The Secret to Conquer the Outer World Lies in the Inner World
[Applause]
why is it
that in our life we often say
i think it’s my inner calling that is
telling me to do something we say it’s
my
inner voice that is telling me to take
action upon something
we use words like my instinct my gut
feeling
how is it that something within us can
guide us for something outside of us
let me share something with you when i
was in my 11th standard in school
there was a girl in our class extremely
smart intelligent
and enthusiastic to perform well in
academics
she used to sit on the first bench of
the middle right in front of the teacher
so that she could learn to her best
capacities
one day i entered the class and i
couldn’t find her sitting on the first
bench of the middle row
instead i found her to be sitting on the
first bench of the corner most room
i couldn’t understand why it happened
for the very first time
within a few days she was sitting on the
second bench
of the corner most of the class and then
on the third and then on the fourth
and slowly within a few days she was
sitting on the last pinch of the corner
most room
i couldn’t understand why it was
happening one day when we were starting
business in our class i happened to turn
towards where she was sitting
and i found her to be weeping
she didn’t want anyone to notice it so
she was hiding it with her face but i
happened to notice it and a voice inside
of me said
i need to ask her what’s wrong and i
thought okay the teacher is teaching
right now i’ll wait for the class to get
over
and then reach out to her and ask her if
everything’s all right or not
the class got over and i forgot to reach
out to her
it slipped out of my mind the next day
i’d come to school
planned okay today i’ll ask her if
everything’s all right or not only to
realize that she was absent that day
and the very same thing happened the
very next day
it took me a while to let it in when we
were told in the morning assembly
in a couple of days that she was no more
she died of suicide
you’re probably thinking exactly what i
was thinking at that point of time
if only i had reached out to her and
asked her what’s wrong
maybe just maybe i could have saved her
life
from that day onward the series of
questions started running inside of my
mind
how is it that i was able to sense that
pattern before moving from the first
bench to the last bench of the class
when no one else did how is it that
i was able to sense a possibility of
something being wrong why is it that i
felt the need to reach out to her
and lastly what is it that stopped me
from reaching out to her
all of these questions were taking me
just to one place
i knew it isn’t possible for me to find
the answers anywhere around me but
within me i was constantly thinking
how can something within us guide us for
something outside of
us how is it that each one of us take
different
actions in different situations and how
is it that the best solutions are not
the ones that we find on the outside
but the ones that we find on the inside
but what is this concept of the inside
and the outside
all we have known until now is the
there’s just one world that exists
the world that we live in let me break
it down to you there are two
one which we live in and another
that lives inside of us everything we
see and understand in this
outer world is completely dependent on
how we perceive anything
through the inner world let me tell you
what i mean by this i call this the
circle of importance
if i ask you to make a big circle and
put the most important person in this
world in the middle of that circle
and then ask you to make a second circle
outside of it and put the second most
important person in this world
in that second circle then a third
circle and a fourth circle
who would you put as the most important
person in this world
in the middle of that first circle
answer this by raising your hand when i
ask you
how many of you would put there your
parents
thank you how many of you would put
there a world leader maybe
i thank you how many of you would put
there someone you look up to
okay and how many of you would put there
yourself thank you
after all these years i’ve realized that
the most important person in this world
that we live in
is ourselves for me i am the most
important person
let me tell you what i mean by this
let’s say if i choose to put a world
leader
in the middle of that first circle as
the most important person in this world
how would i know that they need to be
there
because i believe they will bring a
positive change in this world
and how would i know that the change
that they’re trying to bring is a
positive change
because i believe it to be a positive
change and the same thing goes with
someone we look up to and let’s say if i
choose to put my parents in that
first circle as the most important
person in this world how would i know
their
importance how do i have the
understanding of their love
and the role that they play in my life
that is only possible when my beliefs my
perceptions and my values are correct
but what forms a belief how does someone
believe
something whatever our beliefs
are that decides how close we are to
making anything our reality
as small as not snoozing the alarm in
the morning to as big as bringing a
change in this world
right now you’re sitting here listening
to the exact same thing which the person
next to you is also listening
but your brain is taking this
information differently and processing
it differently than theirs
and it is all because of how your life
has been completely different from them
your life experiences circumstances
feelings
everything has been different from them
and on the basis of all of these things
you consciously choose
which words do you want to give more
importance to out of all the things that
you’re listening to here
beliefs are a belief is nothing else but
a chosen perception idea or a thought
that we
consistently repeat to ourselves so
whatever we repeat to ourselves
we’ll start to believe in it that’s why
during covert 19 when we used to call
someone there was this call of tune
wear masks use hand sanitizers and
maintain social distancing
every single time after a point of time
it did get annoying to be honest
they could have just told us once and we
would have understood it right
but they but it was there every time
because they wanted to fit it
into a mechanism and make it a part of
our everyday functioning
and they knew they could only do it by
repeating it to us again and again
the key here is that we hold the power
to form our beliefs
and what actions we take in our life or
what we do depends upon
the beliefs that we are forming in the
type of beliefs that we are forming
whether they are destructive beliefs
which are bad for us or others or their
constructive beliefs which are good for
us or others to give you an example of
this
dr martin luther king in his famous i
have a dream speech
used the words i have a dream eight
times
he could have just once said i have a
dream and continued by telling us
telling us what his dreams were but he
chose to say it again and again
and with each time he said it his belief
in his dreams
got stronger and stronger and the same
happened with the people who too
believed in this dream
when i was in school i was called to be
a part
of a stage play but not as an actor but
just to do a one minute dance piece in
it
i agreed upon it i went and i practiced
every day with the team which was full
of actors
while the practices were on my piece was
a very small piece so most of the time i
had to just sit and watch them practice
there was one more reason why i watched
them i secretly loved acting
during the practices i noticed something
in a scene that i thought if i tell them
it would be it would be a good insight
for them
to improve the scene in the act so i
went ahead reached out to them
and i told them exactly what i thought
could be changed
in the act there’s a silence in the room
for the next five seconds
just like this silence before the storm
the lead actor turned towards me and he
said a dancer should not put his nose
into acting
acting is different you’ll never
understand it
remember i just told you i secretly
loved acting
i took a turn and stepped into the world
of acting not to prove someone i could
act
not to prove myself i could act i
already believed
that i could act and i just wanted to
make that belief of mine even stronger
so whatever we believe in that forms
a mechanism in that direction and this
processing of
us decides how close we are to making
anything our reality
when i was told that acting isn’t for me
i could see myself one year down the
line
down one year down the line playing that
part
in the lead as a lead role because one
year down the line
that stage play was happening once again
i till that time i prepared myself
how much ever i could and learned
whatever little i could about acting
and one year down the line i was playing
the lead role in it and
on the same stage in the same play at
the same venue i was blessed and
fortunate enough to receive
the special mention for best actor how
did this happen
we more often than not let the events
around us affect
who we are how we are what we do and why
we do it
if a situation does not go in our favor
we say and start believing
i feel a certain way or i am a certain
way because of this thing or this person
i didn’t have a good day because of this
thing or this person which indicates we
aren’t in control
we are playing it opposite of how it
should be we’re playing it outside in
whereas if we reverse it and play inside
out it will suddenly be very interesting
if you realize that our thoughts and how
we feel has the potential to change the
outcomes in our life we go ahead
and create our reality it’s true that we
cannot predict
our future but it’s also true that we
can definitely create it
if we truly and deeply live a moment in
our inner world which hasn’t even
occurred yet
the brain doesn’t know if we are
imagining it or we are
experiencing it so no matter how smart
our brain is it’s still a bit dumb
so just like that acting incident
everything that i’m blessed with in my
life i’ve already
visualized myself being there doing it
and fulfilling it before it has even
occurred
this isn’t my first tedx talk i’ve
already given three detect stocks
in my bedroom because i believe
someday i will be here standing on this
red round carpet in front of these
blocks and i will be talking
to you and that is how we conquer ai in
our world
so if we conquer our inner world the
outer world is ours
forever any world leader you name them
have been able to bring a change in this
world
only because they’ve already seen and
visualized that change being made in
their inner world
and that process of theirs have become
the root the map
the pathway for them to create it in the
outer world
when elderly people are on their
deathbeds doctors do
take care and consider the length of
their life but more than that they work
on the quality of their life
how does one live a quality life
in a survey when only people were asked
if they have any regrets in their life
the
regrets that topped the list were all
about
fulfillment feelings emotions
relationships connections
joy happiness humanity kindness and none
of the materialistic things
it is these things that actually matter
in our life
and all of these things are built upon
the foundation of the inner world
we do so many different things in our
life when i said great things
don’t uh great things begin on the
inside i want to tell you that great
drinks don’t don’t just begin on the
inside they also end on the inside
out of all the things that we do in our
life each of them is for a reason
and the reason if you notice is always
and always
internal if you spot a pair of shoe
with a good design in a shop and you
want to buy it you’re not buying it
because it
looks good but you’re buying it because
it feels good to have a pair of shoes
that looks good
similarly you’re listening to a talk
right now not to see how the
speaker is presenting it but to maybe
learn something out
something from it grow from it and
become a better version of yourself
it is said that people do not forget
people might forget what you say people
might forget what you did but people
will never forget how you make them feel
if this is true why not
align what we say and what we do to make
people feel good
out of all of these things that we have
just understood
the final question points out towards us
out of all the feelings which feelings
do we want to give more importance to
while taking any action in our life
which emotions which relationships which
connections do we want to give more
importance to
if we make the right choices in the
inner world we’ll definitely make the
right choices in the outer world because
both of these worlds go hand in hand
with each other in absolute harmony
if you conquer the inner world the outer
world is yours forever
and when i say the outer world is yours
forever i don’t mean to say you’ll own
it
rather if you have an understanding of
how things function in the inner world
and what really matters in that world
you’ll rather not want to own it
you’ll stop wanting to win from others
you’ll stop wanting to be the number one
maybe
you’ll stop substantiating yourself with
other people
you’ll stop running after the things
that don’t even matter in our life
and maybe you’ll just let this world
be thank you so much