Many years ago, during a training, I came across a famous phrase by Walt(er Elias) Disney. Promising myself never to forget it again, I made it my own.

“Dream, Believe, Dare, Do.”

From then on, it was my companion on the way through life and led towards a new guiding principle: "We can be, do or have anything we can imagine. It is only a matter of the perspective we choose."

Back then, I was so curious and wanted to learn more about Walt Disney, that I read everything I could find about him. I watched his movies again, using a slightly different perspective. The essence of understanding I gained from that was that we as humans are only playing a game on this planet. The "being human" game.

And following an impulse, I created my own personal game, which I shared with friends, with clients, and also with my son.

If you can imagine it, you can be, do or have it.

That was the name of the game. And it had no dice, no penalty turns, and no adrenaline pumping "who's the winner" rules. The game was simple, and aside from the basic prerequisites, the only rule of the game was: Create your fantasy world and become the owner of this most beautiful of all worlds.

The prerequisites were those:

1: Reality is not what your eyes show your mind, but what your thoughts create for your eyes to see. You are not limited by logic, the past or the world around you. After all, the origin of all things is You. You came first. Magic, miracles and bliss are the consequences of understanding this. They are the inevitable byproducts of dreaming and acting despite what they appear to be. You want things to be different? Then imagine differently. You are not in the world around you, this world is in you.

2: You are, on the one hand, the center of your world and, at the same time, only a part in the world of others who are the center of their own world. This means that it is beneficial to pay attention to the fact that our own imagination multiplies through the strength of the collective. We can do this by creating the world that emerges within us in resonance with the world around us.

3: If you practice diligently, never miss a day, and enjoy yourself while practicing, you will be rewarded with the most beautiful of all worlds that has been waiting for you to discover it for a long while now.

The others were not really enthusiastic about the game. They asked, " Could we please make it a little more goal-oriented?" and "It would also be great if there were no such abstract prerequisites, but instead a few logical rules of the game. A dice, perhaps. Just creating a fantasy world like that is impossible. And the three prerequisites are not making any sense."

Therefore, I decided to rethink before playing the game for the first time with my son. We jumped into Create your fantasy world and become the owner of this most beautiful of all worlds just like this, without any further explanations. Assuming that children have the ability to create freely.

First we drew pictures, told fantasy stories or acted out these stories like a theater play. And then, little by little, we transported the play into the "real" world.

Und so wurde der Satz “Stell Dir vor, dies ist die schönste aller Welten,“ zur alles andere einleitenden Frage jedes herausfordernden Moments in unserem Alltag. Ob im Streit, oder nachdem der neue Lederfußball mutwillig von unserem Hund zerfetzt wurde, wenn das Zeugnis nicht so war wie erwartet, oder im Kaufhaus, wenn ich mal nein sagte: “Stell Dir vor, dies ist die schönste aller Welten, wie würde diese Situation jetzt weitergehen?“ Und damit uns nicht langweilig wurde, bezogen wir die “schönste aller Welten“ des anderen direkt mit ein.

Mein Sohn, und ich ebenso, wurde achtsamer mit sich und mit den anderen um ihn herum. Er begegnete Herausforderungen mit mehr Leichtigkeit und reagierte auf bestimmte Momente mit einer neuen Gelassenheit. Und er empfand sogar unangenehme Momente als “okay“, denn er wollte schließlich die „schönste Welt“ der anderen nicht vergessen.

I told the others about my son's progress and this motivated them. Putting aside the prerequisites, they just as easily began to paint, to write, and to immerse themselves in fantastic adventures. Until, miraculously, they began to integrate the game, which had no rules, no direction, no plot, into their lives.

“Es ist so einfach und doch so seltsam für mich,“ sagten sie von Zeit zu Zeit, “mir alles, was ich mir wünsche, auszumalen, zu träumen, zu verkörpern, … und dann ist es wirklich da. Jetzt, jetzt verstehe ich die Voraussetzungen. Denn die sind ja irgendwie im Spiel enthalten, wie ein natürlicher Anteil des Spiels.“ Das waren ihre Erkenntnisse.

The DYFH Challenge

Back then, I also learned something that I had underestimated until then, namely the strength of our human brain and the power of learning

• through observation and empathy (mirror neurons) – my friends and clients participated in my son's stories,
• through repetition (neuroplasticity) – by constantly repeating the same beliefs and activities, they were able to increase synaptic connections in the brain and form new pathways of thinking and
• through joy (the effect of Serotonin) – there was no pressure and we had a lot of creative fun, and often we even laughed tears while playing.

These thoughts may have inspired me to create the DYFH Challenge. Because clearly, it was not the offering of the game alone that changed my world and the world of my peers. Above all others, the driver of success was prerequisite 3. It was the constant and diligent practice of everyone involved.

For this reason, I continue to motivate everyone around me to discover their personal homework and then practice it every day. With diligence. And with joy.

Do your f** homework.

Einige meiner Freunde kamen noch Jahre später auf mich zu. “Weißt du noch, diese Katze, die ich immer haben wollte. Da ist sie! Ich habe sie praktisch vor meiner Haustür gefunden, erst gestern.” Oder “Erinnerst du dich an das Frühjahr, als ich meinen Vater verloren habe? Ich wollte ihn noch einmal sehen, nur um ihn zu fragen, ob er stolz auf mich ist. Also, ich habe letzte Woche meine Tante besucht. Sie hatte mich eingeladen, weil sie in den letzten Kartons, die sie aus seiner Wohnung geholt hatte, diesen an mich adressierten Brief gefunden hatte. Ich öffnete ihn und las darin: … ich bin so stolz auf das, was aus Dir geworden ist.” Und eine meiner Freundinnen hat vor einer Weile Mr. Right getroffen. Er sah aus wie das Bild, das sie vor zwanzig Jahren gemalt hatte. Sie und ich, wir sind jedes Mal sprachlos, wenn er den Raum betritt.

The question concerning the most beautiful of all world is one that I still ask up until today.