[Music]
can you imagine a world where there is
no fear a world of trust of peace and of
love what two years ago I went out on a
journey where I wanted to create such a
world just I grew up I was so afraid of
being seen
because if someone saw me they might
realize that I was a mistake and that
was seen the 70s it’s when Star Wars hit
the screens and my favorite figure was
yoga and Yoda he said that that fear is
the path to the dark side fear leads to
anger anger leads to hate and hate leads
to suffering of course I wanted to be
the Jedi you know the heroes in Star
Wars the ones who have access to the
force but in reality I thought my life
would be tough
and a lot of hard work but that’s the
age of 31 a friend of mine she gave me a
call asking Cristina do you want to run
a ten kilometer long race with me whoa
that’s really far I did say yes and I
was so happy the first free kilometers I
could keep the same pace that she did
well then I had to struggle for the last
seven of course but I did reach the
finishing line and I felt whoa you did
great
and I think I could have run the love it
further since then I’ve been running
longer and longer distances I made 200
kilometer race is 24 hour races and I
ran all the way from Turkey to
Finland and 11 years after my first race
I was sitting in the office when a
colleague sent me an email and I say
open that email I started whoa
there are wild records on treadmill that
boy had our record
it’s 310 kilometers I think I could beat
that the world record holder I mean I
dropped out of high school because the
father wasn’t good enough and it has to
be a public event but somehow my finger
keep coming back again and again to that
email and finally I realized I do you
want to set that world record I want to
fulfill my dream suck out a grip on
myself and Here I am on that treadmill
and up past the old world record more
than two hours ago and there’s hundreds
of people in the gym and I see joy in
their eyes I feel warmth and there’s
10,000 people following me on the web
and the day after I have received 481
emails people are saying whoa if you
could do that well and I can do this and
they realize that oh my god what I’m
doing is affecting people okay let’s do
something good them and I look at the
wall around me and I see that seen a
phobic parties are growing in Sweden and
in Europe and they’re growing based on
fear fear of strangers and Yoda he said
that fear is the path to the dark side
and I don’t want the world of fear I
want a world of trust and the fear is
mainly polarized between the western
wall in the Muslim world and I’m a
westerner
so I’m thinking okay why not just do
what I usually do put on my running
shoes and go running through Iran a
Muslim country with Sharia laws put all
my trust into those strangers that I
don’t know and what if it works what if
I can create a world of trust and I also
realized that the fact that I’m a woman
will make this journey even stronger
well provided that it works because what
if people in Iran what if they don’t
like what I’m doing
what if they will run after me and beat
me and and and maybe rape me or put me
to jail okay I need to create some
security so I write a letter to the
regime in Iran asking for their
permission to run through the country
and a do you get a permission and I’m
thinking wow that’s great now I have
some protection and then the Swedish
journalist calls me asking can I come
along take pictures write articles and
I’m thinking wow perfect he will spread
my message and besides that he will keep
track of me wonderful more security and
then an Iranian movie company calls me
asking can we make a documentary
I don’t thinking whoa locals perfect
I’m set
let’s go out and trust the world but a
movie company don’t get a permission
they can’t come to journalists he
doesn’t get a visa so he can join and
finally the government withdraws the
permit so I’m having no permit and then
my sister calls me and she asked
Cristina
how do you expect me to take care of
moms and dads sorrow if you never come
back
it must be the most selfish person in
the world but I can’t live my life
according to my sister’s fear I want to
live my life the way I want to live it
so I buy a ticket and I fly to Iran and
Here I am at the border towards Turkey
just ready to start my run but I don’t
understand alike which they don’t
understand me and how am I going to find
my way I can’t read that come on
Christina what is running about just put
one foot in front of the other you done
it a thousand times before come on you
can do it and I keep on running and I
reach the city and I find a camping and
as I’m sitting outside the tent the guy
who is running the camping he comes and
says lunch for you missus what for me
well
well thank you and I eat it then I
cleaned the plate and give it back to
him and asking him do you know where I
can find Wi-Fi and heat points that the
restaurant across the street and I go
there and they are preparing for a
wedding but I can sit down unless I’m
sitting there uploading pictures they
put a lot of food in front of me and hey
I didn’t order no missus but you are a
guest in our country
welcome to Iran and I’m not allowed to
be and that’s I’m running people will
stop their cars and they give me fruit
and if they don’t have fruit they buy
fruit three four kilos of fruit so I’m
having a really good time well but I do
have some slight problems it is pretty
warm and when it’s 50 degrees Celsius I
look like this but just drink a lot of
water and replace the salt then it works
I wonder Iranian man he creates a group
on telegram it’s like messenger and he
add the friends he knows lives along the
way where I’m running and they have
their friends and they have their
friends and suddenly I have a group of
50 people who wants to help me and
there’s always someone who knows someone
who knows someone who lives in the city
where I’m heading so when I’m getting
there
that someone is standing in the street
saying hey you must be Cristina and
tonight you will sleep in my home and
this woman she has given birth to ten
children and as I enter through her door
she just gives me the biggest heart and
then she asks can I see a picture of
your mother yeah sure
and I find one on my cell phone and she
looks at it you know Christina I know
exactly how worried your mother is for
you in the morning after when I leave
her she walks behind me with a bucket of
water splashing it on to the ground
because it’s a symbol that’s supposed to
give me a safe journey and in Iran the
guest is a friend of God and you don’t
lead a friend of God alone so here I’m
sitting trying to block with this
audience do you feel the peace it turns
out when I am in Iran the biggest fear I
have is the fear of never being left
alone and that’s in conflict with a fear
of making these wonderful people sad if
I would say can you please leave me
alone for a while so when I reach 200
kilometers of a natural park where it’s
open space this is just me to beautiful
nature I feel a little bit relieved but
the most beautiful thing is that there
is one tiny village it’s only 50 houses
along this road and of course there is
someone who knows someone who knows
someone who lives in this little village
and she stands there waiting for me well
she doesn’t say welcome because she
cannot speak English but she takes me to
her home and here you see the drinking
water on the canisters on the porch and
there are the diapers from her two
months old son there’s cheap walls
behind a wall and I realized this is not
a rich woman in the evening she gives me
a large portion of rice and meat and her
children get some meat but she doesn’t
take any meat for herself and then I get
to sleep in a sleeping room and
Emily sleeps in the living room in the
morning when I’m leaving hey I just feel
I want to give her something how do you
find a big bag of pistachio nuts in my
in my Baby Jogger please
but she just shakes her head please and
she takes a few and gives to her
daughter
please
then she raises her hand she puts her
hands around my hands they were just
standing there looking into each other’s
eyes feeling connected then she finally
receives the bag and she follows me out
from the village there she is she’s so
far away but she also live in here I do
reach the border towards Turkmenistan
but this is not a story about running
it’s a story about affecting the world I
did run with video camera and for eight
days an Iranian photographer was with me
and two guys took that material and
compile it into trailer and into a
documentary and now more than 26 million
people have seen these and these are
some of the comments that people made
for me this is pure beauty because
behind each and every comment there is a
person who knows that the true core of
humankind is love and each time I follow
my heart or the will of the force
something unexpected happens and in Iran
it turned out that families don’t trust
each other
but now they saw a woman running from
family to family being safe no matter
where she was and it created a lot of
pride in Iran and one family where I’ve
been sleeping they became so happy to
see this
so they rented a restaurant and invited
all the 34 different families where I’ve
been sleeping and they did that to
celebrate themselves their own
hospitality and friendliness not this
party they gave me the most beautiful
ladder and it ended with if you as an
outsider can trust us then we can also
trust each other and be graceful to each
other you gave us a better world and we
are grateful now I know that by being
trust my acting trusts trust was created
not only in the persons I’m at but in
thousands and in millions around the
world and by being focused on what I
wanted to create by letting myself be
vulnerable and not letting fear stop me
I got access to that force and I became
that Jedi that I actually always have
been but the most beautiful is yet to
come and that is that each and every one
of you who is sitting here you are also
a Jedi you do also have access to that
force and we get that by being focused
on what we want to create by letting
ourselves be vulnerable and using fear
to help us fulfill our dreams but never
to let it stop us from doing that and
this is the earth it’s our home I know
it’s still a lot of fear out there but I
also know that it’s each and every one
of us who creates the world that we live
in and the greatest gift we can give to
the world is to fulfill that dream
that’s in our heart it doesn’t matter if
it’s big or small but when we do go out
and fulfill that dream that’s when we
create a world of trust or peace and of
love thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
can you imagine a world where there is
no fear a world of trust of peace and of
love what two years ago I went out on a
journey where I wanted to create such a
world just I grew up I was so afraid of
being seen
because if someone saw me they might
realize that I was a mistake and that
was seen the 70s it’s when Star Wars hit
the screens and my favorite figure was
yoga and Yoda he said that that fear is
the path to the dark side fear leads to
anger anger leads to hate and hate leads
to suffering of course I wanted to be
the Jedi you know the heroes in Star
Wars the ones who have access to the
force but in reality I thought my life
would be tough
and a lot of hard work but that’s the
age of 31 a friend of mine she gave me a
call asking Cristina do you want to run
a ten kilometer long race with me whoa
that’s really far I did say yes and I
was so happy the first free kilometers I
could keep the same pace that she did
well then I had to struggle for the last
seven of course but I did reach the
finishing line and I felt whoa you did
great
and I think I could have run the love it
further since then I’ve been running
longer and longer distances I made 200
kilometer race is 24 hour races and I
ran all the way from Turkey to
Finland and 11 years after my first race
I was sitting in the office when a
colleague sent me an email and I say
open that email I started whoa
there are wild records on treadmill that
boy had our record
it’s 310 kilometers I think I could beat
that the world record holder I mean I
dropped out of high school because the
father wasn’t good enough and it has to
be a public event but somehow my finger
keep coming back again and again to that
email and finally I realized I do you
want to set that world record I want to
fulfill my dream suck out a grip on
myself and Here I am on that treadmill
and up past the old world record more
than two hours ago and there’s hundreds
of people in the gym and I see joy in
their eyes I feel warmth and there’s
10,000 people following me on the web
and the day after I have received 481
emails people are saying whoa if you
could do that well and I can do this and
they realize that oh my god what I’m
doing is affecting people okay let’s do
something good them and I look at the
wall around me and I see that seen a
phobic parties are growing in Sweden and
in Europe and they’re growing based on
fear fear of strangers and Yoda he said
that fear is the path to the dark side
and I don’t want the world of fear I
want a world of trust and the fear is
mainly polarized between the western
wall in the Muslim world and I’m a
westerner
so I’m thinking okay why not just do
what I usually do put on my running
shoes and go running through Iran a
Muslim country with Sharia laws put all
my trust into those strangers that I
don’t know and what if it works what if
I can create a world of trust and I also
realized that the fact that I’m a woman
will make this journey even stronger
well provided that it works because what
if people in Iran what if they don’t
like what I’m doing
what if they will run after me and beat
me and and and maybe rape me or put me
to jail okay I need to create some
security so I write a letter to the
regime in Iran asking for their
permission to run through the country
and a do you get a permission and I’m
thinking wow that’s great now I have
some protection and then the Swedish
journalist calls me asking can I come
along take pictures write articles and
I’m thinking wow perfect he will spread
my message and besides that he will keep
track of me wonderful more security and
then an Iranian movie company calls me
asking can we make a documentary
I don’t thinking whoa locals perfect
I’m set
let’s go out and trust the world but a
movie company don’t get a permission
they can’t come to journalists he
doesn’t get a visa so he can join and
finally the government withdraws the
permit so I’m having no permit and then
my sister calls me and she asked
Cristina
how do you expect me to take care of
moms and dads sorrow if you never come
back
it must be the most selfish person in
the world but I can’t live my life
according to my sister’s fear I want to
live my life the way I want to live it
so I buy a ticket and I fly to Iran and
Here I am at the border towards Turkey
just ready to start my run but I don’t
understand alike which they don’t
understand me and how am I going to find
my way I can’t read that come on
Christina what is running about just put
one foot in front of the other you done
it a thousand times before come on you
can do it and I keep on running and I
reach the city and I find a camping and
as I’m sitting outside the tent the guy
who is running the camping he comes and
says lunch for you missus what for me
well
well thank you and I eat it then I
cleaned the plate and give it back to
him and asking him do you know where I
can find Wi-Fi and heat points that the
restaurant across the street and I go
there and they are preparing for a
wedding but I can sit down unless I’m
sitting there uploading pictures they
put a lot of food in front of me and hey
I didn’t order no missus but you are a
guest in our country
welcome to Iran and I’m not allowed to
be and that’s I’m running people will
stop their cars and they give me fruit
and if they don’t have fruit they buy
fruit three four kilos of fruit so I’m
having a really good time well but I do
have some slight problems it is pretty
warm and when it’s 50 degrees Celsius I
look like this but just drink a lot of
water and replace the salt then it works
I wonder Iranian man he creates a group
on telegram it’s like messenger and he
add the friends he knows lives along the
way where I’m running and they have
their friends and they have their
friends and suddenly I have a group of
50 people who wants to help me and
there’s always someone who knows someone
who knows someone who lives in the city
where I’m heading so when I’m getting
there
that someone is standing in the street
saying hey you must be Cristina and
tonight you will sleep in my home and
this woman she has given birth to ten
children and as I enter through her door
she just gives me the biggest heart and
then she asks can I see a picture of
your mother yeah sure
and I find one on my cell phone and she
looks at it you know Christina I know
exactly how worried your mother is for
you in the morning after when I leave
her she walks behind me with a bucket of
water splashing it on to the ground
because it’s a symbol that’s supposed to
give me a safe journey and in Iran the
guest is a friend of God and you don’t
lead a friend of God alone so here I’m
sitting trying to block with this
audience do you feel the peace it turns
out when I am in Iran the biggest fear I
have is the fear of never being left
alone and that’s in conflict with a fear
of making these wonderful people sad if
I would say can you please leave me
alone for a while so when I reach 200
kilometers of a natural park where it’s
open space this is just me to beautiful
nature I feel a little bit relieved but
the most beautiful thing is that there
is one tiny village it’s only 50 houses
along this road and of course there is
someone who knows someone who knows
someone who lives in this little village
and she stands there waiting for me well
she doesn’t say welcome because she
cannot speak English but she takes me to
her home and here you see the drinking
water on the canisters on the porch and
there are the diapers from her two
months old son there’s cheap walls
behind a wall and I realized this is not
a rich woman in the evening she gives me
a large portion of rice and meat and her
children get some meat but she doesn’t
take any meat for herself and then I get
to sleep in a sleeping room and
Emily sleeps in the living room in the
morning when I’m leaving hey I just feel
I want to give her something how do you
find a big bag of pistachio nuts in my
in my Baby Jogger please
but she just shakes her head please and
she takes a few and gives to her
daughter
please
then she raises her hand she puts her
hands around my hands they were just
standing there looking into each other’s
eyes feeling connected then she finally
receives the bag and she follows me out
from the village there she is she’s so
far away but she also live in here I do
reach the border towards Turkmenistan
but this is not a story about running
it’s a story about affecting the world I
did run with video camera and for eight
days an Iranian photographer was with me
and two guys took that material and
compile it into trailer and into a
documentary and now more than 26 million
people have seen these and these are
some of the comments that people made
for me this is pure beauty because
behind each and every comment there is a
person who knows that the true core of
humankind is love and each time I follow
my heart or the will of the force
something unexpected happens and in Iran
it turned out that families don’t trust
each other
but now they saw a woman running from
family to family being safe no matter
where she was and it created a lot of
pride in Iran and one family where I’ve
been sleeping they became so happy to
see this
so they rented a restaurant and invited
all the 34 different families where I’ve
been sleeping and they did that to
celebrate themselves their own
hospitality and friendliness not this
party they gave me the most beautiful
ladder and it ended with if you as an
outsider can trust us then we can also
trust each other and be graceful to each
other you gave us a better world and we
are grateful now I know that by being
trust my acting trusts trust was created
not only in the persons I’m at but in
thousands and in millions around the
world and by being focused on what I
wanted to create by letting myself be
vulnerable and not letting fear stop me
I got access to that force and I became
that Jedi that I actually always have
been but the most beautiful is yet to
come and that is that each and every one
of you who is sitting here you are also
a Jedi you do also have access to that
force and we get that by being focused
on what we want to create by letting
ourselves be vulnerable and using fear
to help us fulfill our dreams but never
to let it stop us from doing that and
this is the earth it’s our home I know
it’s still a lot of fear out there but I
also know that it’s each and every one
of us who creates the world that we live
in and the greatest gift we can give to
the world is to fulfill that dream
that’s in our heart it doesn’t matter if
it’s big or small but when we do go out
and fulfill that dream that’s when we
create a world of trust or peace and of
love thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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