[Music]
we haven’t been able to guess already
I’m American and like most females
growing up in the 80s and 90s in America
i religiously watched The Oprah Winfrey
Show I loved her in fact I kind of
thought we should be frightened we both
like dogs and the other thing was is
that I really wanted her to teach me how
to have an aha moment if you don’t know
what an aha moment is merriam-webster’s
actually put it in their decks and
dictionary thanks to her and their
definition is it’s a moment of sudden
realization inspiration insight
recognition or comprehension and I
figured yeah that’s something I could do
why not with her help but the next thing
that happen it’s her and Eckhart Tolle
they got together and they kind of dug a
little deeper they decided that an aha
moment was some sort of spiritual
awakening when something outside of you
resonates or something deep inside of
you that was dormant now I had a little
bit of an issue with this because I’m
not the most spiritual person you’ve
ever met
however I’m very competitive so I
figured I could still have this type of
moment as long as I ago she ated with
spirituality just to sit as it died and
let me go forward the other thing with
being a competitive is I really didn’t
want to have a small aha moment I wanted
something pretty big I didn’t want one
of these daily things where you’re
driving to work and you get caught in a
ton of traffic and you kind of get all
aggro and then you think the universe is
trying to tell you you need to practice
your patience no that’s not what I was
looking for so today I’m gonna tell you
how I did get my aha moment and in hopes
that maybe some of you can follow suit
but for me my moment led to the
following it led to quitting my job
starting an animal rescue immersing
myself in Indian culture and blowing all
of my savings now as you can see the
last one is not recommended
I didn’t want to be like so what
happened it was about 2008 I was turning
40 and life was good
ish I mean I was living in Boulder
Colorado I was snowboarding on the
weekend I had a good job I had great
friends but I still felt something kind
of gnawing inside of me something that I
felt like I had to be doing there had to
be something more to do in my life so
one day I met a friend of a friend
someone who I had never met before
and I was just sort of talking to him
and he said to me you know what if you
really want to fuck with your head go to
anything so guess what I don’t know if I
had any sort of spiritual awakening at
that point in time but I did know that I
did have to go to India to fuck with my
head so six months later I went now a
lot of my friends we’re like what’s
gonna happen I mean India is the land of
spirituality and yoga and gurus and
meditation it sounds pretty peaceful and
I was like let me be the first to
enlighten you it may be all of that but
it also is the land of honking pollution
poverty and limited personal space all
of which was very shocking to my
American psyche however what really
really shocked me the most was the
amount and the condition of the dogs
living on the street I had been to other
Dell developing countries but I’d never
seen anything quite like this everywhere
I turned it felt like I was seeing
shaking dying puppies in one corner and
dogs you know fighting for a scrap of
food scrap or garbage on the ground and
it was heartbreaking I was really
worried about this one dog in particular
that lived right near the preschool
where I volunteered every day and he was
missing a lot of fur he was scabby and
bloody and even the kids and the
preschool would throw rocks at him and I
was just horrified I just didn’t
understand what was going on I started
asking people who live nearby if there’s
anyone to call there was anyone that
could do something to help this dog and
I was
met with indifference I was met with
either being ignored shoulder shrugs
maybe a little head wobble and I just I
just felt helpless
but luckily somehow on my trip there I
met a man who actually was gathering
volunteers to give treatments to the
street dogs in need so I told him about
this dog and he promised to go visit and
see if there was anything they can do so
a few days later I’m going to the
preschool for my volunteer placement and
this one guy comes running up to me
super animated he’s like ma’am ma’am
Tommy he’s doing great
I’m like who in the world is Tommy and
he’s like the dog the dog you called
about you know my sister’s giving him
medicine thanks for the doctor and he’s
feeding him and I’m like what the dog
you couldn’t care less about two weeks
ago it has a name and you guys are
taking care of it I was just very happy
but just completely dumbfounded and my
head just started spinning like how did
this happen um just because I opened my
big mouth and asked him question you
know it made a huge shift and someone’s
thoughts about a stray dog and it may be
save this dog’s life I was just thinking
did India just fuck with my head yes yes
it did and I actually recorded this at
the time with this lovely selfie to
remember how I felt during this time
period now around now I hated to admit
it but Eckhart Tolle and Oprah were
probably right it’s hard to have a
moment like this and not have some sort
of spiritual awakening I still hesitate
to use that word because I don’t like it
but that is what happened something
really deep within me resonated and I
knew that I needed to do everything in
my power to help the stray dogs of
Dharamsala and I also wanted to do it by
helping to change the viewpoint of the
locals about these dogs I’d seen it
happen once and I wanted to see if we
could keep repeating this action
what happened is that my competitive
side teamed up with my newfound
spiritual side and flew myself back to
America to see how I could get started
so I get back to America and I’m telling
all my friends and family about my time
in India and what I’m gonna do and of
course they all think I’m absolutely
bonkers you know what are you talking
about Deb you’re gonna do what
so my spiritual gut really didn’t waver
I knew this was something I had to do
however the competitive side of me
definitely was taking a beating and I
started to think you know who the hell
do I think I am what do I know about
starting a charity in India what do I
really know about saving animals so
coming from a sales type background I’d
been through many training and I found
this quote from Dale Carnegie about fear
and it goes as follows an action breeds
doubt and fear action breeds confidence
and courage if you want to conquer fear
do not sit home and think about it go
out and get busy so that’s what I did I
went to India so today when people meet
me the first question they ask is like
how in the world did you end up in India
starting an animal rescue and now you
guys know and somehow I was capable to
find the resources and the people to
help me get moving and what I also
realized is that there were many locals
it really didn’t want to help the stray
dogs but they just had no idea on how to
go about it so I wanted to just support
them in any way I can or any way I could
so that they could be the true agents of
change and there’s this community and
here are some of those folks these guys
are here
they’re working everyday in the
community looking back at my experience
with Tommy I realized that the family
learned that dogs can bring happiness
love and affection just by giving them
food and by giving them care I realized
that when you treat Stan’s stray animals
as part of the community as opposed to
unwanted pests that is when the true
magic happens it is the realization that
the stray animal population can be
managed with compassion and education
instead of neglecting cruelty in the
past nine years of mounting this human
canine connection happened a thousand
more time we’ve realized that when the
locals have a number to call to call
about when a dog sick and when it needs
a rabies vaccine when it needs surgery
the connection develops so much so that
today we even have many families that
adopt these stray dogs into their home
like their cat
what’s even happened is one of our
rescues has become a celebrity of his
own and he has his own Instagram page
[Laughter]
all joking aside let me leave you with
these three things what he kind of
strayed they didn’t ask to be stray and
you may just find a new best friend to
taking even the smallest step asking
even the littlest question can lead to
change and yes change can happen because
I’ve seen it with my own eyes and lastly
I leave you and encourage you to step
into fear and fuck with your head and
you may just find your true heart
you
[Applause]
we haven’t been able to guess already
I’m American and like most females
growing up in the 80s and 90s in America
i religiously watched The Oprah Winfrey
Show I loved her in fact I kind of
thought we should be frightened we both
like dogs and the other thing was is
that I really wanted her to teach me how
to have an aha moment if you don’t know
what an aha moment is merriam-webster’s
actually put it in their decks and
dictionary thanks to her and their
definition is it’s a moment of sudden
realization inspiration insight
recognition or comprehension and I
figured yeah that’s something I could do
why not with her help but the next thing
that happen it’s her and Eckhart Tolle
they got together and they kind of dug a
little deeper they decided that an aha
moment was some sort of spiritual
awakening when something outside of you
resonates or something deep inside of
you that was dormant now I had a little
bit of an issue with this because I’m
not the most spiritual person you’ve
ever met
however I’m very competitive so I
figured I could still have this type of
moment as long as I ago she ated with
spirituality just to sit as it died and
let me go forward the other thing with
being a competitive is I really didn’t
want to have a small aha moment I wanted
something pretty big I didn’t want one
of these daily things where you’re
driving to work and you get caught in a
ton of traffic and you kind of get all
aggro and then you think the universe is
trying to tell you you need to practice
your patience no that’s not what I was
looking for so today I’m gonna tell you
how I did get my aha moment and in hopes
that maybe some of you can follow suit
but for me my moment led to the
following it led to quitting my job
starting an animal rescue immersing
myself in Indian culture and blowing all
of my savings now as you can see the
last one is not recommended
I didn’t want to be like so what
happened it was about 2008 I was turning
40 and life was good
ish I mean I was living in Boulder
Colorado I was snowboarding on the
weekend I had a good job I had great
friends but I still felt something kind
of gnawing inside of me something that I
felt like I had to be doing there had to
be something more to do in my life so
one day I met a friend of a friend
someone who I had never met before
and I was just sort of talking to him
and he said to me you know what if you
really want to fuck with your head go to
anything so guess what I don’t know if I
had any sort of spiritual awakening at
that point in time but I did know that I
did have to go to India to fuck with my
head so six months later I went now a
lot of my friends we’re like what’s
gonna happen I mean India is the land of
spirituality and yoga and gurus and
meditation it sounds pretty peaceful and
I was like let me be the first to
enlighten you it may be all of that but
it also is the land of honking pollution
poverty and limited personal space all
of which was very shocking to my
American psyche however what really
really shocked me the most was the
amount and the condition of the dogs
living on the street I had been to other
Dell developing countries but I’d never
seen anything quite like this everywhere
I turned it felt like I was seeing
shaking dying puppies in one corner and
dogs you know fighting for a scrap of
food scrap or garbage on the ground and
it was heartbreaking I was really
worried about this one dog in particular
that lived right near the preschool
where I volunteered every day and he was
missing a lot of fur he was scabby and
bloody and even the kids and the
preschool would throw rocks at him and I
was just horrified I just didn’t
understand what was going on I started
asking people who live nearby if there’s
anyone to call there was anyone that
could do something to help this dog and
I was
met with indifference I was met with
either being ignored shoulder shrugs
maybe a little head wobble and I just I
just felt helpless
but luckily somehow on my trip there I
met a man who actually was gathering
volunteers to give treatments to the
street dogs in need so I told him about
this dog and he promised to go visit and
see if there was anything they can do so
a few days later I’m going to the
preschool for my volunteer placement and
this one guy comes running up to me
super animated he’s like ma’am ma’am
Tommy he’s doing great
I’m like who in the world is Tommy and
he’s like the dog the dog you called
about you know my sister’s giving him
medicine thanks for the doctor and he’s
feeding him and I’m like what the dog
you couldn’t care less about two weeks
ago it has a name and you guys are
taking care of it I was just very happy
but just completely dumbfounded and my
head just started spinning like how did
this happen um just because I opened my
big mouth and asked him question you
know it made a huge shift and someone’s
thoughts about a stray dog and it may be
save this dog’s life I was just thinking
did India just fuck with my head yes yes
it did and I actually recorded this at
the time with this lovely selfie to
remember how I felt during this time
period now around now I hated to admit
it but Eckhart Tolle and Oprah were
probably right it’s hard to have a
moment like this and not have some sort
of spiritual awakening I still hesitate
to use that word because I don’t like it
but that is what happened something
really deep within me resonated and I
knew that I needed to do everything in
my power to help the stray dogs of
Dharamsala and I also wanted to do it by
helping to change the viewpoint of the
locals about these dogs I’d seen it
happen once and I wanted to see if we
could keep repeating this action
what happened is that my competitive
side teamed up with my newfound
spiritual side and flew myself back to
America to see how I could get started
so I get back to America and I’m telling
all my friends and family about my time
in India and what I’m gonna do and of
course they all think I’m absolutely
bonkers you know what are you talking
about Deb you’re gonna do what
so my spiritual gut really didn’t waver
I knew this was something I had to do
however the competitive side of me
definitely was taking a beating and I
started to think you know who the hell
do I think I am what do I know about
starting a charity in India what do I
really know about saving animals so
coming from a sales type background I’d
been through many training and I found
this quote from Dale Carnegie about fear
and it goes as follows an action breeds
doubt and fear action breeds confidence
and courage if you want to conquer fear
do not sit home and think about it go
out and get busy so that’s what I did I
went to India so today when people meet
me the first question they ask is like
how in the world did you end up in India
starting an animal rescue and now you
guys know and somehow I was capable to
find the resources and the people to
help me get moving and what I also
realized is that there were many locals
it really didn’t want to help the stray
dogs but they just had no idea on how to
go about it so I wanted to just support
them in any way I can or any way I could
so that they could be the true agents of
change and there’s this community and
here are some of those folks these guys
are here
they’re working everyday in the
community looking back at my experience
with Tommy I realized that the family
learned that dogs can bring happiness
love and affection just by giving them
food and by giving them care I realized
that when you treat Stan’s stray animals
as part of the community as opposed to
unwanted pests that is when the true
magic happens it is the realization that
the stray animal population can be
managed with compassion and education
instead of neglecting cruelty in the
past nine years of mounting this human
canine connection happened a thousand
more time we’ve realized that when the
locals have a number to call to call
about when a dog sick and when it needs
a rabies vaccine when it needs surgery
the connection develops so much so that
today we even have many families that
adopt these stray dogs into their home
like their cat
what’s even happened is one of our
rescues has become a celebrity of his
own and he has his own Instagram page
[Laughter]
all joking aside let me leave you with
these three things what he kind of
strayed they didn’t ask to be stray and
you may just find a new best friend to
taking even the smallest step asking
even the littlest question can lead to
change and yes change can happen because
I’ve seen it with my own eyes and lastly
I leave you and encourage you to step
into fear and fuck with your head and
you may just find your true heart
you
[Applause]
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