Selfconnectedness

[Music]

it’s really a great honor for me today

to conclude this

this day and i hope that all of you

watching

from the comfort of your homes you were

able to

live this is a unique experience you

heard amazing

ideas you heard compelling stories

and i hope that this day has sparked

some emotions with you

and you are able to feel inspired

i would like to tell you an episode from

my childhood

when i was 10 years old i was about to

take my longest trip ever

moving from one continent to another

with my entire family

as we were following my father’s career

for me it was very exciting because for

the first time

i had my own passport to travel with

which

believe me at that time felt like really

being a grown-up

i could also feel the anticipation of

what it would be like to live in a

completely new

environment so of course there was a lot

of things going on at our house

as we’re preparing to pack and to leave

and to fly from the eastern coast of

africa

all the way to a small country in europe

for me however

the only concern was to pack all my

drawings

and then my mother came to me and she

said you don’t need them you will make

some new ones

i was devastated that was the most

important thing for me

i had even won a contest or perhaps i

came in second sometimes my memory of

that episode is a bit blurry

the fact is i had won a small trophy

so today when i look back at that

episode i do get my mother’s point

i was a child i had the future ahead of

me

i could do or create anything i wanted

and that is exactly what we say about

children they can do anything they want

for a long time i have been wondering

why we barely say the same thing about

ourselves

once we become adults now this will come

with no surprise at all to tell you that

the older we get the less we let

ourselves

feel every emotion the lead the less we

let ourselves

be unfortunately this has a major

influence on our aspirations

and oftentimes on our health

i would like to take you through my

experience

in addressing this issue i would like to

share with you today

how it’s important and powerful to be

connected to one’s emotions consciously

because this enables every individual

to achieve anything they have the

potential for

and this is key for two reasons the

first one is that

we usually let our thoughts

guide us through life as opposed to what

we feel

and the second reason is that we tend to

educate children in this direction as

well

now speaking about emotions let’s take a

look at happiness

have you ever asked yourself among those

in your surroundings

how many take joy in what they do

do you know how many people proactively

choose to be happy in their workplace

throughout the years i listened and and

watched people around me and i

encountered people who were afraid

to act upon their aspirations people who

locked themselves in jobs

that clearly did not suit them

when in fact happiness is considered to

be a driver of performance and success

this is the complete opposite of the

common

belief that becoming successful

will ultimately allow us to find

happiness

as a matter of fact it’s the other way

around happiness fuels success

when you’re happy you focus on

positivity in any given situation

you put your energy where it matters

which means that

you’re much more likely to succeed at

whatever you do

that is part of so-called positive

psychology

whereby you prime your brain with happy

thoughts

and did you know that our brains are

hardwired to perform at their best

when they’re positive not when they’re

neutral not when they’re negative but

when they’re positive

now add to this research has shown that

you can move your mind in a way that you

better experience

life that is experiencing the potential

power and possibility you believe you

have

that is amazing and i’m sure that right

now

some of you are asking yourselves well

that’s nice but how do i move my mind

well one of the secret is to remove your

own mental stereotypes stereotypes that

can have different origins

it can be cultural it can be religious

family friends you name it

but pay attention here this is by no

means

a call to determine what is right or

what is wrong

rather to observe how we as social

beings

are influenced without consciously being

aware of it okay so that’s one way to

move your mind

there’s another way that you can use to

move your mind and that is meditation

in 2013 a french author and buddhist

monk

by the name of said in an interview that

we vastly underestimate the power of

transforming the mind

in other words we so much undervalue

our own power to transform our mind

when eight years ago i picked up a

couple of yoga practices

i did not expect and i did not know

how much focusing my attention inward

with

guided meditation would be so beneficial

as a matter of fact i noticed that

practicing meditation

on a regular basis not only gives

clarity and balance

it also offers space to observe

you are much more aware of everything

you feel in any given situation

and this definitely includes those

difficult

emotions we don’t like to feel the ones

we tend to avoid

like fear in fact

fear is natural when fear comes up

there is a cause to it so it should not

be dismissed

the challenging part though is that you

need to acknowledge that

and then let it go because if you cannot

do that

you will try to control every other

external situations

just to avoid feeling fear and what

happens

it starts to bother you and you get

scared that is the problem

so when i look back at my childhood when

i was growing up

i was quite a shy kid up to my teenage

years i have to say

and when i mean shy i mean seriously shy

like in some situations

i was really scared to dare do or dare

say anything

now luckily with time i learned to ask

myself two questions

number one what do i have to lose

all things considered really it’s

insignificant number two

what is the worst that can happen

when i think of it nothing i cannot live

with

and these two questions have really made

a difference for me

and then a few months ago i was driving

home from work

and i heard a woman tell her story on

the radio

her narrative gave me such an incredible

perspective

on fear i try to always keep it present

with me

this woman’s name is sylvie staub she is

a nurse

when at the age of 40 the mass

amongst the size of a grapefruit is

discovered in her abdomen

she undergoes surgery and after surgery

she’s diagnosed with cancer

less than one year later it’s the first

relapse

she has a new tumor and this time the

doctors tell her there’s nothing they

can do

she only has two years left

now fear comes in she feels sentenced

on the radio she quietly explains that

preparing to die is preparing to live

everything that she has done in this

sense has helped her

she even says that there is a meaning to

the disease

explaining to the radio show host that

the word why

is translated in ancient greek with

towards what

she talks about cancer to be more alive

she talks about welcoming the ordeal

by letting herself be transformed

even though it was unpleasant

i listened carefully to her words and

towards the end she said something that

i vividly remember she says

that fear of sickness and death

undermines healing that seeing illness

as a path that life is taking is a way

to leverage our resources

in a much more effective manner

it was mind-blowing and i thought to

myself what an amazing testimonial

of the power of transforming the mind

after several years battling the disease

sylvie has been cancer-free for over a

decade

her healing was totally unexpected

today she teaches mindful meditation

not only to adults but also to children

and teenagers

so i believe that children are the hope

for the future

and i think that our role is to educate

them

with a holistic approach so they can

face that future at their best

children and young people need skills

that will help them be able to thrive

so in a classical and standardized

educational system just like the one i

went through and i would bet anything

that

almost all of you did the same there is

not a lot of room for

trial and error for experimenting for

developing well-being

the connection between the mind and the

body however

in the early 1900s an italian physician

and educator by the name of maria

montessori

developed a special method she based her

work

on scientific observations of children

and their experimentations with the

environment with materials and with

lessons that were made available to them

the aim of the montessori method is for

children to develop

physically socially emotionally and

cognitively in a way that is autonomous

this method is used in different parts

of the world

there are approximately twenty thousand

montessori schools based on this form of

education

and i want to give you an example in

france some of these schools

offer what they call a well-being

context

for learning what do they do they teach

yoga meditation even philosophy starting

in kindergarten

it’s believed that short meditation

sessions before classes starts

enhance learning abilities reduces

stress

and helps the children manage their

emotions

now there are other alternatives to

classical education

that were developed much more recently

and you can find different types of

schools around the world in different

countries for example in brazil

in the uk in finland and in india just

to mention a few

all these forms of education have

something similar

they offer space for students to learn

what they’re really interested in

students do this

in groups of children with different

ages

and they do it at the pace that suits

them

on top of that some of these schools for

them

mindfulness is an important tool in

their teaching methods

so when i bring together all these

different pedagogies i find

one common feature and that is

children are trusted for being who they

are

they develop self-confidence they

develop self-esteem and they develop

critical thinking

by learning at their own pace

so imagine a global educational system

centered around who children are

making their own experiences as they

grow

can you picture something like that

this somehow reminds me a quote from the

late great

american poets and civil rights

activists maya angelou a quote that says

i have learned that people will forget

what you said

people forget what you did but people

will never forget how you made them feel

so what if everything was about

experiences how they make us feel

from childhood all the way through adult

life

what if our feelings were so important

they become the source of our actions

and what if observing our feelings had

the power to transform our mind

isn’t that worth focusing our attention

towards ourselves

isn’t that worth questioning our

thoughts

think about it now

i don’t remember exactly what my mother

told me a few decades ago when we were

packing

what i do remember is how i felt about

what she said

i was disappointed i was sad and i was

frustrated

perhaps i could have made a career out

of drawing become a visual artist or

something similar in response

to those emotions what i did do

is pursue a career based on other

emotions

i had experienced namely curiosity and

excitement

curiosity for science observing life

around and within us to try to

understand it

excitement for the prospects that

understanding would bring

and further sharing those prospects

to this very day i strive to remain

attentive to my emotions

i am constantly learning to communicate

about them

understand where they come from and act

upon them

so let me leave you with the following

consistently trusting our own emotions

empowers us to fulfill our potential

being present in the moment and aware of

our own

power and possibility is an important

aspect

of who we are as human beings remember

this

every one of us has the inherent ability

to achieve great things at any given

time of our lives

when we open up to ourselves

therefore i invite you to take the time

to self-explore and embrace who you are

thank you very much

[Applause]