on July 27 2016 my heart stopped I was
10,000 kilometres away from home when
this happened and my friend Jason
immediately began CPR while
simultaneously screaming and my other
friend to call the front desk and ask
for the AED 30 minutes 23 floors down
and to resuscitations later our
ambulance began to move into and out of
Chong Chang’s traffic this evening
marked the premature end of my trade
mission in China so last summer I was
hand picked to represent Canadian
businesses in China along with other
youth ambassadors and for those of you
who know me you probably know that my
career aspirations involve business and
that’s why as soon as I was offered a
membership with Junior Team Canada I
immediately said yes little did I know
that a trade mission would mean waking
up in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV
ECG machine BP cuff in nasal cannula I
woke up to the sight of needle markings
on my arms and electrode pads all over
my chest and on top of that I couldn’t
even understand what the doctors were
saying I didn’t know what was being put
into my body and I couldn’t just tell
the nurse excuse me nurse could you
please take these off because I really
need to go to the bathroom the language
barrier was very daunting and in fact at
one point one of the nurses pulled out
her phone started typing something in
and just showed me as showed me the
screen Google Translate I had never felt
so helpless and so lost in my life
so soon after I was sent home in tears
to seek further medical attention and
the weeks that followed were a blur of
doctors appointments lab results a few
more trips to the ER and yes more
doctor’s appointments but what consumed
me was not the fact that I was virtually
[Music]
[Applause]
thanks for helping you with my mic so
anyway the weeks of followed that were
just a blur of doctors appointments lab
results a few more trips to the ER and
yes more doctor’s appointments but what
really got to me was not the fact that I
was virtually living in these doctors
clinics but rather the sense of failure
that kept me up day-in day-out and I
found myself slipping further and
further into depression and before I
knew it my doctor’s appointments were
coupled with just as frequent
psychotherapy sessions and all Daphne
was really really nice
she gave me two lollipops at the end of
each session instead of just one my
saving grace actually came from
elsewhere and it came from these four
lessons which I will share with you
today lesson number one the power of
impermanence
so nothing helps us understand the
fleeting beauty of life more than death
itself has anyone here traveled before
awesome so when you’re traveling you’re
taking in every single moment and that’s
because you know that your time in that
place is so limited you try to savor
every bite every photograph in every
sight scent sound and every friendship
you make and every conversation you have
is just a little sweeter
the friendships and conversations you
have back home and that’s because you
know it’s temporary prior to my
near-death experience I didn’t have a
sense that my time was limited
nor did I understand that life was a
gift a gift with a time limit so this
brings us to lesson number two the power
of now because impermanence begets
presence and to me being present means
understanding that today is all we’re
ever gonna get because yesterday was
once at today and tomorrow is just gonna
be another today and before you know it
you’ve allowed days weeks months years
to just slip by when I catch myself
getting lost in the mechanics of my
daily routine I just try to take a step
back away from all of the noise and
spend time with the people I love
because that is what makes me feel alive
and present see the paradox of death is
that it actually points you towards what
it really feels like to be alive and
living has to do with connection and
experience in full expression so I want
to ask you today what makes you feel
alive and present and who makes you feel
alive in present lesson number three the
power of transformation so I’d like to
share with you a quote from Cynthia
Shelly and it goes like this for a seed
to achieve its greatest expression it
must come completely undone the shell
cracks its insides come out and
everything changes to someone who
doesn’t understand growth it would look
like complete destruction so according
to this quote your struggle holds the
seeds of transfer
nation and I completely agree as I’ve
experienced multiple episodes of
struggle and loss I’ve noticed a pattern
and it’s that I become more resilient
and the seeds of my struggle have always
resulted in growth see I’ve learned that
life is a continuous cycle of struggle
transformation and growth and although
it may not always seem obvious if you
look at growth you can always trace it
back to the struggle that preceded it so
what does growth actually look like that
brings us to our final and most
important lesson lesson number four the
power of why have you ever stepped
outside of yourself to connect with
something bigger than you
Daphney actually advised me to start
journaling but I really just like
writing so I started talking to people
instead and through that I began to
understand what kind of impact I wanted
to have on the world and why I even
existed in other words I began searching
for my why so after realizing my passion
for modern education in the classroom of
tomorrow
I actually co-founded a national
nonprofit which continues to grow today
and I’m really proud of that you see the
beauty of pursuing a purpose and
following your calling is that you are
guided internally and yet you’re also
connected to something beyond you and
this is the experience that I think most
of us strive towards because when you
know your why you have a sense of
purpose that can guide the way you
interact with the world so what have I
gathered from all of these lessons
I’ve gathered the Deaf is powerfully
enlightening but you don’t have to wait
for someone your love or for yourself to
get close to it to start changing the
way you think and live in fact if
there’s one thing that I would like for
all of you here to try it is this find
your why I know some of you may be
thinking oh that’s just a mission
statement right not necessarily if you
look at a company or an organization’s
mission statement it will usually only
include the what and the how but really
does it include the why and that’s
because it’s not easy to pinpoint but
you’re why matters because that is where
it all begins when you know your why and
you chase it everything else falls into
place with your why you have a purpose
not purpose gives you a sense of urgency
which ties into the time limit I
mentioned earlier and when you have a
sense of urgency you get things done not
just busy work but the things that
actually matter to you the things that
are relevant to your why this is where
growth comes in when you work from the
inside out
and when everything in here is reflected
and expressed in the things you do and
this is what I call being why driven and
this is what I think it means to be
truly alive thank you
[Applause]
10,000 kilometres away from home when
this happened and my friend Jason
immediately began CPR while
simultaneously screaming and my other
friend to call the front desk and ask
for the AED 30 minutes 23 floors down
and to resuscitations later our
ambulance began to move into and out of
Chong Chang’s traffic this evening
marked the premature end of my trade
mission in China so last summer I was
hand picked to represent Canadian
businesses in China along with other
youth ambassadors and for those of you
who know me you probably know that my
career aspirations involve business and
that’s why as soon as I was offered a
membership with Junior Team Canada I
immediately said yes little did I know
that a trade mission would mean waking
up in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV
ECG machine BP cuff in nasal cannula I
woke up to the sight of needle markings
on my arms and electrode pads all over
my chest and on top of that I couldn’t
even understand what the doctors were
saying I didn’t know what was being put
into my body and I couldn’t just tell
the nurse excuse me nurse could you
please take these off because I really
need to go to the bathroom the language
barrier was very daunting and in fact at
one point one of the nurses pulled out
her phone started typing something in
and just showed me as showed me the
screen Google Translate I had never felt
so helpless and so lost in my life
so soon after I was sent home in tears
to seek further medical attention and
the weeks that followed were a blur of
doctors appointments lab results a few
more trips to the ER and yes more
doctor’s appointments but what consumed
me was not the fact that I was virtually
[Music]
[Applause]
thanks for helping you with my mic so
anyway the weeks of followed that were
just a blur of doctors appointments lab
results a few more trips to the ER and
yes more doctor’s appointments but what
really got to me was not the fact that I
was virtually living in these doctors
clinics but rather the sense of failure
that kept me up day-in day-out and I
found myself slipping further and
further into depression and before I
knew it my doctor’s appointments were
coupled with just as frequent
psychotherapy sessions and all Daphne
was really really nice
she gave me two lollipops at the end of
each session instead of just one my
saving grace actually came from
elsewhere and it came from these four
lessons which I will share with you
today lesson number one the power of
impermanence
so nothing helps us understand the
fleeting beauty of life more than death
itself has anyone here traveled before
awesome so when you’re traveling you’re
taking in every single moment and that’s
because you know that your time in that
place is so limited you try to savor
every bite every photograph in every
sight scent sound and every friendship
you make and every conversation you have
is just a little sweeter
the friendships and conversations you
have back home and that’s because you
know it’s temporary prior to my
near-death experience I didn’t have a
sense that my time was limited
nor did I understand that life was a
gift a gift with a time limit so this
brings us to lesson number two the power
of now because impermanence begets
presence and to me being present means
understanding that today is all we’re
ever gonna get because yesterday was
once at today and tomorrow is just gonna
be another today and before you know it
you’ve allowed days weeks months years
to just slip by when I catch myself
getting lost in the mechanics of my
daily routine I just try to take a step
back away from all of the noise and
spend time with the people I love
because that is what makes me feel alive
and present see the paradox of death is
that it actually points you towards what
it really feels like to be alive and
living has to do with connection and
experience in full expression so I want
to ask you today what makes you feel
alive and present and who makes you feel
alive in present lesson number three the
power of transformation so I’d like to
share with you a quote from Cynthia
Shelly and it goes like this for a seed
to achieve its greatest expression it
must come completely undone the shell
cracks its insides come out and
everything changes to someone who
doesn’t understand growth it would look
like complete destruction so according
to this quote your struggle holds the
seeds of transfer
nation and I completely agree as I’ve
experienced multiple episodes of
struggle and loss I’ve noticed a pattern
and it’s that I become more resilient
and the seeds of my struggle have always
resulted in growth see I’ve learned that
life is a continuous cycle of struggle
transformation and growth and although
it may not always seem obvious if you
look at growth you can always trace it
back to the struggle that preceded it so
what does growth actually look like that
brings us to our final and most
important lesson lesson number four the
power of why have you ever stepped
outside of yourself to connect with
something bigger than you
Daphney actually advised me to start
journaling but I really just like
writing so I started talking to people
instead and through that I began to
understand what kind of impact I wanted
to have on the world and why I even
existed in other words I began searching
for my why so after realizing my passion
for modern education in the classroom of
tomorrow
I actually co-founded a national
nonprofit which continues to grow today
and I’m really proud of that you see the
beauty of pursuing a purpose and
following your calling is that you are
guided internally and yet you’re also
connected to something beyond you and
this is the experience that I think most
of us strive towards because when you
know your why you have a sense of
purpose that can guide the way you
interact with the world so what have I
gathered from all of these lessons
I’ve gathered the Deaf is powerfully
enlightening but you don’t have to wait
for someone your love or for yourself to
get close to it to start changing the
way you think and live in fact if
there’s one thing that I would like for
all of you here to try it is this find
your why I know some of you may be
thinking oh that’s just a mission
statement right not necessarily if you
look at a company or an organization’s
mission statement it will usually only
include the what and the how but really
does it include the why and that’s
because it’s not easy to pinpoint but
you’re why matters because that is where
it all begins when you know your why and
you chase it everything else falls into
place with your why you have a purpose
not purpose gives you a sense of urgency
which ties into the time limit I
mentioned earlier and when you have a
sense of urgency you get things done not
just busy work but the things that
actually matter to you the things that
are relevant to your why this is where
growth comes in when you work from the
inside out
and when everything in here is reflected
and expressed in the things you do and
this is what I call being why driven and
this is what I think it means to be
truly alive thank you
[Applause]
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