Don't Dream It's Over: Playing With the World, Even After We're Gone

A reflection from this week's episode of In the Cards with the Viberarian — watch the full live here 🎥

Some readings start before you ever touch the deck.

That's exactly what happened in this segment of the live. Before I even picked up my cards, the algorithm had already started the message for me — and the unfolding of the bigger picture truly shifted me in real time.

The Algorithm or the Universe?

A few days ago, YouTube served me a video of a young guitarist covering Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over." His name was Ibarra II — Ivan Lacson, a self-taught musician from the Philippines — and his playing stopped me in my tracks. It had the feel of old YouTube: someone just showing up to share what they loved, not performing for an algorithm, just connecting. The song he was playing took me back to my high school prom era, the late 80s.

‍ ‍🎸 Watch Ibarra II's cover of "Don't Dream It's Over" 🔗 Visit his channel, Ibarra II (The Second)

I subscribed right away, wanting to go back through his catalog. That's when I read it in the comments: Ibarra II had passed away just weeks before I found him. He'd released an original song compilation not long before he died, and the love that poured out afterward was its own kind of proof of what he started — musicians from all over the world began posting their own versions of one of his compositions, each one playing it in their own style, their own voice, but carrying his melody forward. Eighteen minutes of people all over the planet, continuing what he started, united by their love of guitar, and uniting us all in appreciation.

🌍 Watch the full tribute compilation

That's what we're doing whenever we step into our own creative force — co-creating with spirit, contributing something that ripples outward long after we've set it down.

‍ The Card That Confirmed It‍

In this segment, I was reading from Shannon Kaiser's Find Your Happy Daily Mantra Deck — and the card I pulled was #56, "I Play with the World."

‍(Affiliate link coming soon — I'll drop it right here once it's live. In the meantime, you can find the deck through Shannon Kaiser's site.)

The message was perfectly aligned - the world is meant to be a playground, not a waiting room. We're not here to sit back and hope things happen to us — we're meant to chase what genuinely lights us up, not for achievement, but for the simple joy of it. Other people may call your dreams silly. Let those opinions go. You're the one in the driver's seat.

‍It tied straight back to Ivan. He wasn't covering songs to go viral or to be the most technically perfect player on the internet. He played because he loved it, and that authenticity is exactly what let his frequency keep moving through the world after he was gone — through the people who knew him in real life, and through total strangers like me who only found him through a recommendation algorithm.

Transitions Aren't Endings

This is the piece I kept coming back to on the live: when something — or someone — transitions, it isn't a dimming. It's not over. Ivan's experience of this version of life ended, but his contribution didn't. It just changed shape. That's the deeper truth under "I play with the world" — we're all part of one connected, creative whole, and what we put into it keeps moving long after our part in it shifts.‍ ‍

Your Turn to Play

‍ ‍If this stirred something in you, I'd love for you to:

‍ ‍🎧 Watch Ibarra II's tribute cover and feel that authenticity for yourself

🌍 Watch the 18-minute tribute compilation of musicians from around the world amplifying his beautiful frequency and soul song

📺 Watch the full "In the Cards with the Viberarian" live for the complete reading and everything else we covered that day

The world is your playground and it is Summertime -time to GO! Play, Create and LIVE!