"Growing Up in Wings..."

Dave Larson - 1997 True Colors Grad, 2005 P.E.S. Grad

Wings Seminars has been a constant thread in my family for as long as I can remember. My uncle initially introduced my parents and his entire business to Wings about 20 years ago, and within a couple of years, Kris King was coming to our family reunions to run individualized sessions. I was about 5 years old at the time, and though I didn't fully understand what was going on, something felt good and right.

About five years later I remember going to my older sister's True Colors graduation ceremonies and was surprised and a bit uncomfortable at all the crying and smiles that happened there. I didn't know what to make of it all. Teenagers at my school didn't cry and hug each other-something weird must have been happening here! As I approached my own teenage years, my parents nudged me towards going to True Colors myself, and as I knew this had become somewhat of a rite of passage in my family, I agreed, expecting to "put up with it" for a week.

I was blown away by my first Wings seminar-True Colors in the summer of my thirteenth year. The experience redefined my understanding of the world around me. I experienced levels of aliveness and intimacy and joy beyond what I had conceptualized as possible. Indeed, I felt more connected to and more understood by those other participants than with friends I had for years. I was excited about life and enthusiastic to explore its boundaries, to play with the adventure that is my life!

Brimming with enthusiasm, I invited my cousins and friends to come, and even arranged a presentation of everything I learned (complete with handouts, processes, and all!) for my family reunion. I continued to go back to True Colors every year, and as I grew old enough, started attending the Advanced True Colors Seminar.

As I faced the plethora of challenges that the typical teenager confronts, I was so grateful to have had the tools I learned at Wings. The seminars gave my family a common language, which we used to deeply connect with each other and support each other in doing exactly what we want.

As I went through college, I continued going to the seminars on the Assist Teams-finding the experience of being in service even more valuable than being a participant. I craved and thirsted for the connection with myself and others that I experienced at Wings and so I not only committed to doing a week of personal development work at least once a year, but also started "The Brown Sangha Club" at my University. Kris would email me various processes and questions we could use and we met weekly to support each other in living the lives of our dreams.

After college, my experiences with Wings have grown and grown. I've enjoyed PES several times (once with my girlfriend!), crossover with my sister, and I've just finished Lifeworks with my parents! Together, we use the tools we have learned at Wings to get the connection, the clarity, and the unreasonable happiness that we want in life.

Now at 23, ten years after my first seminar, I am clear that the work of Wings-the deepening and development of human consciousness-is perhaps the most important work that can be done in service to the world. Each time I attend a seminar, I am amazed by the magnificence of each and every individual-the beauty, and aliveness, and potential that exists in everyone without exception. Wings provides not only the tools, but the lived experience of what it feels like to be truly alive, and it holds open an enticing door for the participants-a door that, if we choose to walk through it, leads to the active manifestation of the world we all dream of.

I feel profoundly grateful for the people and events that have led to me growing up with Wings as a part of my daily life. Having had this experience that so few get to have, I feel a deep sense of responsibility to model what I have learned in my daily life and to support others when they are ready to take the plunge into self-discovery.