Transformations—Liberating and Unsettling
Freedom doesn't come from winning the game; it comes from realizing you don't have to play.
We are having one horrible week after the last weeks—here in America. Next week isn’t looking any better.
It’s hard to stay focused on writing for others when the newsfeeds and platforms are overloaded with multiple jaw-dropping threats and declarations from the Trump regime. Seven weeks of cruel and bonkers becomes an assault on the part of your brain that handles survival. If you make a fist and pound on one area of the body, the same spot, over and over, all day long, for seven weeks, that produces a horrible bruise, if not torn flesh and broken bones.
That’s what our brains are experiencing—some serious bruising in the mental area that takes care of security, which includes safety, connection, and self-esteem.
The good news is that we are not alone, and this is a global community. This became more than a newsletter the moment you subscribed and showed up in the comments and messages. The same Internet that has too much garbage and propaganda also carries wisdom, conversations with intelligent adults, and insights from thousands of professionals and writers on Substack.
Discovering Wout van Helvoirt in Ostrava, Moravia-Silesia, Czechia
From the beginning of his Substack in June 2023 as Mavericks Manifest, Wout van Helvoirt made clear his purpose for writing was only to serve as a breathing expression of Mavericks, the operational consulting and mentoring firm. His writing is like poetry, and every post is a production, like a tiny movie. At 31, Wout lives in the generation that grew up with online strategies and technology tools.
We trust you will find your reasons for becoming hooked on the Mavericks Manifest. Here’s my list of highest-value points I feel compelled to share with you, personally, plus the whole GPC Community.
Wout focuses on the gifted maverick mind. That attracted our favorite person and creator of three books for Your Rainforest Mind, Paula Prober, M.S. We agree strongly with Paula’s words from her lived experience: “Step up NOW to who you truly are. Yes, now. No time to waste. It is no longer appropriate to dilly dally.”
Wout’s writing is habit-forming because he seems to be speaking about things he’s experienced — and you have, too! He comes across as an old soul in a 30-something mind, which is a characteristic seen in millennials. Perhaps his past history as a business partner with his father Ron van Helvoirt, a specialist in giftedness, coaching, and holistic leadership, influenced how he shows up now with his own company. Ron’s Substack is Callosom Bridging Minds, and he uses the identity The Ferryman.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash The most noticeable element in the Mavericks Manifest is the absence of sales pages, product pitches, testimonials, and online business elements. The most commercial thing about Wout is his decision to use the Substack platform, which builds subscription defaults and prompts into every account. Like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, the most noticeable and significant clues are what is missing.
When asked about clients, Wout speaks in high-level language. He said, “If I were to ask a client to do one thing, it would be this: Turn off the computer, put away the phone, and step outside for a week. Spend time each day simply being present (observing, reflecting, and pondering). In the quiet moments away from screens and distractions, clarity often finds its way in. Nature has a way of grounding us, helping us reconnect with ourselves and the deeper rhythms of life. It's in these spaces of stillness that we often discover what truly matters.”
Wout’s writing makes you think while delighting with the visuals, the audio, and his questions for the reader to answer on their own.
Finding Our Way Back to the Other Side of the Brain
Before I started my deep dive into brain science after I turned 50, I learned as much as I could about creativity and communication. Everything fascinating and good about humans touches creativity, curiosity, communication, connections, community, and compassion.
In my consulting with more than 600 different professional associations and certification agencies for 40 years, I tested creativity in the worst of times and the best of times. Without exception, when your brain goes to worry, that shuts off creativity. How can you get out of danger or make any progress when you are feeling stuck or frozen like a deer in the headlights, waiting for impact? When someone threatens your job or income, that’s when you learn to shift your brain and unleash the power of creativity—finding solutions that were buried in your imagination and curiosity. “What if…?”
How do you get your brain to shift to creative, to the place where imagination, innovation, and yes—laughter, dominates? The first part is knowing you have total control to help your brain shift from 100% survival to an abundance of transformational options. The next part is to open up your thinking and get assistance from other humans who care about you—not the mean, stupid, cruel humans who would harm you. Assistance comes in books, articles, and in-person conversations.
Wout Words for Your Whole Brain
In the posts ahead, I will collaborate with Wout to cross-post his articles. Unique to Substack, one author can post the entire article of another Substack, so long as there is permission requested and granted. Those posts cannot be behind a paywall, and it’s up to me, the author bringing it to you, to say why—and what it has to do with the interests of our community of Gifted Professionals and Communicators.
For today, here’s a tiny sample of Wout posts that speak to our main topic of transformations, both liberating and unsettling.
Remembering... Understanding and breaking through the collective illusion of forgetting.
The beauty of this life? We are designed to help each other remember. That is the real purpose behind every act of love, every conversation that shifts something inside us, every moment of connection that feels larger than words. We do not learn alone. We awaken together. That is why true mentoring, true guidance, never feels like authority passing knowledge downward — it feels like two souls walking side by side, pointing out the landmarks they had almost forgotten.
Building a Life of Integrity In a world of compromise, wholeness of one's self is the ultimate rebellion in a governed society.
In the end, integrity is not just a moral ideal; it is a practical necessity. It is the glue that holds you together, the thread that weaves through the fabric of your life, giving it strength and coherence. Without integrity, you are adrift, tossed about by the whims of circumstance and the expectations of others. With it, you are grounded, centered, and whole. You become not just a participant in life but a creator of it.
The Paradox of Transformation Why growth can’t be forced, only remembered.
Transformation is not about being taught something new. It is about unlearning the forgetting. Beneath the noise of conditioning, beneath the doubts and distractions, every person already holds the wisdom they seek. True mentorship is not about filling an empty vessel with knowledge; it is about removing the barriers that keep a person from accessing what is already within them.
The Paradox of Knowing Everything and Understanding Nothing Why our age of information is starving for wisdom.
The real challenge of our time is not gathering more knowledge — it's learning how to weave that knowledge into a life worth living. That takes patience, effort, and a willingness to step beyond the endless stream of data to engage with something deeper. Because without wisdom, all our knowledge is little more than noise, filling the air but leaving us emptier than ever.
How to Get Rid of Parasites The brutal truth on society's decline. Why complacency feeds decay and action is the only cure.
So, what do you do with parasites? You don't tolerate them. You don't work with them. You remove them, just like pulling a tick out of your skin. Swiftly. Decisively. Without mercy. There's no room for half-measures or second chances. If you want to restore balance, you have to be the force that resets the scales. Not later. Not someday. Now.
The Modern Arena What ancient gladiators teach us about the true nature of freedom.
The gladiator's dilemma wasn't about survival; it was about belief. The same holds true today. Walking away from a toxic job, a bad relationship, or a limiting mindset feels impossible, not because it is but because the system teaches us to fear what lies beyond the walls of the arena.
Freedom doesn't come from winning the game; it comes from realizing you don't have to play. The door is wide open. The chains were never real. The question is whether we're ready to step out and leave the arena behind.
Do you feel like you're on the edge of something amazing, and you just can't figure out what it is? That's where I come in. My name is Georgia Patrick. I work with curious, intense, understanding professionals—still in practice and retired—to tap into their full potential and get extremely clear on their gift (their value) to individuals actively seeking such wisdom. It starts with an email. Maybe later, a short call to make sure I understand you.
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Well, WOW!!! This promises to be a symbiotic relationship of significant power and reach. Looking forward to further discussions.
Hi Georgia, thank you very much for featuring me and The Mavericks Manifest in this post — I truly appreciate it!
I’d like to suggest some additions and clarifications to the introduction section (in true Maverick style) to refine the tone. Take it as you like. My intention is not to present political or any other topics from a one-sided perspective — that would contradict the very essence of giftedness anyway. While I, like everyone else, hold personal and objective opinions, the essence of duality (as referenced in the subtitle) reminds us that taking sides is simply part of the game. However, duality itself is not about division or separation; rather, it is about wholeness.
Think of a coin — it will always have two sides. Therefore, what truly matters is its thickness, symbolizing the distance between opposing views and their connection to the center (singularity). The thinner the coin, the more aligned — not necessarily identical — both sides become. This is what the opposite-colored dots in the yin-yang symbol entail — inner wisdom of the other side.
We live in a time where this figurative coin is growing thicker by the day, making it harder to recognize that another perspective even exists. Yet, this very challenge provides an opportunity — every difficulty, every moment of being “beaten up” by the world allows us to perceive a glimpse of the other side. When we acknowledge this glimpse, it allows us to foster self-awareness, empathy, and, most importantly, a deeper connection with one another. But awareness is not about forcing minds to merge; it’s about breaking through the mind’s limitations and observing from a higher state of consciousness.
As the subtitle wisely states, it is the original duality of the universe — the very game we tend to play out of sync, imposing our own rules rather than aligning with the universe’s — that we must constantly remind ourselves to realign with — out of wholeness.
Again, I truly appreciate the feature and the space to share these ideas.
All the best — Wout