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]