[Music]
what do you love I asked this question
to 670 people while travelling down in
New Zealand though many of them can
answer most of them took a very long
time so what are you afraid of this they
could all answer and almost immediately
I’ve come a very long ways to be here
today in order to share an idea with you
that I’m incredibly passionate about and
a concept which has completely
revolutionized my life and that is that
what I love and what I fear are
precisely the same thing this simple
concept has transformed me from a
confused and depressed man in his
mid-20s to a guy who travels all around
the planet and set multiple world
records over the past 15 years I’ve kept
inspired with projects like riding my
skateboard all the way across Canada a
massive campaign to raise funds for
breast cancer research or traveling to
rural Malawi where I founded the world’s
first volunteer based paragliding
instruction program or more recently
when I flew my own paraglider over a
thousand kilometres on an unprecedented
but I didn’t do all of these things
because I wanted to know are you crazy I
did all of these things because I was
absolutely terrified to allow me to
explain it all began when I was still
working as a fashion photographer in the
city of Toronto
it’s where I grew up and this is what’s
been my dream job but in recent years it
begun to feel like a bit more of a rut
that I was stuck in still a call in
those days searching the classified
section of the newspaper looking for
that work that would inspire me still
heartbroken after being dumped by my
first girlfriend a few years earlier
would occasionally wander over to that
personal section yet all with that same
sort of aimless hope this one day I’m
sitting on my friend’s couch I’m eating
a bowl of noodles and I’m watching the
television and I see one for the very
first time a paraglider flying through
the air hi is a hot air balloon yet free
as a bird almost simultaneously like a
sort of a a knee-jerk reaction I heard
this little voice in the back of my head
whisper no I say whisper because this
little voice was so common but I barely
even heard it like a sort of a a dull
hum in the background well desperate as
I was for some sort of change in my life
I decided to for the first time in my
life question this little voice and ask
why why was it that I could not do this
thing so I made a list it was too
expensive too dangerous I was too fat I
would likely need a car the list went on
and on and on and to my surprise to my
surprise I had somehow become this
expert on why it was that I could not do
this thing that up until three minutes
ago I didn’t even realize was a thing oh
I took this suspicious list and I walked
over to my computer and I googled every
single item on it only to eventually
cross each of my misconceptions off our
preconceptions as false
when I got to the bottom of that list I
realised that there was only one honest
and true item that belonged on that page
I could barely bring my pen to write it
down I was afraid I had to read it back
to myself several times cuz I just
couldn’t handle the truth of it and you
see I wasn’t taking issue with being
afraid no I’m afraid of lots of things
taxis fire-breathing dragons well-made
infomercials about incredible new food
processors
I was taking issue with the fact that I
had to make up all of those BS reasons
in order to disguise for myself the very
fact that I was afraid and so as a
punishment of sorts I took out my credit
card
I googled paragliding schools and I
signed up for the very first course I
could find two weeks later I was down in
New Zealand I held my breath and I ran
off my very first cliff to my
astonishment I was overcome with a surge
of emotions that I could only relate to
skipping home from my very first date
and as I floated through the air
time began to slow down all around me I
could begin to see what was happening
that I couldn’t believe it I was falling
once my course is over I had two more
months to kill before my flight home so
from a book I was reading I got the idea
to hitchhike around the entire country
Wow
I’d never hitchhiked before and that
first morning I remembered not wanting
to get out of my tent terrified the idea
of standing on the side of the road
people driving by yelling dumb hippie ah
this is nonsense for crying out loud I
run off cliffs for goodness sakes I can
stand on the side of the road for a bit
so I did the first car whizzed right on
past I was rejected mortified reduced to
a miserable pile of fur then the second
car had already stopped little old lady
inside yelling well you’re coming in a
so cool she took me to her house for tea
and cookies and then told me way out of
her way in order to get me where I was
going I still recall that moment when
she peeled out of that parking lot and
left me standing there in complete and
utter silence but with this buzzing sort
of aura glowing all around me filled
with those same fuzzy feelings that I’d
had while learning to paraglide a
sensation that I could only describe to
you as if standing in the exact center
of a pulsing radiant ball of raw and
pure love but was this love for this 85
year old woman her selfless act or could
it have possibly been for myself love
myself whoa whoa whoa whoa this is
starting to sound like some sort of
hippy dippy self-help talk absolutely no
way uh-uh but it was true as if every
single cell in my body had somehow
instantly flipped from a negative
alignment to a positive one something
was up and I was determined to get to
the bottom of it
so that night in my tent there call just
laying there and thinking ah all right
I came here because I was afraid to fly
all of a sudden two weeks later on this
Birdman fallen for little old ladies
what’s changed I’m still that same
chubby know-it-all photographer from
Toronto
still terrified to talk to girls or cook
anything beyond the scope of Kraft
Dinner could these new feelings of love
possibly be just be my succeeding in
areas I’d previously been afraid of well
the very next day I was flying along the
coast and I just happened to have landed
my brand-new paraglider beside an
incredibly beautiful young lady
intimidated as I was I realized that
this was the perfect opportunity for me
to test this new theory
so I asked her out on a gate you’ll
never guess what she’s earned she’s not
yes and so in this flurry of confused
emotions similar to this new kind of
radiant love that I’ve been feeling I
ran off to find food for supper
that’s me running don’t judge and
unfortunately in New Zealand our craft
dinner is not as popular in the southern
hemisphere as it is up here and so I was
forced to up my game and by actual
noodles with real cheese and as an
appetizer the best box of red wine later
that evening
we met up at my tent I poured us both
the glass and that was boiling those
macaroni noodles like a pro when that
cheese began to melt you know it was
getting hot I shall recall looking over
at her with that box of wine still half
tilted over my right thigh I’m thinking
it is now or never and I looked up at
her and in my most very white like tone
and she looked back into mine I was
trying so hard not to blink but try and
made it even harder like my iris is
going through a carwash I said to me
needless to say Barry White had an
incredibly awkward rest of the evening
but the following morning greater than
his cheap Merlot hangover were those
incredible feelings that he felt before
that girl a girl was long gone he had
failed but those feelings of love those
feelings of love or still right there
see they had nothing to do with that
girl or the outcome of that evening no
those feelings of love had exclusively
to do with Barry around me in this
instance facing my fear and then
it was in that moment that I had the
most profound and significant
realization of my life that within my
darkest fears lay the potential for my
greatest love and that these opposing
words were in fact just two definitions
for the exact same chemical reactions
occurring in my brain excitement only
that I used the word fear to describe
these feelings of excitement where
outcomes were unknown or imagined and
loved to describe that exact same
excitement but once or where outcomes
were known I wanted more love in my life
and I became fascinated with this
concept I realized then that I no longer
needed to become this exceedingly
successful or wealthy person that I’d
always imagined was a prerequisite to
the world loving me no what I realized
was that as long as I could keep both my
heart and my mind open to first
identifying and then finding the courage
to tackle my fears that I could continue
to generate these incredible forces of
love from within anytime in anywhere I
and so what about you love machines well
what you love is certainly important I
challenge you to consider what it is
that you fear keeping in mind that what
we fear the most can often be shaded by
mountains of reason is it asking them to
marry you or asking for a raise is it
the rise of homelessness in your city or
traveling to a far-off land like India
or Africa is it having a child coming
out of the closet or signing up for
salsa am i striking any nerves here look
if you’re someone who is so inundated
with love all the time that you couldn’t
possibly handle another ounce of it then
that is awesome but if you’re like me
and sometimes lose that spark to love
even if just for an hour or two I’m
inviting you to join me on a journey and
a revolution back to love and to take
that first vital step towards your fear
any fear big or small for some of you
this may look like offering a kind smile
to a stranger others may want to take a
alternate route home from school worker
this talk and judging by the energy in
this room right now I think it’s fair to
say that many of you are ready to stare
their own personal fire-breathing
dragons right in the eyes so let me ask
you this are you ready and most
importantly what are you afraid of thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
what do you love I asked this question
to 670 people while travelling down in
New Zealand though many of them can
answer most of them took a very long
time so what are you afraid of this they
could all answer and almost immediately
I’ve come a very long ways to be here
today in order to share an idea with you
that I’m incredibly passionate about and
a concept which has completely
revolutionized my life and that is that
what I love and what I fear are
precisely the same thing this simple
concept has transformed me from a
confused and depressed man in his
mid-20s to a guy who travels all around
the planet and set multiple world
records over the past 15 years I’ve kept
inspired with projects like riding my
skateboard all the way across Canada a
massive campaign to raise funds for
breast cancer research or traveling to
rural Malawi where I founded the world’s
first volunteer based paragliding
instruction program or more recently
when I flew my own paraglider over a
thousand kilometres on an unprecedented
but I didn’t do all of these things
because I wanted to know are you crazy I
did all of these things because I was
absolutely terrified to allow me to
explain it all began when I was still
working as a fashion photographer in the
city of Toronto
it’s where I grew up and this is what’s
been my dream job but in recent years it
begun to feel like a bit more of a rut
that I was stuck in still a call in
those days searching the classified
section of the newspaper looking for
that work that would inspire me still
heartbroken after being dumped by my
first girlfriend a few years earlier
would occasionally wander over to that
personal section yet all with that same
sort of aimless hope this one day I’m
sitting on my friend’s couch I’m eating
a bowl of noodles and I’m watching the
television and I see one for the very
first time a paraglider flying through
the air hi is a hot air balloon yet free
as a bird almost simultaneously like a
sort of a a knee-jerk reaction I heard
this little voice in the back of my head
whisper no I say whisper because this
little voice was so common but I barely
even heard it like a sort of a a dull
hum in the background well desperate as
I was for some sort of change in my life
I decided to for the first time in my
life question this little voice and ask
why why was it that I could not do this
thing so I made a list it was too
expensive too dangerous I was too fat I
would likely need a car the list went on
and on and on and to my surprise to my
surprise I had somehow become this
expert on why it was that I could not do
this thing that up until three minutes
ago I didn’t even realize was a thing oh
I took this suspicious list and I walked
over to my computer and I googled every
single item on it only to eventually
cross each of my misconceptions off our
preconceptions as false
when I got to the bottom of that list I
realised that there was only one honest
and true item that belonged on that page
I could barely bring my pen to write it
down I was afraid I had to read it back
to myself several times cuz I just
couldn’t handle the truth of it and you
see I wasn’t taking issue with being
afraid no I’m afraid of lots of things
taxis fire-breathing dragons well-made
infomercials about incredible new food
processors
I was taking issue with the fact that I
had to make up all of those BS reasons
in order to disguise for myself the very
fact that I was afraid and so as a
punishment of sorts I took out my credit
card
I googled paragliding schools and I
signed up for the very first course I
could find two weeks later I was down in
New Zealand I held my breath and I ran
off my very first cliff to my
astonishment I was overcome with a surge
of emotions that I could only relate to
skipping home from my very first date
and as I floated through the air
time began to slow down all around me I
could begin to see what was happening
that I couldn’t believe it I was falling
once my course is over I had two more
months to kill before my flight home so
from a book I was reading I got the idea
to hitchhike around the entire country
Wow
I’d never hitchhiked before and that
first morning I remembered not wanting
to get out of my tent terrified the idea
of standing on the side of the road
people driving by yelling dumb hippie ah
this is nonsense for crying out loud I
run off cliffs for goodness sakes I can
stand on the side of the road for a bit
so I did the first car whizzed right on
past I was rejected mortified reduced to
a miserable pile of fur then the second
car had already stopped little old lady
inside yelling well you’re coming in a
so cool she took me to her house for tea
and cookies and then told me way out of
her way in order to get me where I was
going I still recall that moment when
she peeled out of that parking lot and
left me standing there in complete and
utter silence but with this buzzing sort
of aura glowing all around me filled
with those same fuzzy feelings that I’d
had while learning to paraglide a
sensation that I could only describe to
you as if standing in the exact center
of a pulsing radiant ball of raw and
pure love but was this love for this 85
year old woman her selfless act or could
it have possibly been for myself love
myself whoa whoa whoa whoa this is
starting to sound like some sort of
hippy dippy self-help talk absolutely no
way uh-uh but it was true as if every
single cell in my body had somehow
instantly flipped from a negative
alignment to a positive one something
was up and I was determined to get to
the bottom of it
so that night in my tent there call just
laying there and thinking ah all right
I came here because I was afraid to fly
all of a sudden two weeks later on this
Birdman fallen for little old ladies
what’s changed I’m still that same
chubby know-it-all photographer from
Toronto
still terrified to talk to girls or cook
anything beyond the scope of Kraft
Dinner could these new feelings of love
possibly be just be my succeeding in
areas I’d previously been afraid of well
the very next day I was flying along the
coast and I just happened to have landed
my brand-new paraglider beside an
incredibly beautiful young lady
intimidated as I was I realized that
this was the perfect opportunity for me
to test this new theory
so I asked her out on a gate you’ll
never guess what she’s earned she’s not
yes and so in this flurry of confused
emotions similar to this new kind of
radiant love that I’ve been feeling I
ran off to find food for supper
that’s me running don’t judge and
unfortunately in New Zealand our craft
dinner is not as popular in the southern
hemisphere as it is up here and so I was
forced to up my game and by actual
noodles with real cheese and as an
appetizer the best box of red wine later
that evening
we met up at my tent I poured us both
the glass and that was boiling those
macaroni noodles like a pro when that
cheese began to melt you know it was
getting hot I shall recall looking over
at her with that box of wine still half
tilted over my right thigh I’m thinking
it is now or never and I looked up at
her and in my most very white like tone
and she looked back into mine I was
trying so hard not to blink but try and
made it even harder like my iris is
going through a carwash I said to me
needless to say Barry White had an
incredibly awkward rest of the evening
but the following morning greater than
his cheap Merlot hangover were those
incredible feelings that he felt before
that girl a girl was long gone he had
failed but those feelings of love those
feelings of love or still right there
see they had nothing to do with that
girl or the outcome of that evening no
those feelings of love had exclusively
to do with Barry around me in this
instance facing my fear and then
it was in that moment that I had the
most profound and significant
realization of my life that within my
darkest fears lay the potential for my
greatest love and that these opposing
words were in fact just two definitions
for the exact same chemical reactions
occurring in my brain excitement only
that I used the word fear to describe
these feelings of excitement where
outcomes were unknown or imagined and
loved to describe that exact same
excitement but once or where outcomes
were known I wanted more love in my life
and I became fascinated with this
concept I realized then that I no longer
needed to become this exceedingly
successful or wealthy person that I’d
always imagined was a prerequisite to
the world loving me no what I realized
was that as long as I could keep both my
heart and my mind open to first
identifying and then finding the courage
to tackle my fears that I could continue
to generate these incredible forces of
love from within anytime in anywhere I
and so what about you love machines well
what you love is certainly important I
challenge you to consider what it is
that you fear keeping in mind that what
we fear the most can often be shaded by
mountains of reason is it asking them to
marry you or asking for a raise is it
the rise of homelessness in your city or
traveling to a far-off land like India
or Africa is it having a child coming
out of the closet or signing up for
salsa am i striking any nerves here look
if you’re someone who is so inundated
with love all the time that you couldn’t
possibly handle another ounce of it then
that is awesome but if you’re like me
and sometimes lose that spark to love
even if just for an hour or two I’m
inviting you to join me on a journey and
a revolution back to love and to take
that first vital step towards your fear
any fear big or small for some of you
this may look like offering a kind smile
to a stranger others may want to take a
alternate route home from school worker
this talk and judging by the energy in
this room right now I think it’s fair to
say that many of you are ready to stare
their own personal fire-breathing
dragons right in the eyes so let me ask
you this are you ready and most
importantly what are you afraid of thank
you
[Applause] [Music]
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