Oh
you
so yesterday the presenters had a dress
rehearsal I actually called it a stress
rehearsal and after that marks table
where are you here mark you’re right
you’re right there oh you’re right there
yeah Mark’s story well you know he’s an
incredible coaching foot for speeches
and the first bit of feedback he gave me
was he says you know you’re a quirky guy
I really didn’t know where to go with
that but anyway the purpose of my
presentation today is to enter your mind
now I love plants and nature and I’m so
lucky to be able to work at these
incredible gardens at roar Rhodes
University hopefully hopefully some of
you have gone there and appreciated them
and over the years I’ve observed people
people’s minds in nature and they go
through this process of involuntary
fascination when the mind is focused on
the hummingbird going from flower to
flower or the sound of the wind in the
poplar trees or the ripples on the pond
and it allows the mind to discover a
larger sense of time and space and I
call that mind emptiness this bowl
represents your mind before the TEDx
talks
this Apple represents juicy ideas that
the presenters have been giving you all
these thoughtful ideas during the
presentation so Joel earlier was talking
about thoughts and perspectives so we’ll
throw some apples in some ideas into the
mind from Joel Mark had this idea about
using the cell phone in a positive way
we’ll throw some ideas in the bowl
Cheryl had an multi narrative version on
cancer and looking at cancer in
different ways I’ll put some more apples
in there now I’m going to give you
another idea of my own right now so we
can add it to the bowl or the mind and
that is Sir Isaac Newton and he became
inspired when he saw an Apple fall from
a tree and he developed the law of
universal gravitation that in the mind
is starting to get a little bit full
here isn’t it can you see that all these
ideas
Steve Jobs the head of Apple when he you
know was coming up against challenges
while developing the iPhone would take
his colleagues out into the tree filled
neighborhoods and come up with fresh
perspectives that idea just spilled out
of that mind so to help our minds will
help your minds right now which are
pretty well filled with all the ideas
through the afternoon I would like to
help you empty your mind are you with me
well it’s kind of wimpy are you with me
hey get that energy up so here we have a
plastic cup I want you to gently close
your eyes and focus your mind on the
emptiness within the cup now I know it’s
Saturday and it’s hot and you’re
probably thinking of filling it with a
beer or something but I want you to
think or have that question is it really
truly empty no it’s not empty it’s
filled with the precious atmosphere of
the earth containing oxygen and carbon
dioxide to name just a few gases
do this cup I’m going to put three
tissues one two three
because it’s my favorite number and then
I’m going to add some water another life
force I want you to close your eyes
again and imagine the sound of Niagara
Falls hear the trickle of a summer Creek
god I wish had gone to this washroom
before anyway we’re going to add the
water to the you can open your eyes I’m
gonna add the water to the cup
now we come to the star of the show so
this is some little brown seeds called
medicago sativa you might know it as
alfalfa can you say the Latin name with
me but first close your eyes again
breathe through your nose
and as you exhale say medicago sativa
BRE then medicago sativa medicago sativa
well you guys are sounding like a bunch
of Buddhists okay so we’ll add this is
Vanna White when you need her there you
go
we added it sprinkled it around now I
just happen to have some alfalfa sprouts
that I started about a week ago it’s
amazing to me that about eight seconds
ago a photon of light left the surface
of the Sun and is now landed on these
green leaves of the seedlings you know
where there’s photosynthesis but
scientists still struggle with really
understanding what photosynthesis is and
that’s hard to say by the way what the
synthesis is and I like to say it very
simply to my students plants eat light
and poop oxygen
yeah in that magical plants eat light
and poop oxygen so that means where
we’re actually breathing in plant poop
into our lungs and then it gets into our
bloodstream and up into our brain and it
fuels our thoughts so that we can go
beyond the earth and into the stars
where it the light came from so I’m
hoping through this process that you
have been able to end empty your mind so
that you will be able to synthesize the
new ideas from the next remarkable
presentation enjoy
[Applause]
you
so yesterday the presenters had a dress
rehearsal I actually called it a stress
rehearsal and after that marks table
where are you here mark you’re right
you’re right there oh you’re right there
yeah Mark’s story well you know he’s an
incredible coaching foot for speeches
and the first bit of feedback he gave me
was he says you know you’re a quirky guy
I really didn’t know where to go with
that but anyway the purpose of my
presentation today is to enter your mind
now I love plants and nature and I’m so
lucky to be able to work at these
incredible gardens at roar Rhodes
University hopefully hopefully some of
you have gone there and appreciated them
and over the years I’ve observed people
people’s minds in nature and they go
through this process of involuntary
fascination when the mind is focused on
the hummingbird going from flower to
flower or the sound of the wind in the
poplar trees or the ripples on the pond
and it allows the mind to discover a
larger sense of time and space and I
call that mind emptiness this bowl
represents your mind before the TEDx
talks
this Apple represents juicy ideas that
the presenters have been giving you all
these thoughtful ideas during the
presentation so Joel earlier was talking
about thoughts and perspectives so we’ll
throw some apples in some ideas into the
mind from Joel Mark had this idea about
using the cell phone in a positive way
we’ll throw some ideas in the bowl
Cheryl had an multi narrative version on
cancer and looking at cancer in
different ways I’ll put some more apples
in there now I’m going to give you
another idea of my own right now so we
can add it to the bowl or the mind and
that is Sir Isaac Newton and he became
inspired when he saw an Apple fall from
a tree and he developed the law of
universal gravitation that in the mind
is starting to get a little bit full
here isn’t it can you see that all these
ideas
Steve Jobs the head of Apple when he you
know was coming up against challenges
while developing the iPhone would take
his colleagues out into the tree filled
neighborhoods and come up with fresh
perspectives that idea just spilled out
of that mind so to help our minds will
help your minds right now which are
pretty well filled with all the ideas
through the afternoon I would like to
help you empty your mind are you with me
well it’s kind of wimpy are you with me
hey get that energy up so here we have a
plastic cup I want you to gently close
your eyes and focus your mind on the
emptiness within the cup now I know it’s
Saturday and it’s hot and you’re
probably thinking of filling it with a
beer or something but I want you to
think or have that question is it really
truly empty no it’s not empty it’s
filled with the precious atmosphere of
the earth containing oxygen and carbon
dioxide to name just a few gases
do this cup I’m going to put three
tissues one two three
because it’s my favorite number and then
I’m going to add some water another life
force I want you to close your eyes
again and imagine the sound of Niagara
Falls hear the trickle of a summer Creek
god I wish had gone to this washroom
before anyway we’re going to add the
water to the you can open your eyes I’m
gonna add the water to the cup
now we come to the star of the show so
this is some little brown seeds called
medicago sativa you might know it as
alfalfa can you say the Latin name with
me but first close your eyes again
breathe through your nose
and as you exhale say medicago sativa
BRE then medicago sativa medicago sativa
well you guys are sounding like a bunch
of Buddhists okay so we’ll add this is
Vanna White when you need her there you
go
we added it sprinkled it around now I
just happen to have some alfalfa sprouts
that I started about a week ago it’s
amazing to me that about eight seconds
ago a photon of light left the surface
of the Sun and is now landed on these
green leaves of the seedlings you know
where there’s photosynthesis but
scientists still struggle with really
understanding what photosynthesis is and
that’s hard to say by the way what the
synthesis is and I like to say it very
simply to my students plants eat light
and poop oxygen
yeah in that magical plants eat light
and poop oxygen so that means where
we’re actually breathing in plant poop
into our lungs and then it gets into our
bloodstream and up into our brain and it
fuels our thoughts so that we can go
beyond the earth and into the stars
where it the light came from so I’m
hoping through this process that you
have been able to end empty your mind so
that you will be able to synthesize the
new ideas from the next remarkable
presentation enjoy
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: