If you have a vision or a calling, follow it.

And if you've been in something sweet for a long time, and you know it's time to go... let go... it can't take you to where you need to go anymore, and you're doing yourself and everyone else a disservice by hanging on.

You deserve to be free.

They deserve to be free.

The world needs the free you.

Your mind can only imagine what it's losing and leaving behind, it cannot imagine what's on the other side of that leap.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

Kacper