Dear Friends:
This month’s Museletter is a powerful and personal reflection from our friend and Mystery School student Derek Selinger. It’s a story of near-miraculous beginnings, lost dreams, rediscovered purpose, and the enduring magic of grace, mentorship, and community. Derek invites us to consider where our dreams begin, how they grow, and what it means to dream again. His journey reminds us that no matter where we are, it’s never too late to ask, “What if?”
Seeds
From a young age, I had a sense that there would be something I would be good at. I began to dream all kinds of dreams…of what I could do or who I could be. I think my awareness of this as a young kid stemmed from a near death experience – my mother was electrocuted (shocked) when she was pregnant with me. I should not have survived. I’m grateful I did, and that the repercussions of this trauma have been limited. But I can clearly recall my mom telling me about this when I was eight years old, and this knowledge created within me the desire to find “my path.”
Through high school I tried many things. From athletics to academics, I was trying to find the thing that sang to me – the area where I could invest my life and energy. Many of these early dreams died. But as I found out, dreams are like seeds, and some don’t sprout and grow until they die. I worked and sought for my path until one day…I met Jeff McBride.
Luck
They say that luck is where opportunity and preparation intersect. And I think that is mostly true. But I think there is a third element, which I will touch on in a moment.
I met Jeff McBride at a teaching session the day following his performance in Edmonton, Alberta. I believe the session cost one hundred dollars. At the time that was a lot of money for me, so I was determined to get the most out of it. I arrived at the room early and discovered a long boardroom table where we would all sit. I put the most comfortable chair at the head of the table and sat next to it. Whenever anyone tried to sit in that spot, I told them it was Jeff’s chair. And sure enough, Jeff came in and sat in my reserved spot for him.
Jeff was early as well. He turned to me and began to ask me about myself. When I told him I did some close-up, he said “show me something.” With shaking hands, I performed Triumph. Jeff, ever gracious, gave me some pointers and suggested I bring it to life with a story. Something clicked in my head, and in that moment I began to see the art differently. At the end of the session, Jeff invited me to a Master Class in Las Vegas. I was dumbfounded. Me? I…I mean…me?
And this leads me to the third part of luck. You see, the next day I told a friend of this invitation, and how honored I was to receive it. I confided that I would turn it down because I wasn’t good enough yet. “Maybe next year, after I practice,” I said. And my friend called me…an idiot. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and if you don’t take it, you will regret it the rest of your life!” they said. So I went.
You see, the other part of luck is grace. It’s community. It’s belief. That word from my friend gave me the courage to go to Las Vegas, and that is where the dream came alive.
Nurture
That first Master Class was a blur. Eugene Burger, Lance Burton, Mac King, and of course, Jeff McBride himself. I learned so much. But the biggest gift I received was that I saw the possibility. I remember sitting by Tobias and journaling after a session, and it hit me. “I can do this! This is it!” And I didn’t look back.
I developed an act to compete with. I won some nice awards at CAM, SAM, and the People’s Choice at I.B.M. This led to performances in Vegas and Europe. I was on Le Grande Cabaret in France and on cruise liners. Eventually I mounted my own show tours with “Beyond,” “Selinger’s Wonder” and “The Gift.”
An amazing moment was performing on Penn and Teller: Fool Us. What a thrill to present my unique take to a classic plot with an underlying message of the power of decisions. It was a break I was waiting for. Everything was starting to happen. We were having conversations with producers in America. Another couple of TV shows came calling, and it looked like everything was about to blow wide open. Then the world stopped.
Dream…Again
The great shutdown killed a tour and lost me a lot of money. All these new contacts and opportunities were put on hold. And I wondered, now what? I began to reinvent myself as a trusted advisor on storytelling with various entrepreneurs and brands. Jeff and I continued to meet monthly to work on magic and direction. And one day a new dream began to form.
I wrote a show that was designed for only a dozen people. It was magic and storytelling and human connection. We began to put it into the world, and it is now pretty much all I do as a performer. This exclusive experience was born out of pain and trial and persistence and belief. I got lucky again.
You see, I was able to dream this new dream in large part because of who I surrounded myself with. My wife Cora is incredible. And I had the great blessing of having Jeff and a few others speak into my life so I could outlast the dark period and dream again.
Steal Back Your Dreams
The culmination of these experiences along with many others compelled me to pursue the TEDx stage. I wanted to talk about dreaming and dreaming big. This was in part because I know that so much meaning comes from intentional dreaming, but I also believe that the more people that dream… the better the world becomes.
I was selected and closed the TEDx event in Cape May, New Jersey with a talk on how to dream. The talk included a lottery prediction which was super fun and drove a point home. The TEDx talk began a domino effect where I was being seen as an expert on what it means to dream. Many podcasts and other opportunities later I wrote a book, The Dream Thief.
The book is a culmination of my lived experience, observations and research into an allegorical story and process that anyone can implement to dream again. There is even an Ultimate Flashback opportunity in it, for those who perform that trick. Even if you don’t get the book, I want to spend a paragraph encouraging you. Your dreams matter. You matter. Your magic matters.
I think that one of the things that can really harm us is when we compare our dreams with what others dream. If I looked at the path of David Copperfield, I would be ever-disappointed with my journey. But my dreams are different from his. And your dreams are different from mine. The way you create, the way you perform, and the way that you want to express yourself in this art is different. And isn’t that wonderful?
Like learning a double lift or a retention vanish, dreaming is a skill. It follows a technique. This methodology can be learned and practiced and perfected. It is not for the few. It is for us all. It is for you. So, if nothing else, please take away the encouragement to ask a meaningful question that you will find the answer to. Ask “What if?” and see it where it takes you. And remember the third part of “luck”? It is opportunity and preparation, yes, but it is also grace and community.
I wouldn’t be here without those that believed in me. I would not be the magician and communicator and dreamer without my good friend and coach and mentor Jeff McBride.
And for that…I am just…grateful.
Derek Selinger
derekselinger.com