The Secret To Feeling Less Alone

[Music]

there isn’t a human alive

who hasn’t felt alone

and i have a secret to share with you

today a sure-fire way

to feel less alone

something i learned while

circumnavigating the world

with no money i used to be a broker

in the city of london and on the outside

i had

everything you could ever want but on

the inside

i felt profoundly broken

depressed alone no sense of hope

probably drinking too much definitely

eating too much but no one knew

because i was wearing a mask and that

mask

told you oh everything’s fine

everything’s okay

but no everything was not okay

and i would go so far as to say that

everyone watching this speech today

has experienced that feeling of living

behind that mask not the covert 19 type

right

the psychological mask and when we live

behind that mask we feel

alone sometimes people say to me leon

what did you learn on your journeys

i learned many things but the most

beautiful thing i learnt

was that we are all the same

irrespective of religion irrespective of

how much money we may or may not have

irrespective of color at base

we just want to be seen

at base we just want to be

loved i remember i was in delhi

we spent two nights in some slums

on the outside if you’ve been there

you’ll see there’s a lot of poverty

on the inside a lot of love woke up in

the morning

saw this mother kissing her two kids

goodbye for school

i had an epiphany her love

for her kids is exactly the same

as your love for your kids

we are the same we

are the same as a kid

i was bullied mercilessly at school i

remember walking into class and

feeling like the end was nigh

but i had this one teacher she would

look at me every day

she would say i believe in you

i believe in you she ignited my humanity

we connected with our shared humanity

she made me feel less alone

look we live in a world that is really

set up to make us feel alone

okay so we think we have facebook

instagram twitter

clubhouse all of these things right

which we do

but the truest form of connection

is from one human being to another

so leon what is this secret way

please tell me i’m gonna tell you i’m

gonna tell you

that this secret way has a little bit of

a bad rap right so please don’t turn off

the speech

the secret way to feel

less alone guaranteed

is to be kind

because when you are kind you

open up your heart and when you

open up your heart to another human

being

everything changes when you show

compassion

when you show empathy

everything changes kindness

literally changes lives

and i can say that because i wouldn’t be

standing here today

if it wasn’t for that teacher all those

years ago

because really what she was doing to me

was being kind and kindness

is a win-win when i’m kind to you

i win and so do you

that is the secret to feeling

less alone i’m sure you all know what it

feels like when someone’s mean to you

when someone makes you feel unvalued

when someone makes you feel like you

don’t matter

and i hope that all of you know how it

feels like

when someone sees you

when someone is kind

to your very essence your very humanity

and sometimes people say to me oh leon

i can’t be kind if i’m kind

i’ll be squashed if i’m kind

people will think i’m weak if i’m kind

my vulnerability will be taken advantage

of

i get it but when they tell me that i

tell them the story

of the great muhammad ali

muhammad ali a man of love

a man of service a man of compassion

but a kind man

how many of you would mess with muhammad

ali

and that is my point kindness is in fact

your greatest strength it takes down

that mask

it takes down those walls

and when you take down those walls

and you take down that mask you are left

with your humanity and when you

share that with another human being

i promise you you will feel

less alone sometimes

they say leon you’re too pollyannish

don’t tell me that all i have to do is

be kind and everything will

resolve itself that’s not what i’m

saying bad things happen

covet wars

bad things happen but

it’s a big but good things happen too

and kindness and how we show up

is a choice on my journey around the

world

i met all these interesting people and

this is a fellow that i met in

pittsburgh

and i would go to people in the streets

and say hey can i stay in your house

tonight and they’d be like

no i went up to tony i said can i stay

in your house tonight and he looks at me

and he goes

i’m really sorry but i’m homeless

i feel a lot of shame about to walk off

and he says hold on hold on do you know

what

if you want you can stay with me tonight

i’ll feed you

i’ll protect you and i will give you

some clothes

that moment changed my life here was

someone

who had every reason to be unkind

who had every reason to choose

to share his pain and his his hate

but he chose to be kind and i ended up

staying on the streets with him

and i remember saying to him in the

morning i said tony

do you ever feel alone and he’s like

look leon i don’t want to be on the

streets

but the truth is i don’t feel alone

i have my friends i share with people

i show my kindness i receive kindness

i share my humanity

goosebumps even now goosebumps

i’m not saying that tony was better off

on the streets

clearly not but what i am saying

is that when we choose to be kind

it is a natural reaction

for us to feel less alone

and tony proved it he proved it

i’ll leave you with a little story i

gave a speech

a while back at a school

about kindness believe it or not and

[Music]

at the end of the speech this kid comes

up to me

and he hugs me for one minute

he wouldn’t let go why

it turns out that he’d suffered a

traumatic brain injury

and his teachers told me that ever since

he’d had that

catastrophic injury all

he wanted to do was love

all he wanted to do was make other

people

feel less alone

and the way that he did that

the kindness that he showed

was to hug me and to hug

others here was

living proof that how you show up in the

world

makes a massive difference

now my challenge for you today

is to go out and hug the world

is to go out and make people feel less

alone

is to go out and inspire

others by how you

show up so

go be human go be

kind and i promise you

guaranteed that you will feel less alone

you