Mendhi Audlin 0:00
Hey everyone, welcome to The What If UP Club! I'm Mendhi Audlin. And this is our podcast. The What If UP Club is a collaborative community of dreamers, change agents and Possibilitarians. When others say what if it all goes wrong? We say "what if it all goes RIGHT?"
This is our first official episode. Thanks so much for tuning in. In this episode, I'm going to kick things off by sharing a little bit about our What If UP philosophy, what that means and how you can use it to experience growth and expansion and positive change in your life.
Plus, you're going to hear from Kimberly Han, Kimberly is a member of our What If UP Club, she is also an avid gardener. And she was inspired by our community to conduct a very special experiment in her greenhouse this past spring, and she joins us to share what happened and what it means for those of us who have chosen to step into what if upping as a way of life.
I'll also share ways that you can get involved in our community from show notes to reflection guides, discussion groups, and much much more. We are here to help you bring your good ideas to live. Are you ready? Let's do this.
Greetings my friend. Mendhi Audlin here welcome to the first episode of our What if up club podcast. If you like what you hear, please subscribe for more. And I would absolutely love it if you could post a comment about what you're learning any aha moments, just to help us spread the word so that more and more people can be part of this movement.
But I get ahead of myself. So since this is the first episode, let me go back to where this all started. It began as most amazing adventures do it began with a calling. So I grew up as a very shy kid, I had a speech impediment, I didn't speak out much in very low self esteem. Growing up, I didn't have any strong role models and people to really show me what was possible to take me under their wing. I was introduced to personal development in this kind of work in my early 20s. And it changed my life so dramatically that I wanted to share it. I wanted to use my voice to create an impact and to give to others, the confidence and the boost and the encouragement that had been given to me.
So back in 2000 to 2001. ,It's been 20 years! I took a leap of faith and I started a business as a motivational speaker, offering leadership keynotes leadership retreats, to colleges, college students, universities, things like that. And what was interesting about starting a business is I had all kinds of limiting ideas about what was possible for me, I had self doubt, you know, I had all of those, you know, what if I can't, and what if I'm not good at this and all those types of thoughts running through my head, I also had that conversation in my head of, I don't know how to do this, I've never done this before. I don't know how to grow a business. I don't know how to create revenue doing the thing that I feel called to do. But I was excited about it. And somehow one baby step by one baby step, it actually came into fruition.
Now the challenge with being a motivational speaker on the college market is that I was on the road a lot. And so I found myself either on a campus far away from home, which was most weekends or if I was at home, I was in my basement, which is where my office was, and very isolated. So I didn't have a lifestyle that was very conducive to building community, local community. And I didn't have people in my life that were entrepreneurial that were supporting me.
So it's about that time I found a small group of entrepreneurial women who are meeting by phone each week. And this particular group was studying what is we now a lot of us know about it as the Law of Attraction. So it was an Abraham Hicks study group. And we got together as entrepreneurs once a week simply to encourage each other to elevate our energy and to stay motivated for the work that we had all felt called to do. So we did this game. One of the things that we would do in this mastermind call was this game, inspired by what Abraham Hicks would call The What If Game. It was just a way of staying focused, encouraging each other and uplifting each other.
And it was so powerful for me as an entrepreneur for helping me shift my energy when I was feeling down that I thought you know, this would make a really great Energizer. This would make a great icebreaker for the college students that I'm working with at my retreats. So I took this little game and I put it into a format that I could use in my retreats and in my workshops and things like that. And we did it to kick off, you know, sometimes, you know, multi day retreats, we would kick things off with this little what if game. Now what started happening is, you know, obviously, in the moment, I'm like, Okay, this is fun, it's energizing, it's playful. It's set the tone, it was a great way to start things
. But what I didn't realize would happen is that, you know, after the retreat, sometimes weeks, after months, after sometimes years after the retreats, I would hear from students or I would see them again, as I was back on campus, I would hear from them and they would say, Man, did you remember that little what if game that we did, they'd say, What, you're not going to believe what happened.
And so now, I've been doing this for 20 years. Now, I'm kind of used to coming up, having people come up to me and say, Mendhi, you're not going to believe what happened. Because it happens. So regularly.
So early on, I knew there is something really powerful in this strategy, I'm going to share with you what that strategy is today in this first episode, and how you can use it in your life. I knew that it worked, I knew that it created positive change. I saw people create internships, create dream jobs, that can create travel around the world create dream relationships, I was seeing all these things happen using this little process.
What I didn't know is, why does it work? It just seems like a fun little playful game, like what is going on here that makes this work. And that began a decades-long study for me into the universal principles. How do we create what we want? How do we identify a desire and then live into that desire? So that began my quest to understand, why is this process so powerful?
And that became the impetus for my book "What If It All Goes RIGHT?", so that came out about 10 years ago, over the years, I have kind of drifted in and out of this work, but it kept coming back, kept giving back and in fall of 2019, I had, again, a mastermind partner who kept nudging me saying, you know, Mendhi, it's, it's this What If UP work, it's so important, and I would hear from readers.
Something inside me clicked in the fall of 2019. And I got that nudge that said, this is the time to pick it up. And to, to really focus on it and bring it out to the world. Of course, with all my plans put together, then came COVID. And everything changed. And if ever, there was a time to be using this process that I'm going to share with you today. It is this time, it is this moment in history, where everything changes where the paradigm is completely different.
And now as we emerge into this post COVID world, what if we can emerge changed? What if we can emerge transformed? And what if this process is key to that? What if this is something that can actually help each of us thrive in the midst of change, thrive in the midst of adversity and actually thrive because of the adversity.
So that's the possibility that I share with you today, it has been a year or so of trial and error, and error and error and trial and error and all leading us to amazing breakthroughs.
The What If UP Club is now a nonprofit organization that is poised to bring people together to solve real world problems to innovate into this new paradigm, all while feeding our mind and our spirit through the inner work of what I call what if upping so I'm gonna talk about that in just a second.
And it's also an outward process of connecting with people and sharing with people in a very intentional way.
So here we are episode one. What does it mean to what if up? Well, let me share with you how it works. It all begins with a desire. And sometimes that desire is born out of something that our heart is just calling us to do. And sometimes that desire, I found this a lot in 2020. Sometimes that desire is born out of looking into the world around us and saying, I don't want that to ever happen again. I want to stop that I want to eliminate that from the world. And from that contrast, we get clarity on the world that we do want to create. So either way, whether it's something that's a dream that is just been gnawing at you and it's time or maybe it's something that has happened to you and you didn't want that to ever happen to someone else. And in that clarity, you find your purpose.
That's where it begins is with that desire. We identify the desire and then we bring to that desire, the power of our imagination. We unlock the key to our imagination with these two little words. "What if?" "What If" can take us to amazing places It also can take us into some very dark places.
And a lot of us have been very well trained in using our imagination to imagine worst case scenarios. What if it all goes wrong? What if I can't? What if it's too late? What if there is no hope? What if this is the end, and we go down these dark spirals of despair, it creates anxiety, creates hopelessness, and we find ourselves paralyzed, we find ourselves stuck, we find ourselves hopeless and despondent and depressed. And, you know, a lot of us have found, it's been a tough year, that we may have found ourselves there.
So what we do is we take the power of the imagination, and we do the opposite. Instead of saying, What if it all goes wrong? We say what if it all goes great? Instead of what if downing we What if up? We use the imagination we use that key? Those powerful words? What if to create possibility to uplift and to inspire? What if it all goes right? What if this is the time? What if your gifts are needed more in the world now than they have ever been before? What if your gifts are clearer to you, now than they ever were before? What if the need is more pressing than it has ever been? What if this is our time, what if this is your time to rise and shine?
So that's what it means to "What If UP." You start with a desire, use the imagination to sort of bust outside the paradigm of maybe the limiting thoughts you used to have the paradigm you used to be in we blow outside that paradigm, using our imagination.
And then we bring to that imagination, the power of our wisdom. To discern, okay, from these ideas from these possibilities? What is my next step? What is mine to do? So that's the basic process. That's essentially how it works. Identifying the desire, imagination, and wisdom.
I personally am a big fan of Dr. Joe Dispenza. He has a lot of amazing books out there, "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself." He talks about, you can see his videos, too on YouTube. They're great. He talks about a study that was done with some monks. And here's what he found. And this is why I think this, what if a process is so incredibly powerful. So there was an experiment done, where they took a group of monks, and essentially, they tasked this group of monks, here's what the experiment was about, they wanted to see if, by focus through meditation, mindfulness, these monks could collectively unravel a strand of DNA. So they had the little petri dish, I don't know how it worked, but they had the DNA strand. And they took this group of monks and for one group of monks, they said, Okay, what we want you to do is focus all of your mental energy on visualizing this strand of DNA and seeing it unravel, seeing it change, seeing, essentially, the molecular structure of the DNA, seeing it changed, just visualize it in your mind. And so this group of monks would do that they held it in mind, and focused on it, meditated on it. And then as they look at that strand of DNA, nothing happened.
Then they took another group of box and I said, Okay, with this group, what we want you to do is, you know, the vials in the room, there's the DNA and, and you know, there's the intent, but they didn't miss it. Don't focus on the intention, just focus on positive emotional states, focus on being radiating love and compassion, and peace, focus on your heart, expand your heart energy. And so the second group of monks does that, focusing on love focusing on peace focusing on the heart, then they check the DNA, and nothing happens.
Now, what happens in the third experiment is very critical. We can learn a lot from this. So they take this third group of monks together and they say, Okay, we're going to take the intention, focus on the intention, focus your mind, focus your thoughts on the intention, while you are simultaneously in this elevated state of love and joy, and compassion and peace. And it was in this combination of focused thought and elevated emotion, that they were actually able to create a change in the structure of a strand of DNA. It was a scientifically significant change in that structure.
So what that says to us is that it's not just positive thinking. And it's not just thinking, feeling happy feelings. It's not just putting a smiley face on and being perky and bubbly. It's a combination to be able to focus on what we want with clarity, and to be able to as we are focusing on what we want to do so in an elevated state. So that's what"What If Upping" allows us to do. It allows us to focus On a desire, and then rather than throwing affirmations at it that we don't believe that actually maybe are a little depressing, because, you know, it's I can affirm that I have it, but I don't that feels kind of like, wow, like, I don't know if that's really helping. But when you throw it into the context of a what if, "what if" bypasses the logical brain, and it just takes it into the realm of possibility, where we can allow ourselves to get excited by the thought of it, the possibility of it without having to affirm that it's already here? Would we know it's really not.
So it's a great tool for staying focused and for creating that elevated state at the same time.
I want to introduce you to Kimberly, now Kimberly, is a member of our The What If UP Club, she joined us for the first time, during COVID, we launched a 21 day challenge as a way to get people together online to practice the process, and to experience the power of what if of being in a group, which I'll talk more about in our next episode. So Kimberly joined us for one of these challenges. We found out through the challenges, we got to know her better that she loved to garden. And so in one of our workshop sessions, one of our members posed to her a possibility. She said, What if you do a what if up experiment with your plants? What if you what if up your seedlings? And so Kimberly did, she took on the challenge. And I talked to Kimberly, about what happens. So here's what she said.
Kimberly Han 16:37
I'm Kimberly Han, and I live in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. I got introduced to The What If UP, Club, the first challenge, I think in January, by my good college friend, April, she'd asked me once before if I was interested in I was just too busy and not feeling great. And I said no, but I regret that I didn't get in sooner because it's been a wonderful place to be.
Well, I post a lot of things in the group about my gardening, I have a big greenhouse and a very big garden. And I do I have a blog where I do talk about some it's wellness and gardening tips. So of course, I mentioned that before in the group too. And through all of that I think the others have gotten to know that I'm really interested in botany and that kind of thing. So joyful Jeanie, or Natalie just made a comment one day saying, Hey, this is a cool idea. Maybe you should try doing this sometime. And I didn't have a lot of space in the greenhouse. So I really what I really wanted to do was to do a whole bunch of plants on one side of the experiment, and then a whole bunch of plants on the other, but I only had two pots left. So I did two little pots. And it still turned out to be pretty interesting. But it was it was her idea. And I just decided to go with it and have fun with it. And so I made a little video and had some fun.
Mendhi Audlin 18:04
I love it. It's very cool to watch. So tell us just kind of walk us through what was the process what you did and then what's been happening so far.
Kimberly Han 18:12
Sure. I picked two identical seeds in my greenhouse. I picked teddy bear sunflowers because I just thought they were the happiest and cutest little flowers. So I got two little sunflower seeds, two little pads, I planted them identically. I put them the same depth in the soil I use the same amount of water I use the same dirt, same size pot. Everything was the same I marked one as what if up and one is whatever. And then that little pot that I marked as what if up every time I watered it or visited the greenhouse or did anything in there really I took a moment to pause and talk to that little plant and just what if up that I would say what if you grew strong today? Or what if this water is exactly what you needed to grow? Or what if you're going to be the prettiest flower that blooms in my garden this year and just all these little What if ups and I watered the other plant and I took care of it just like I did the first plant physically but I didn't funnel any positive energy towards it while I was doing that and just let them grow and I took a picture of it every single day. And it was interesting because The What If UP Club tower was the first brick the soil first to drop its seed shell it was the first to get it second set of leaves. It's twice as big as the other plant. It was very interesting. So it's definitely there's no control. It's just two plants and it could be any other variable but I love to believe that it's the what if upping and I'm definitely going to try the experiment again and see if it works again.
Mendhi Audlin 19:52
So let me ask you personally, as you've been in this "What If UP" world now for several challenges, what do you Feel is happening inside of you like what are some of the changes and some of the wins that you've been feeling and experiencing?
Kimberly Han 20:06
Growing up, I had parents that were very different. They're very wonderful people, both of them, but I have one parent who was very optimistic and one parent who is not very optimistic. And my optimistic parent died when I was 18. And I feel like since that time, my own, like, I kind of felt I was always half and half as part my mom part my dad and I was sort of altered when that happened. And I became a really pessimistic person. And I've been really down really depressed, I've had a lot of bad things happen in my life with some horrible surgeries, and just some other things too, and, and coming into The What If UP Club group, it allows me to have to be uplifted by other people. And to see that there are possibilities even on my bad days, and there are good things to to look at as not only just far off and on the horizon is something that I need to try and strive for. But even stuff in my everyday that's not as bad as I think it is. And I've noticed it's really put a shift in my, my thinking overall, even just going for a walk, I used to be in so much pain that I would I have to do it for my physical therapy, but I would grumble and I would be miserable. And now I I chant to myself, what little What if ups like, you know, what if I can make it to that stop sign, what if this is making my body stronger, and I've really noticed that I go further, I stay out longer. I feel better when I get home. Like it really just every little thing like that it just makes such a positive impact. So as
Mendhi Audlin 21:52
you think about your plant experiment, I mean any metaphors or any parallels that you see to just what you notice about our community and how people are growing.
Kimberly Han 22:04
I think there's a major parallel, I think it has to do with positivity isn't just to use your words, it's not just woowoo it's not just this concept that you can't, you can't actually Fathom it's a real physical thing. It physically changed my body, it physically changed the plants in the greenhouse. There's a real interesting science to it, that it definitely are the community and being in the community. And having all those what ifs showered on to me when we do circle up or different things. It's, it makes me feel like that plant I'm growing in my own way because of all of the positive energy being sent and showered on to me and definitely being a part of this community has made me grow a lot faster than I would have otherwise. That's for sure.
Mendhi Audlin 22:58
Thank you Kimberly, if you would like to connect with Kimberly and others like her in our What If UP community and to support the growth and expansion of this work, including this podcast, I want to personally invite you to join our What If UP Club at http://www.whatifup.com. As a member, you have access to our private discussion group on Facebook, as well as tons of other member perks. So check out what if up.com if you'd like to jump on board and be part of this movement that we're creating together?
What if this is the beginning of something amazing for you? What if these tools these processes these practices, give you the mental resilience to get through whatever challenge whatever adversity may be in your way? What if you actually step into this in a way that is fun and is joyful and creates fulfillment and connection in a way that you've never experienced before?
So I invite you this week episode one, identify a desire and after you write write it down, write down here's what I want. Then brainstorm, go for 10 See if you can cope with 10 What Ifs all of them What if up being positive possibility What if up your desire what if it's easy? What if it's fun? What if all the resources you need are right in front of you? And then let us hear how it goes for you. So thanks so much for joining us here in The What If UP Club I am Mendhi Audlin Until next time, dream big, love large and if you're going to what if what is up
