Unbreakable Dreams: The Tatyana Zbirovskaya Story.

Tatyana Zbirovskaya was born in the remote Siberian town of Biysk. The child of a poor, broken family, she was brought up by her grandmother.

She loved fairy tales and believed early on that she could accomplish anything she set her mind on. At eleven years old, on a whim, she made local news by swimming across the wide, ice-cold river. After finishing high school at sixteen years old, she took a plane to Moscow and applied to one of the Russia’s best acting academies and was accepted out of thousands of applicants. After receiving her Master’s in Arts, she was performing daily on the stages of Moscow's best and most popular theaters in front of thousands.

She was welcomed into the nation's artistic and intellectual circles. Her meteoric rise ended abruptly with the birth of her son who had a rare, incurable disease. Tatyana gave up her fairy-tale career and emigrated to the United States in order to give her son the best medical care. A complete nobody in the new world with barely any English, she held odd jobs and cared for the elderly to support her family. Her son died at nine years of age.

Tatyana had to start her life from scratch in New Jersey. She went back to school and learned computer science. A series of great corporate jobs as a programmer allowed her to move to New York City, where she also began to look for acting opportunities. Doing stand-up comedy around New York comedy clubs, she became a finalist in a Tristate Stand-Up Comedy competition. With time, she began to receive roles in television and movies and most recently, in the popular NBC series, Chicago Fire. She had a speaking part in the opera production, The Nose, by Shostakovich, at the magnificent New York Metropolitan Opera. A short film that she wrote, directed, and produced was accepted to “Short Films Corner” at the Cannes Film Festival. For three years in New York, she taught drama and creativity at the prestigious Pushkin Academy.

Tatyana believes that her ability to start her life from scratch and always succeed in things she sets her mind on is the result of Power of the Mind and Law of Attraction, which she has learned to appreciate. Willing to share her knowledge and experiences with others, she has started a production company to create educational, animated videos that would teach children and adults about the power they have inside them – the ability to create successful and joyful lives.

THE STORY Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. ~ Napoleon Hill

Some say I’m lucky, but I know the only luck I’ve had is realizing the power of my mind. Ever since I was a little girl reading fairy tales, I believed in miracles. Fear never even crossed my mind! I always strived for best thoughts, desires, and actions. It is this that has led me to the greatest people and events. It has always helped sculpt my life, guiding me from my small hometown in Siberia, snuggled up against the Altai Mountains, and into a magnificent life journey of self-discovery and seeking that which I viewed in my mind.

Today, people often enquire about how I’ve managed it all—the wonderful and the challenging. It seems almost impossible to the logical, processed mind to go from a relatively isolated area in the world where opportunity was given selectively to a country where I am today. It began with living by the Law of Attraction, even before I fully understood what it was or how it worked.

THE POWER OF ATTRACTION We’re all energy in this world, and the way we choose to think and process what happens to us is how we create the experience we have. To some, the Law of Attraction is spiritual nonsense. If this is your thought, I cannot change that. However, I take delight and optimism in extending you the challenge to think “what if”. It may change your life in a way you once thought was left for others, not you. In my life, it helped me in achieving that I once only envisioned, but always believed would happen.

I was born and raised in a remote Siberian town in the middle of the Cold War and a Communist Regime. I lived with my grandmother in a wooden house, without inside plumbing or television. She was a tailor and had only four years of education. We used a brick stove for cooking and heating, and shared the outhouse and the water pump with two other families. My parents split before I was born. My grandmother raised me because my mother served as a Navy Doctor on a vessel that traveled the world. I didn’t even meet her until I was six!

Everyone I knew was poor. Post-war Russia was a tough environment for most. I recall standing in the freezing cold winter for hours just to buy a small piece of bread. The only news was from Soviet newspapers such as Pravda. Like most, we’d lost family members to the political system and the war, and it created great hardship for everyone.

I had no siblings and no children of my age to play with. Older kids were often cruel to me; they weren’t evil, merely having a hard time … we all were. I instinctively understood them without judgment and empathized with everyone, regardless of their “faults”. I craved their acceptance. In return, people loved me back. My mindset of a happy child gave me the gift of a happy childhood.

I realized this ability to survive these tough times and process things differently came to me when I was focusing on what I want, and it felt good; everything would work out by itself, even if I didn’t know it was called the Law of Attraction.

MAKING THE MOST OF OUR MOMENTS

Why certain things come into our lives the way they do? When you breathe in and think about the moments of your life that make it up as a whole, do you see just those powerful, big, defining moments that shaped your journey? Or, do you see a combination of big, defining moments mixed with the little ones that really give you a complete picture?

Being open to how small occurrences help us grow allows us to expose ourselves to meaningful experiences. You cannot be so busy while looking for the mountain that you miss the diamond by your feet. As a kid, I loved dancing and gymnastics, but I could never do the full split. One night, I suddenly felt overwhelming knowledge that I could do it. I got out from under the warm blanket onto the freezing floor and did the splits, just like I’d always been able to. By morning, I couldn’t. My mind was no longer set the right way. I doubted myself, and I failed, but I remembered the feeling of power.

Another time, at age eleven in the first days of our short Siberian summer, I went to the beach along the river with two friends. The river still carried chunks of ice in it that flowed down from the Altai mountains. Most brave beachgoers only went in the water up to their waist, just long enough to urinate and retreat back to their towels. Not me, I wanted to see the other side. Suddenly, I absolutely knew I could swim across. And… I did! However, I didn’t take into account the troubles along the way, such as a strong current and a huge barge just about sucking me under. It was during this event that I realized that once in a while there is a difference between knowing you can do something and actually do it. Even if the barge hadn’t come along, that current was very challenging. But I did it!

Now, as I’ve grown wiser I spend more time understanding the nuances of the Law of Attraction, Quantum Physics, etc. I wanted to learn how to use this to create my future. Drawing from the experiences of my splits and the river, I recalled one thing they had in common—the feeling of power and knowledge I had. I started to experiment on how I could intentionally attract the experience

MY LUCKY POWER OF THE MIND

using the power of the mind. Here is one of many examples. I was overcome with the desire to ride a horse. There is something about being on the back of a beautiful horse, my face to the sun and feeling that freedom that comes with riding one that drew me in. I craved it.

I took only a minute to indulge in the thought of it, visually placing myself on that horse, petting its neck, feeling the sensations of riding it—the wind in my hair, the contentment in my heart, and the liberation of the experience—just like in movies. And I forgot about it.

The next day I was at the park where no horses were allowed. Suddenly, through the bushes, a rider in his hat on a horse appeared. It was like a fairytale. He stopped in front of me. “You can pet the horse,” he said. I was stunned. A few moments later, the horse, crossing a small bridge, unexpectedly stopped, and… deposited her droppings right in the middle of that small bridge. The man got off to clean it up.

I said, “Just yesterday I was dreaming about riding a horse.” “Did you?” he asked. “Well, hop on up.” Next minute I was riding the horse. Miracle?

But what about those big, defining moments?

I’ve always had a great passion to be a performer. Since kindergarten, I enjoyed reading and telling stories to kids, watching their jaws drop in amazement, and dreamt of becoming an actress. After finishing high school at sixteen years old, I defied my grandmother’s wishes, took a plane to Moscow and applied to Russia’s best acting academy. Without any friends or connections in the huge, strange city, I was a face in the crowd of thousands of applicants from across the Soviet Union. But my mind knew I had the power to succeed, and I’d learned not to doubt it. After months of competition, I became one of twenty finalists!

Now I lived in Moscow, the nation’s cultural center, learning the fine art of acting from the best professors our theatrical tradition had to offer. I was performing daily on the best stages in front of thousands and rubbed shoulders and became friends with outstanding creative talents. I even once performed in the Kremlin. It was a fairy-tale life that started with the power of my mind.

READY, SET, GO!

MY PURPOSE REVEALED

When one lives life fully, they cannot help but wish to pass that gift on to others. A time came when I wanted to bring a baby into the world—a boy or girl didn’t matter—but they would be the best and brightest, a miracle. I married a man that was smart, intelligent, and desirable in many ways. With him, I could have a child that would have all these strengths and creative genes in it.

It was then I learnt that some things cannot be controlled. My beautiful baby boy was born with a rare genetic disease. There was no cure; the doctors predicted four years of life for him in constant physical pain, followed by death.

I felt the earth burst into fire under my feet. I spent the following year living with my baby in various hospitals, as he was undergoing multiple life-threatening surgeries. In those corridors, I was just another anguished face in the crowd, among many other grief-stricken mothers. The pain and suffering in those halls was immense.

There were wonderful doctors in Russia, but no medicine or equipment to help my boy. Abandoning my acting career and moving where I could get help was a small price to pay for even a chance to save my boy. Miracles began to happen, and a year later I was settling in New Jersey, with nothing to my name and only some rudimentary English. I took odd jobs and cared for the elderly to support my family. It was hard, but I loved being in America. I felt so much compassion and love from everyone. So many Americans helped and welcomed us with open hearts. Of course, my son always attracted good vibrations everywhere we went. He was a funny and happy kid, sending kisses to everybody who asked, and even to those who didn’t.

American healthcare was able to add five precious years to my son’s life. Instead of only four years, he lived nine happy years – all of which I treasure. While I’d tried to prepare for his death, it hit me really hard. I was devastated. My life felt over. I’d also gotten divorced. I was alone. I thought I had nothing to live for anymore.

It took me time to get back on track, when I finally knew it was time to take action again. I went back to school, immersed myself in computer science and learned programming languages. My mind was set on becoming an independent professional, and I ended up having great jobs at several prestigious US companies, but eventually settling at NYU Medical Center to build databases for neuroscience research. I worked there with some of the most inspired and brightest scientists in the world. Another dream came true. That’s where I’ve learned a lot about our brain. Now that I lived in New York City, it reminded me of my dream of acting, which never faded. I had to pursue it. I worked during the day and rehearsed at night, but roles for Russian-speaking actors were few. I needed a different approach, so I began writing for myself and entered the stand-up comedy circle.

Soon I became a finalist in a Tristate StandUp Comedy Competition. This exposure led to some small roles, mostly in television and movies, and often alongside American greats. After taking filmmaking courses at NYU, I also wrote, directed, and produced a short feature that was accepted into the “Short Film Corner” at the Cannes Film Festival. Finally, I was offered a speaking role at New York Metropolitan Opera. I resigned from my programming job, which

I’ve learned to love, but it was time to move on. And NBC flew me to Chicago for a part in their popular TV series, Chicago Fire. Still, I felt there was more for me, and my heart began opening up to new opportunities. I was invited to teach drama and creativity at the prestigious Pushkin Academy in New York City. Being among these energetic and joyful children, who expressed their thoughts and feelings without reservation or judgment, was as educational and inspiring for me as my drama lessons were for them.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. ~ Buddha

Heartache and tough lessons are a part of life. Everyday, I know a little bit more about the power of the mind and using it to achieve success and attract opportunities. Embracing the lessons and experiences that rise up through the ashes of despair—much like a Phoenix is reborn—make the difference. People have more inner power than they realize; they just don't know how to open it up. You can start your life over at any time you desire, regardless of your age or circumstances.

When one lives life fully, one cannot help but pass that gift on to others. My son's life, though short, revealed to me the purpose of my own life. He gave me infinite amounts of love and joy the best way he could, and passed it on to others too. He taught me unconditional love. That was his life’s purpose and now it is my purpose to carry on.

Children are usually born with all the right mind powers; they are natural dreamers. They instinctively live like little superheroes until adults step in and suppress that. This can be reversed if adults relearn their powers from children. Some teach these principles through academic books. There is a lot of research done and many good books written on neuroscience, quantum physics, Law of Attraction, Power of the Mind, etc. I’ve learned a lot from these books, my studies and my personal experience. I would like to share my knowledge through visual examples, as well as life stories, activities, and dance.

We are defined by our thoughts. If you want your life to be a masterpiece, think of your thoughts as the strokes on its canvas. If you don’t like what you paint, you always can start your masterpiece again with a clean canvass.

What we think – matters! We’re like a radio station. Positive signals generate a positive feedback, while broadcasting misery attracts even more misery.

The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov penned: “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” In English, this concept is known as, “Show, don’t tell!” This inspires my latest project, a production company that makes educational, animated videos introducing children to the Power of their mind and how to utilize the Law of Attraction in a clever, fun way. If children would retain this power and teach adults about it, imagine what our world could become . . .