in our modern world everyone is always
looking for the next big thing the key
to success health happiness and
well-being new methods solutions
insights facts and figures pop up
everywhere in this sheer endless search
for the perfect life this is my grandma
on her motorbike in Italy in 1956 not
knowing that this would be one of her
last trips she would take for a very
very long time
when the wall was built in 1961 it
divided Germany the country she grew up
in and ended her freedom but she never
stopped hoping dreaming and believing in
a better future in 1989 four years after
I was born
suddenly the wall was history my
grandparents put my sister and me into
their tiny little GDR East German
Trabant car and finally took us to all
the different places they had been
longing to visit and missing for such a
long time we slept in this car there
were four of us when we got taller we
moved into a tiny little tent next to it
we even we even slept in a cow stable we
didn’t have any money but we were
finally free and that’s what really
mattered as a cultural scientist and
psychologist I guess I know almost
everything there is to know about the
science of happiness and well-being all
the facts and figures all the studies I
know that 50% of your happiness is
determined by your genes
so you cannot do anything against it
another ten percent by circumstances you
cannot change or influence as good or
bad they might be but the remaining 40%
and that’s what really counts are
influenced by yourself by your internal
state of mind your actions thoughts and
behavior so in my case my childhood
experiences our adventures and not at
least my grandma’s words told me more
about happiness than anything or anyone
else ever did because in the end it’s
not about science it’s not about brain
structures or chemical reactions in the
end it’s all about how you fill this
mixtape called your life so imagine your
life was a tape recorder sometimes one
or the other button might get stuck
sometimes the tape tangled and a small
cogs but most of the time it is running
the soundtrack of your life when do you
push which button play it’s all about
many many different reasons you get up
in the morning it’s about motivation
it’s about getting started or getting
started ahead and it’s about what you
love and it’s about the best state your
minds anybody can possibly and bein when
time rushes and everything seems
perfectly under control
this state is called slow so think about
when was the last time you were so
motivated and so focused that nothing
else played a role anymore and time just
went by once we started moving
there’s one thing we sometimes tend to
forget and might end up being totally
stressed it’s my favorite button
it’s the pause button because sometimes
I myself forget to press it the pause
button is about finding time to calm
down and to rest
it’s about mindfulness and it’s about
being exactly here and now and nowhere
else and it’s about taking a deep breath
here and now and while you’re breathing
I want you to skip back to all the
moments and memories you had so far in
your life I want you to remember them
because they mattered so much skip back
to all the places you’ve already been to
to all the wonderful things you’ve
already done and to all the good things
you’ve already learned because I think
there’s so much to remember and while
you’re there
skipping back also think about everyone
you met along the way so many people
there’s a saying that says you become
like the five people you spend most time
with so choose wisely whose voices and
actions you would like to record whose
words do you never ever want to forget
who mattered so much that you want to
have them in your life on a regular
basis think about the people who really
count and get in touch with them today
tomorrow and every single day that
follows play pause rewind records
last but not least there’s one button
that takes a look into your future skip
forward to the unknown and look what the
future might bring what would you do if
you know you could not fail and why when
was the last time you did something for
the very very first time you are in
charge
mix your mixtape the way you want it
listen to the sound of your life
let’s get back and forward records play
and pause live your life because as far
as I know there’s only one life you’ve
got my grandma’s my grandma’s soundtrack
is one of the most colorful loveliest
and inspiring ones I ever know I often
wish it would still be playing and in a
way I think it will always do so why am
I telling you this
I want you to go through these five
buttons on your tape recorder on a daily
routine I want you to use them all don’t
only play one of them all the time use
them all implement them into the fabric
of your life because every mixtape tells
another story let yours be unique
authentic full of love laughter and
learnings let it be a daily inspiration
for yourself and for the people you love
the most
thank you
[Applause] [Music]