[Applause]
hello everybody
you gotta excuse me I’m a little nervous
I’m not gonna lie I first want to just
thank everybody for being here today
it is such an honor if I cry please
excuse that I’m so grateful it’s so
funny that’s the topic today I’m so
grateful and thankful to be here this is
my first formal stage I I did the
volunteering for the classroom and it’s
just so different for me because it’s so
intimate and I’ve probably been in that
class before because I attended the
school so it’s a little bit more
comfortable so standing here today with
all of you guys staring at me is kind of
amazing and scary and exciting all at
the same time so I do want to thank you
all for being here today
my name is crystal Walden I’m the owner
and the founder of crystal spa spa that
I started 12 years ago I want to thank
you CLA TEDx UCLA salon for even
choosing me and even having me here with
you guys today it’s funny because I’ve
had a couple I’ve had a little rough
time in the last couple of years and
when I asked to talk about gratitude it
really made me you know sit down and
think about what I’m grateful for all
over again I’ve had some failures I’ve
had some success and I had to sit down
and think about my success again and it
was actually refreshing to look at the
little milestones a little baby steps
that I’ve taken so far just to even get
here and make my mind get off of where I
thought I should be so what I did was I
know what gratitude is you know my
common sense knows what the basic
definition of gratitude is but actually
wanted to look it up in the dictionary
and make sure I didn’t miss anything
so when I looked it up
simple it says the quality of being
thankful the readiness to show
appreciation for and to retrieve turn
kindness what I didn’t realize is the
quality of being grateful I used to
think of the quantity of being grateful
all the things that you have like all
the degrees maybe or all the money in
your bank account or something of that
nature but the I used to think of
quantity I didn’t realize it was really
about the quality of how grateful you
are how rude it how deeply grateful you
are how big is your heart for what
you’re doing even if you’re doing
something small like feeding the
homeless like that’s really not small
but to some people they may think that’s
small but that’s really big is huge so
the quality not the quantity of what
you’re grateful for so
so I asked Mike myself what am I really
truly honestly grateful for and the
funny thing how corny it may sound is
life in itself seriously just life just
breathing just waking up just being here
so if you can join me I would ask you
guys to all please close your eyes take
a moment to bring yourself into the room
and just feel your own body
notice how without even thinking about
it without even commanding it your
breathing your body is taking in the
breath in this room inhaling and your
body is exhaling notice how you’re
sitting comfortably into the chair you
may feel your heart beating you may feel
your nerves tingling that’s life in your
body you can open up your eyes that’s
what I’m grateful for just that simple
thing to breathe your body is your heart
is pumping you’re not telling it to to
pump the blood through your veins to get
your muscles to work to get your organs
to work your nerves are tingling without
you telling it to to even be able to
move your body to be able to blink to be
able to cry to be able to walk that’s
what I’m truly honestly grateful for it
took me thirty nine years to get to this
place I say that I think my model my
little slogan is the human body life in
itself is the greatest creation that
this planet has ever seen
we’re always mesmerized by the cell
phone the computers iPad technology in
itself but we forget about ourselves you
are the most greatest thing that has
happened to this world the human body
it’s amazing it’s it
and science can’t even explain every
parts of it yet everyday we’re
discovering something new about the
human body about you who you are mind
body and soul I want to start with the
mind first mentally I we are very
intelligent creatures we are gifted the
ability to be dreamers innovators and
revolutionize errs I’m most grateful for
the dreams that are given to me I
realized that I didn’t do that I don’t
come up with these ideas I don’t come up
with the goals in my life they come to
me they come to me and I’m a believer of
God they come to me through him it’s my
first dream was to be a Olympic gold
medalist I used I ran track here a long
time ago no one say when I ran the
hundred that’s you under in the 4×1 and
my first dream was to be a gold medalist
that’s what got me here at UCLA the
first time over the years I’ve had
injuries so you know I was kind of
Dibble and dabble and multitasking so I
was an athlete and I had all these jobs
and you know I discovered that you I
didn’t want to have my eggs in one
basket so you know I doubled and dabbled
and when my track career wasn’t going as
according to plan I jumped into the
corporate life and the corporate life
gave me such a rich experience it
actually helped me that experience
helped me develop my own business as it
is today I was grateful to start off
when I was in high school working for
lady footlocker and guess where I got my
first taste of being in the retail world
and I love people so it wasn’t really
about the clothes it was about the
people that I met and you know got to
know and that’s how I dressed you I
dressed basically how I met you and your
personality and your colors that you
like or whatever so that’s what made me
successful at that particular area I
went on to be so grateful to get a job
at Macy’s I was on the retail floor and
I tried to quit my last year because I
wanted to my
in college because I wanted to give all
my focus into my track career just to
make sure like I gave it my all before I
had to hang up my track cleats but Macy
said no we don’t want you to quit and I
was like okay but I have to and so they
made it where I didn’t quit they said
well we’ll give you a corporate job you
know back then my age my parents is like
they give you a corporate job they offer
you just say yes you don’t say no
because you just never know you know you
graduate from college and you’re unsure
so I couldn’t say no they were very you
know flexible with my schedule so I you
know I said okay and I was lucky to you
know experience being a buyer at Macy’s
it was amazing experience it was a great
experience I had money like it was
nobody’s business 20 years old where one
cheque went to bill the other check I
have fun wit didn’t know nothing about
savings wish someone would have told me
but it was a great experience learning
how to create a business because that’s
what you’re doing as a buyer you’re
running a business advertising marketing
sales being on the floor merchandising
you’re doing everything as a buyer
you’re in with in Macy’s you’re you have
your own business
so I was lucky to go to New York and you
know experience some of those vendors
that you see up there and it was a
wonderful wonderful experience so if so
I’m grateful to just have the dream that
I wanted to do something amazing that I
wanted to make my parents proud and have
that dream corporate job physically I
think that we are creators of nature who
are gifted the ability to consciously
and subconsciously function in this
world pushing ourselves to the greatest
limit so going back to my track career
like I said I wanted to be a track
athlete and you know I had stress
fractures that into my career and for a
long time I was really really kind of
sad about that deeply sad I didn’t talk
about it a lot to my friends but I was
really sad about it’s it’s you know even
to this day it’s a little hard for me to
even watch the Olympics because my
friends are
still in it you know some of our friends
have gold medals and I just kind of
thought to myself like dang that should
have been me I wish that was me why
couldn’t that be me
and I realized that it wasn’t me for a
reason if it wasn’t for my injuries I
wouldn’t have created crystals fall in
the first place
I wouldn’t have had this burning passion
and desire to help other people heal
when they’re injured and it doesn’t have
to be a athletic injury it could be I
went to the you know went skiing and
then I had a skiing accident or you know
I took a yoga class or a CrossFit class
or simple walking like just anything
just helping people heal their body
again is what my failure in track birth
that desire and that passion so I’m
really grateful for that and that’s what
made me create crystal spa and make me
be in that industry of healing of
healing not just the physicality but the
mind the body and the spirit
spiritually I think we’re all connected
as one who have the gift and the ability
to love which allows us to experience
our maximum strength my first love my
first experience of unconditional love
was my mother she’s in heaven right now
and every time I think about her and
think about that love that a mother
gives that loves you no matter what you
know literally no matter what that you
do that love is priceless you can get
that love from your mom your father your
girlfriend your brother your sister you
can get that love from anybody but to
have that love it can take you anywhere
they say people do the craziest thing
for love they usually mean on
relationships but it is true like if I
didn’t have the love of my mother and
the love of my friends and a love of my
brother the love of my family period I
don’t think I would be here today with
you guys
you know having that having people to
cheer you on and to tell you you can do
it even when you fall and scrape your
knee but
have someone say you can you get back up
and you can do it you can whatever your
dream is you can do it it does take a
while that’s one thing that I did I have
learned it it’s it’s a growth it’s a
growth and you take baby steps to make
your dreams come true one of my things
is don’t get frustrated I got frustrated
because as of right now i’ma say I’ve
already said my age I’m 39 I thought I
would be married with some kids and a
dog
a mansion three or four or five cars I
don’t know you know so for a while like
a track athlete don’t forget about that
one get a gold medal I was gonna get a
couple of them but okay you know I for a
long time because I’m not at those I’m
not where I just mentioned I was really
sad about that I’m not gonna lie I was
really sad trying to determine what am I
here for like I don’t understand like I
study really hard I practice really hard
I stay up all night sometimes I don’t
sleep to make all these things that I
thought that I had set out to do and
then I realized that sometimes life
makes you go down a different path for a
reason so although I wasn’t able to make
all those things happen I had that
experience to try to make it happen and
it has led me to other more meaningful
things because there’s nothing wrong
with the dreams that I have but that
life wouldn’t have been as great as this
life I can’t really express to you in
words how thankful I am to be here with
all of you guys that I hope that
anything that I said in the last ten
minutes has inspired you to keep going
to never give up on your dreams to know
that you have the power to make it come
true even if it’s not in the fashion
which you think and the road takes you
somewhere else your dreams will come
true although I’m not an athlete Olympic
gold medalist I get to work with Olympic
gold medalist they’re my clients they’re
my friends I’ve been you know part of
the Olympics in itself not as an athlete
but as
a provider for the athletes so my dream
did kind of come true just in a
different way so to sum it up I’m
grateful for life mind body and soul
it’s a precious gift
please remember that you’re more
valuable than your phone your computer
it’s be yourself be exactly who you are
don’t let anybody take that away from
you be authentic be who you dream to be
don’t stop your dreams keep going even
if you fall scrape your knee keep going
get back up it will happen it may take a
year it may take ten years it may take
twenty years but as long as you have
breath in your life in your body and you
have life keep going there are people
out there that are 80 years old going
back to college and getting their
master’s degree if they can do it you
can do it so don’t stop thank you
you
hello everybody
you gotta excuse me I’m a little nervous
I’m not gonna lie I first want to just
thank everybody for being here today
it is such an honor if I cry please
excuse that I’m so grateful it’s so
funny that’s the topic today I’m so
grateful and thankful to be here this is
my first formal stage I I did the
volunteering for the classroom and it’s
just so different for me because it’s so
intimate and I’ve probably been in that
class before because I attended the
school so it’s a little bit more
comfortable so standing here today with
all of you guys staring at me is kind of
amazing and scary and exciting all at
the same time so I do want to thank you
all for being here today
my name is crystal Walden I’m the owner
and the founder of crystal spa spa that
I started 12 years ago I want to thank
you CLA TEDx UCLA salon for even
choosing me and even having me here with
you guys today it’s funny because I’ve
had a couple I’ve had a little rough
time in the last couple of years and
when I asked to talk about gratitude it
really made me you know sit down and
think about what I’m grateful for all
over again I’ve had some failures I’ve
had some success and I had to sit down
and think about my success again and it
was actually refreshing to look at the
little milestones a little baby steps
that I’ve taken so far just to even get
here and make my mind get off of where I
thought I should be so what I did was I
know what gratitude is you know my
common sense knows what the basic
definition of gratitude is but actually
wanted to look it up in the dictionary
and make sure I didn’t miss anything
so when I looked it up
simple it says the quality of being
thankful the readiness to show
appreciation for and to retrieve turn
kindness what I didn’t realize is the
quality of being grateful I used to
think of the quantity of being grateful
all the things that you have like all
the degrees maybe or all the money in
your bank account or something of that
nature but the I used to think of
quantity I didn’t realize it was really
about the quality of how grateful you
are how rude it how deeply grateful you
are how big is your heart for what
you’re doing even if you’re doing
something small like feeding the
homeless like that’s really not small
but to some people they may think that’s
small but that’s really big is huge so
the quality not the quantity of what
you’re grateful for so
so I asked Mike myself what am I really
truly honestly grateful for and the
funny thing how corny it may sound is
life in itself seriously just life just
breathing just waking up just being here
so if you can join me I would ask you
guys to all please close your eyes take
a moment to bring yourself into the room
and just feel your own body
notice how without even thinking about
it without even commanding it your
breathing your body is taking in the
breath in this room inhaling and your
body is exhaling notice how you’re
sitting comfortably into the chair you
may feel your heart beating you may feel
your nerves tingling that’s life in your
body you can open up your eyes that’s
what I’m grateful for just that simple
thing to breathe your body is your heart
is pumping you’re not telling it to to
pump the blood through your veins to get
your muscles to work to get your organs
to work your nerves are tingling without
you telling it to to even be able to
move your body to be able to blink to be
able to cry to be able to walk that’s
what I’m truly honestly grateful for it
took me thirty nine years to get to this
place I say that I think my model my
little slogan is the human body life in
itself is the greatest creation that
this planet has ever seen
we’re always mesmerized by the cell
phone the computers iPad technology in
itself but we forget about ourselves you
are the most greatest thing that has
happened to this world the human body
it’s amazing it’s it
and science can’t even explain every
parts of it yet everyday we’re
discovering something new about the
human body about you who you are mind
body and soul I want to start with the
mind first mentally I we are very
intelligent creatures we are gifted the
ability to be dreamers innovators and
revolutionize errs I’m most grateful for
the dreams that are given to me I
realized that I didn’t do that I don’t
come up with these ideas I don’t come up
with the goals in my life they come to
me they come to me and I’m a believer of
God they come to me through him it’s my
first dream was to be a Olympic gold
medalist I used I ran track here a long
time ago no one say when I ran the
hundred that’s you under in the 4×1 and
my first dream was to be a gold medalist
that’s what got me here at UCLA the
first time over the years I’ve had
injuries so you know I was kind of
Dibble and dabble and multitasking so I
was an athlete and I had all these jobs
and you know I discovered that you I
didn’t want to have my eggs in one
basket so you know I doubled and dabbled
and when my track career wasn’t going as
according to plan I jumped into the
corporate life and the corporate life
gave me such a rich experience it
actually helped me that experience
helped me develop my own business as it
is today I was grateful to start off
when I was in high school working for
lady footlocker and guess where I got my
first taste of being in the retail world
and I love people so it wasn’t really
about the clothes it was about the
people that I met and you know got to
know and that’s how I dressed you I
dressed basically how I met you and your
personality and your colors that you
like or whatever so that’s what made me
successful at that particular area I
went on to be so grateful to get a job
at Macy’s I was on the retail floor and
I tried to quit my last year because I
wanted to my
in college because I wanted to give all
my focus into my track career just to
make sure like I gave it my all before I
had to hang up my track cleats but Macy
said no we don’t want you to quit and I
was like okay but I have to and so they
made it where I didn’t quit they said
well we’ll give you a corporate job you
know back then my age my parents is like
they give you a corporate job they offer
you just say yes you don’t say no
because you just never know you know you
graduate from college and you’re unsure
so I couldn’t say no they were very you
know flexible with my schedule so I you
know I said okay and I was lucky to you
know experience being a buyer at Macy’s
it was amazing experience it was a great
experience I had money like it was
nobody’s business 20 years old where one
cheque went to bill the other check I
have fun wit didn’t know nothing about
savings wish someone would have told me
but it was a great experience learning
how to create a business because that’s
what you’re doing as a buyer you’re
running a business advertising marketing
sales being on the floor merchandising
you’re doing everything as a buyer
you’re in with in Macy’s you’re you have
your own business
so I was lucky to go to New York and you
know experience some of those vendors
that you see up there and it was a
wonderful wonderful experience so if so
I’m grateful to just have the dream that
I wanted to do something amazing that I
wanted to make my parents proud and have
that dream corporate job physically I
think that we are creators of nature who
are gifted the ability to consciously
and subconsciously function in this
world pushing ourselves to the greatest
limit so going back to my track career
like I said I wanted to be a track
athlete and you know I had stress
fractures that into my career and for a
long time I was really really kind of
sad about that deeply sad I didn’t talk
about it a lot to my friends but I was
really sad about it’s it’s you know even
to this day it’s a little hard for me to
even watch the Olympics because my
friends are
still in it you know some of our friends
have gold medals and I just kind of
thought to myself like dang that should
have been me I wish that was me why
couldn’t that be me
and I realized that it wasn’t me for a
reason if it wasn’t for my injuries I
wouldn’t have created crystals fall in
the first place
I wouldn’t have had this burning passion
and desire to help other people heal
when they’re injured and it doesn’t have
to be a athletic injury it could be I
went to the you know went skiing and
then I had a skiing accident or you know
I took a yoga class or a CrossFit class
or simple walking like just anything
just helping people heal their body
again is what my failure in track birth
that desire and that passion so I’m
really grateful for that and that’s what
made me create crystal spa and make me
be in that industry of healing of
healing not just the physicality but the
mind the body and the spirit
spiritually I think we’re all connected
as one who have the gift and the ability
to love which allows us to experience
our maximum strength my first love my
first experience of unconditional love
was my mother she’s in heaven right now
and every time I think about her and
think about that love that a mother
gives that loves you no matter what you
know literally no matter what that you
do that love is priceless you can get
that love from your mom your father your
girlfriend your brother your sister you
can get that love from anybody but to
have that love it can take you anywhere
they say people do the craziest thing
for love they usually mean on
relationships but it is true like if I
didn’t have the love of my mother and
the love of my friends and a love of my
brother the love of my family period I
don’t think I would be here today with
you guys
you know having that having people to
cheer you on and to tell you you can do
it even when you fall and scrape your
knee but
have someone say you can you get back up
and you can do it you can whatever your
dream is you can do it it does take a
while that’s one thing that I did I have
learned it it’s it’s a growth it’s a
growth and you take baby steps to make
your dreams come true one of my things
is don’t get frustrated I got frustrated
because as of right now i’ma say I’ve
already said my age I’m 39 I thought I
would be married with some kids and a
dog
a mansion three or four or five cars I
don’t know you know so for a while like
a track athlete don’t forget about that
one get a gold medal I was gonna get a
couple of them but okay you know I for a
long time because I’m not at those I’m
not where I just mentioned I was really
sad about that I’m not gonna lie I was
really sad trying to determine what am I
here for like I don’t understand like I
study really hard I practice really hard
I stay up all night sometimes I don’t
sleep to make all these things that I
thought that I had set out to do and
then I realized that sometimes life
makes you go down a different path for a
reason so although I wasn’t able to make
all those things happen I had that
experience to try to make it happen and
it has led me to other more meaningful
things because there’s nothing wrong
with the dreams that I have but that
life wouldn’t have been as great as this
life I can’t really express to you in
words how thankful I am to be here with
all of you guys that I hope that
anything that I said in the last ten
minutes has inspired you to keep going
to never give up on your dreams to know
that you have the power to make it come
true even if it’s not in the fashion
which you think and the road takes you
somewhere else your dreams will come
true although I’m not an athlete Olympic
gold medalist I get to work with Olympic
gold medalist they’re my clients they’re
my friends I’ve been you know part of
the Olympics in itself not as an athlete
but as
a provider for the athletes so my dream
did kind of come true just in a
different way so to sum it up I’m
grateful for life mind body and soul
it’s a precious gift
please remember that you’re more
valuable than your phone your computer
it’s be yourself be exactly who you are
don’t let anybody take that away from
you be authentic be who you dream to be
don’t stop your dreams keep going even
if you fall scrape your knee keep going
get back up it will happen it may take a
year it may take ten years it may take
twenty years but as long as you have
breath in your life in your body and you
have life keep going there are people
out there that are 80 years old going
back to college and getting their
master’s degree if they can do it you
can do it so don’t stop thank you
you
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