Mark Henson Mark Henson, an author and founder of Sparkspace, joins Tonya Dawn Recla to explore super human powers and ordinary superpowers. His ordinary superpowers are exploring new ideas, simplifying things and sharing insight through writing and speaking. In addition to leading his team and writing books, he also conduct retreats, present at conferences and coach people who want to get more fully engaged with life and work. He also help ordinary people to wake up to how powerful they are. Listen in as he shares his deep wisdom regarding super human powers.

Hello everyone, this is Tonya Dawn Recla, your Super Power Expert. And I have such a fun guest with us today. This is like, anyway. I can just kind of see the sparks and the collision or energy in all of the fun like … What’s that called? Like a supernova happening between us.

But we’re talking today with Mark Henson, who just happens to be the author of a book called Ordinary Superpowers: Unleash the Full Potential of Your Most Natural Talents. Truly match made in heaven here folks. This is gonna be a fun dialogue. But he happens to be the Chief Imagination Officer of SparkSpace. So you can … You know you see where we’re going with this guy. This is a guy who likes to play in the world.

And so he helps people unlock their superpowers, right. I don’t know if he uses the same terminology, but essentially very much in alignment with our mission here at Super Power Experts. So I’m really excited about the synergy between us, and the fact that he’s out doing his work in the world. And how complementary it is to ours. And so, I trust that this conversation’s gonna be a lot of fun.

So, Mark, welcome to the show.

Thank you. This is one of the most exciting shows for me to be on because it just so closely aligns with everything that I do. So I’m super happy to be here.

Very cool. You know we made the show for you, really. I mean we’ve just been waiting for you to find us, and …

That’s right. The stars aligned and here we are.

So I’m really excited about two things. I’m excited about the topic we’re gonna talk about today, superhuman powers. And I’m really excited about the topic of your book, Ordinary Superpowers because I’m sure just like us, you get the question a lot like, “What do you mean superpowers?”

But before we dive into that, I’m just gonna tease you all with that little tidbit. We are gonna make sure to ask Mark our quintessential question of what are your superpowers?

Well, if I can’t answer that, then nobody can, right? I mean I …

Perfect.

My superpower is exploring the new.

I better have an answer for that right off the bat. So my superpowers are exploring the new, is the way I describe it. So I love to explore new ideas, new physical places. That includes everything from travel to brainstorming, to meeting new people. I just love exploring the new.

I love to simplify things. So taking complex things and dumbing them down, mostly so that I can understand them. And then I’ve also found that that really helps other people as well. And that’s … I have a whole background in writing and copywriting, and a lot of things that really played into that superpower.

And then the final superpower is communicating through writing and speaking. So the combination of those three things is kind of what led me to write the book, but I find them playing out in my life over and over, and over.

And then I have a fourth one that actually came up while I was writing this book as I was exploring deeper and deeper into my own superpowers. I recognize that I had one that I’ve had my whole life that I just, I never fully recognized. And that was I include the unincluded. I hate for anybody to be outside the circle. And so I will reach out and pull people into a conversation. Or if I’m at a party, and I see people that are on the outside, I try to bring them in because I just, I personally hate that feeling myself. And so, I really go out of my way to make sure that nobody else feels that way too.

So those are my top four.

Mark, I don’t know why we’re not just working together. One of our core values is inclusion. And so I love that you brought that up. And again, I think that is, and I don’t know that we should even share this secret with the world, but I think that is the true beauty and power behind the dialogue of superpowers. It feels like this great equalizer.

I’ve talked to so many amazing people on this show. And some of them extremely successful in the material world. And others who are just blossoming into that. But when you start asking people, “What are your superpowers?” And they’re like, “I might have superpowers.” It’s like we all turn into little kids again going, “Really? Like for real? Can I say this? Like is this okay?”

But I think that’s really the connecting thread in a lot of this. And of course, we have DC Comics and Marvel to thank for that, a little bit. You know they’ve marketed for us for the next couple decades.

Exactly.

You know, so there is something magical that occurs in that dialogue. And I don’t know, we may be a little bit more woo-woo on our side of the side house than you might be, but when you start talking about exploring the new, do you limit that to what you see here in the physical reality? Or do you do more spiritual metaphysical exploration as well?

Wow, and that’s a really good question. I think it depends on what you define as that spiritual metaphysical thing. Because thought, in one sense, is more of a spiritual activity than a physical activity, right. So when I talk about exploring the new, a lot of that has to do with exploring new thinking. New ways of thinking. Exposing myself to lots of different types of philosophy as well as worldviews and all kinds of stuff.

So do I take it to the sort of supernatural realm? I think I dabble in that. I don’t … You know, I wouldn’t say I’m kind of in it with both feet. But certainly, I try not to shut anything off. You know, as somebody with a pretty hardcore conservative upbringing, I consider myself very liberal in my thinking and my openness to what’s possible, and what could be true in the universe.

I feel that as well. And it’s interesting because most of the people we attract here on this show, and the clients that we work with, or whatever, considered change agents. And I get the sense that the majority of us are also bridges. And so, in our own way, we’re bridging worlds. And some coming from the counter-intel world and the military world, I didn’t stumble into the more woo-woo metaphysical spiritual stuff. Like it was kind of kicking and screaming along the way.

But most of the people we work with have this kind of real rooted aspect of it. So it doesn’t surprise me that you give voice to this conservative upbringing. And as you’re stretching into this newer space, and I think we all temper on verbiage and our approaches, based on the people that we work with, and the ones that we help.

And so if you tend to help an audience … And I want to take a pause really quickly. This is really important for everyone listening because I know we attract all these people who have heard the calling. They know they’re gonna change the world. They’re here to have an impact.

I think one of the bravest things any of us can do is truly speak to the people we know we can help. And it’s challenging, especially in the entrepreneurial sector because we have this tendency to want to help everybody and not limit our market space. But in limiting it, and being completely and utterly true to it, you exponentially increase your ability to contribute, as well as your profitability and everything else. It’s quite the opposite of it, or counter-intuitive to what we typically believe.

And so what you’re saying I think is so powerful. The superpower conversation can go in so many directions. And for you to kind of just come out and say these are ordinary things, you know. But it’s like making the ordinary extraordinary. You know, and that’s a powerful dialogue.

Absolutely. I mean that was the underlying base that’s for the idea here, was that some of us truly are blessed with what I call supernatural superpowers. You know, those people that just for whatever reason, can sing like an angel. Those people that have the ability to understand math at a level that the rest of us just never will. Those types of abilities truly are supernatural. They’re like the finger of God reached down and touched you on the forehead when you were a baby, kind of thing. And you just came out with abilities that the rest of us don’t have.

For most people, I found that they don’t feel like they have an ability like that. Most people don’t feel like they have anything super special about them. And so this idea of ordinary superpowers, to me, is the idea that we all have a unique set of abilities, talents, skills, whatever you want to call them, and especially when used in combination, those top two or three talents, or abilities, or skills make you pretty special even though you might not recognize it.

And the reason why I call it ordinary superpowers is because these are our most powerful talents. Our most powerful natural talents that maybe we’ve added some development to along the way. But because they’re so natural to us and to who we are, we don’t see them as special. Everyone around us does, but we don’t. And so that’s why I call them ordinary superpowers. To us, they just feel ordinary. It’s just who we are, how we role, what we do every day.

And we take them for granted

Exactly.

Here at Super Power Experts, we talk a lot about the differences between predisposed superpowers and unique superpowers. You know the predisposed superpowers are some of those traits and abilities. We have a little bit of more of a non-conservative leaning on them, like things like mind reading, and psychic ability, and empathy, and stuff like that, because I find that a lot of people have those abilities also, and we don’t know what to do with them. And we don’t recognize them either. And we often run amok trying to figure out why certain things aren’t working really well. Because most of the times, they present challenges until we identify them and really learn how to work with them. At least the folks that we attract. But I can see the same on the more, if you will, a practical application like you mentioned, like being really good at math. Or maybe you’re just really good at leading people. Well, that presents its own challenge. Where are you leading them? And what are you leading them to? And why you? And all these other things.

And so, I don’t think it matters whether we’re talking about some of the more sensational superpowers or the more mundane if you will. ‘Cause that’s how a lot of people look at them. To me, it’s all the same. And this packaging of skillsets and traits that you have made you who you are, and that special. And how are you gonna use those, and what are you gonna do with them, I think is a big part of the dialogue right now.

Well, you mentioned earlier about how we’re all sort of here to change the world kind of idea. And I think sometimes that I know there are a lot of people that would love to make their dent in the universe, to change the world for the better, all of those things. But that’s an awful lot of pressure too. To feel like, “That’s what I need to do. That’s what I feel like I’m here to do. But I don’t know how. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Or I don’t know … I don’t even think I have the power to do it.”

I just need to change my world.

And so, I kind of back off from that a little bit. Like I believe in that, don’t get me wrong, but I back it up a little bit to say, “Look, I don’t have to change the world. I just need to change my world.” You know, if I use my powers to affect positive change in my family, in my friends, in my company, in my community, the ripple effect of that will go far beyond what I ever even see. And therefore, I’ve changed the world, and I just didn’t even know it.

Yeah, it’s so funny. Like we go around and round, and I think it’s different for different people. There are of folks who presenting that viewpoint creates a sigh of relief. And there’s who you present that viewpoint and it’s like death. It’s like you just condemned them to hell. Because that’s what drives them, you know. And I know for one, I’m that type of person, where it’s like if you had come to me and said that when I was really embarking on this and wondering if I could commit to it years ago. And there were people who were like, “Well you don’t have to do that.” Like it’s a lot of pressure. That whole dialogue, and I … It literally made me feel like I was trapped.

And you know, so I think it’s important on a lot of levels to say it’s all true. Like that’s all fine. You know, different people go on to paralysis for different reasons, at different times. But ultimately what you’re speaking is pure truth in the sense that, that really is the only way to change the world, ironically.

You know, but I could not have heard that at that point in time when I was making that decision. I had to believe that it was my mission, and my mission alone to go out and change the world, or I don’t know that I would have taken a step forward.

What made you feel trapped about that? When you use that word, that sounded like … That’s a pretty powerful word to use.

Yeah. I think for me, whatever it was that I designed myself with to motive me into action, it had to feel significant. And I wasn’t, at that moment in time, I wasn’t significant enough for that. I think over time, I can see how the interlacing happens and recognize exactly what you’re speaking of, which is, it is a very internal game. And it’s only from that internal space that it comes out. But it just wasn’t gonna be enough to change me. I needed to know that in changing me, it was gonna do this, this, this, this. And ultimately lead to that.

And I think some of it is the messaging. Like I’ve always been in really close communion with God, and my higher aspects. And so, some of it was just taking up the torch on that, if you will, and committing to that above all else.

So perhaps, it just comes down to different journeys for different people. Or different messaging at different times. I don’t know.

Sure. Well and I’ve known people, and you probably have too, that truly believe, and I believe that they were called to do something significant. And they do it. You know, they step up. They take a swing at it. And they make that dent, that gigantic dent in the universe.

But you know, with 7 billion people on the planet, I don’t know if everybody’s hearing that kind of loud, clear voice from God saying, “Go do this thing.” Right. So when that voice isn’t present for you, then what do you do? You know. That’s why I always felt trapped, was that feeling like, oh I haven’t heard that voice. So what do I do in the meantime? Do I sit around and wait for it, and sit cross-legged and chant until I hear it. Like what does it do?

Or was that even the goal? Like I think that’s a valid question too. It’s like if you haven’t had heard that voice, it doesn’t mean somehow you’re lacking or you’re just not developed enough. I think that we all have the ability to do amazing things. And there is an impact. You know, perhaps for me, it was a simple matter of ego, at first, to be able to say that’s what needed to get said initially to motive me into action.

But regardless, I’m a big fan of questioning anything that we take on as this kind of cart Blanche reality. And I don’t find that all. I’ve seen too many versions of reality at this point to make that claim.

So I think it’s worth just to go, “What if I don’t want to?” What if I just don’t. And trust me I had those moments too. Like no thanks, you know.

People do that on all kinds of scales too. It’s not just, “Hey I feel called to go make … To solve world hunger.” But also people that I feel pulled to use some of the talents and abilities that I have, and I don’t necessarily want to do that either. And it’s much less at stake. There’s much less at risk and I still don’t to do it.

So you know, every hero’s journey has that sort of call to adventure that’s met with resistance by the hero. And that’s where every origin story of every superhero comes from, where it’s like, where they finally figure out, “Holy crap, I have power now. I didn’t ask for it. This is not what I wanted.” And they have to …

Thanks and no thanks.

Yeah. They have to come to that conclusion of like, okay, well. The truth is I have a power, you know. Now the choice is, what do I do with it.

Ooh, beautiful. You know with great power comes great responsibility. You know, you and I could probably geek out on all the superpower stuff for quite a while. But we’re gonna take a quick break. I’m sure that you all are enjoying the conversation. There’s lots of yummy goodness to be had here in this dialogue.

We’re talking with Mark Henson about superhuman powers. When we come back, I really want to get at that differentiator. Like the ordinary, the human kind of aspect, and see if we can pull back the layers on some of the questions people have about superpowers. So stick with us, and we’ll be right back. Find out more about Mark Henson at markhenson.me.