Inspired Evolution with Amrit Sandhu 🙏🏻

Our guest for this week is Zachariah Fisher, educator, visionary and founder of “Peace Guardians”.

About Zachariah

Zachariah has always been drawn to mentorship and education. He recognizes that this desire to establish a connection through teaching and mentorship has followed him ever since he was a baby. His father tragically died in a helicopter accident when Zachariah was only 10 months old and he explains that is why he has always felt a gap in his heart.

This yearning for connection and a “big brother” approach to teaching led him on a path of coaching youth sports. Ever since 2015, he’s been organizing educational, sporting and nature events for children. He realized he had found his calling and quit his corporate job in order to pursue his passion for inspiring youth around the world to follow their bliss.

Later that year, he founded “Peace Guardians”, a holistic peace education movement that provides opportunities for children and youth to learn, grow and develop leadership skills. The organization was founded on the shared vision of certified youth educators, parents, community leaders, entrepreneurs and artists coming together to empower our future generations. Their mission is to provide world-class training, tools, and support for future leaders so they can become ambassadors of peace for themselves, their communities, and the world.

They’re currently running a GoFundMe Campaign so if you want to contribute to youth development feel free to check out their page here!

Zachariah has also invented a sport called KinFlow which fuses mindfulness and fitness. It inspires collaboration, develops teamwork skills and it’s an ideal activity for young, developing minds.

Connect with Zachariah:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SpiritDanceLA?ref=br_rs
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachariahfisher/
• Website: https://peaceguardians.org/

In This Episode We Canvas:

• Making a "Choiceless Choice"

We ease into our conversation by going over Zachariah’s shift from living the corporate life in sales to discovering his purpose in educating children. When you make out what your life’s calling is, you will inevitably be drawn to it in a natural way, both organic and energetic. To an extent, deciding to follow your one true passion in life a “choiceless choice” which also has elements of “taking the leap” and “letting go”.

“When something becomes a very clear signal that’s undeniable, your entire being is moving in that direction, then you have to follow that! To create a life around that! To me… first, it was like, hope and then it became faith and then it became trust and then it became knowing.” - Zachariah Fisher

• Reexamining Your Mindset to Overcome Challenges

Recalling the words of Einstein on the relationship between problem-solving and mindset, Zachariah exposes one of the underlying mechanisms of personal progress.

“My way, is it bringing me fulfillment? Is it bringing me happiness? Is it uplifting others around me? And if the answer is no, then it’s really, going back to the drawing board and erasing the drawing board. Unwinding and unlearning… The keywords here are humility, vulnerability, listening, surrender, action.” - Zachariah Fisher

• Why Are Children Our Best Teachers?

Zachariah opens up to us about one of the most rewarding aspects of working with and educating children. Children are constant reminders of how we need to approach exploring the world around us. We dive deep into the values of non-linear, divergent thinking and organic learning.

“Children are the teachers for me. For me in particular, they’re really my guru in many ways. Because they move about the world organically, through play… Even Einstein had thought experiments, those non-linear thought forms that just pierce through the veil of linear thinking so it does require just a real, open mind of wonder, curiosity, and awe.” - Zachariah Fisher

• The Universal Nature of Creativity

Can people truly be uncreative? We’ve all had that discussion and I’m sure you’ve met someone claiming that they don’t have a creative bone in their body. Zachariah argues that creativity an innate capacity embedded in all of humanity. Some might forget they have the gift but a part of the journey is figuring out the things that actually bring our creative potential to the surface.

“We are all born creative. We’ve come out and we’re just natural explorers… We all have our own unique curiosities and gifts. One of the reasons why I’m passionate about working with children is because you have a real opportunity in those formidable years to have them feel confidence and anchor in that creativity for their lifetime.” - Zachariah Fisher

• The Relationship Between Play and Flow

We started discussing flow and it was a very humbling experience to find how much Zachariah enjoyed our episode with Steven Kotler. As a fan of flow, Zachariah explains why he thinks it can and should be one of the focal points of discussion when we’re considering the education of our children.

“I’m so fascinated by flow… The prefrontal cortex goes radio silent, we don’t measure time in the same fashion, we don’t measure our self-identity… and from that place, all magic occurs… It’s literally a different perception of reality when you’re in flow and children in play are a perfect embodiment of flow. A creative child is a child in flow.” - Zachariah Fisher

• Inventing the Sport Called KinFlow

Zachariah goes over what inspired him to develop a sport that would provide children with a new and exciting experience while creating an opportunity for them to develop both physically and mentally with a focus on collaboration rather than competition.

“Over time and repetition, a polished game was created… To me, the whole essence of it was ‘How do we keep flow as the pedestal?’, as the measurable outcome as compared to ‘I won, you lost, I’m better, you’re worse’, hyper-competition, old paradigm thinking… “ - Zachariah Fisher

• Learning and Growing from Pain

We discuss the aspect of pain and experiencing adverse situations that contain the potential for personal growth. Even though it’s common sense that we should tend to avoid pain and suffering, it’s painfully obvious that it’s not something we can do for an entire lifetime. It’s important to reframe these experiences and accept that they are important to us when considering the bigger picture. Their value lies in the fact that adverse situations along with the pain that they cause us, are valuable opportunities to better ourselves.

“Pain is our greatest teacher in many ways… You see this quite a bit as people have a traumatic experience as a youth and then… their purpose in life is to help others not experience that. Ultimately I think that’s what makes a hero. It’s somebody that knows that their life isn’t just about them and is using their pain as fuel to help others.” - Zachariah Fisher

Zachariah’s Message of Inspired Evolution

The opportunity to talk to people who have discovered their purpose and are wholeheartedly pursuing it is one of many gifts the Inspired Evolution podcast has given me. Zachariah is all in and I’m absolutely inspired by his work. Raising the next generation of leaders is a noble cause to dedicate your life to, and I’m just so glad that he went for it because you can tell it’s his greatest passion. I truly hope his story will inspire others to pursue their passion as well.

“As long as you’re connected to your drive and your passion… you don’t have to have the whole picture figured out.” - Zachariah Fisher