good morning everybody today I want to
address those of you who care about
freedom those of you who see a benefit
in living a life free from the
limitations of the mind so let me take
you on a journey to open you up to new
ideas and new ways of seeing that will
allow you to get a different
understanding of your own life
experience your fears and the stress
that they create do not only impact your
personal freedom and happiness but they
can also influence the way that you
respond to changes in the outside world
and at the most basic level everyone has
the same kinds of fears you either fear
that something that you don’t want to
change will change sometime or you do
want something to change and your fear
that it won’t my observation is that
people increasingly fear the changes
that are happening in the outside world
while they become one we’re disconnected
from themselves and I would like to
introduce an idea a technique that has
been around for quite some time actually
that can help each individual to be more
calm and relaxed to get a sense of
direction in life and to be less afraid
of the happenings that are going on in
our world and this technique is the
practice of meditation now that’s the
short answer but here’s the in-depth
answer the research on meditation has
exploded ever since we entered our
current millennium and the effects that
this practice has on the human body and
mind are flat-out incredible you can
find studies from universities like
Harvard Harvard Medical School and
healthcare institutions all around the
world on the benefits of meditation that
are being uncovered so what happens in
meditation in meditation you tune out of
what’s going on around you and turn your
focus inwards as you’ll know many forms
of meditation include closing the eyes
and that is simply because your eyes or
your vision is that sense that
gives you the greatest input in terms of
outside stimuli it’s in this visual
silence that your body can enter a state
of deep relaxation while your mind stays
active and alert and what’s happening is
that in meditation you begin to get a
perspective on the nature of change you
start to understand that everything is
constantly changing even your own hopes
and dreams are not consistent yet you
never stop to observe that instead
you’re constantly busy reacting to the
changes that are going on inside and
outside of you but you need to grasp and
explore that if you want to know how to
make a difference as you then will have
the kinds of tools you need to affect
the kinds of changes that you want
because when you understand the nature
of change you can actually be forced for
change now when you’re looking at the
changes you see that some changes are
welcomed while others are not so what is
it about the change that makes them not
welcome is it then really the change
itself that triggers the negativity or
is it actually your thought about the
change that is upsetting well research
has shown that in general the way you
perceive a situation is actually not so
much dependent on the kind of situation
that you find yourself in but it depends
much more on your individual kind of
filter in terms of program thought
patterns and judgments that will in turn
tell you how serious the situation is
and what triggers stress the most is
when you feel that you do not have an
influence on how things will turn out
the feeling that you don’t know where
things are going that you’re not in
control can be really disturbing and in
this fast-paced world most changes are
unpredictable until they actually happen
so how can meditation help you there
well the promise of meditation is that
it provides a stable ground on which to
stand to observe the changes they’re
happening without getting too stressed
out about them
what it also gives us a sense of clarity
to know how to act more effectively to
change situations in your favor what
happens is that in meditation you’re
able to take a step back and thus leave
the position of the victim of the story
more easily and as you do that you find
that this increases your ability to be
less reactive and to take more
appropriate action if you don’t treat it
as your story but as a story that you
are observing as an uninvolved character
it will be a lot easier to know what
needs to be done so in meditation you
close your eyes and watch you observe
the thoughts and feelings that come and
then let them go
keeping the awareness in the present
moment and as you observe your thoughts
you will see that sometimes it seems
like you actually are your thoughts as
you are so identified with them yet
somehow you can always observe a space
between the thoughts – and as you do
that as you observe that space between
the thoughts you will see that your
thoughts and ideas are constantly
changing but the space between them will
always be the same now often the
expectation is that meditation should
just make us free from stress and why
meditation really is an effective tool
for stress management that’s not where
it ends the awareness that opens in
meditation will mature and when it does
it will bring about a certainty a way of
understanding the true nature of the
mind there’s a very common misconception
that I was also convinced of for a long
time that in meditation there should be
no thoughts but this is actually a
misunderstanding of the nature of the
mind itself the nature of the mind is
that it will always have thoughts so
what really should be said is that you
should be free from thoughts being free
from thoughts you start to observe that
the thoughts actually come and asked for
and intended and that’s what the mine
does it’s providing you with thoughts
concerns and pieces of information that
are supposed to either bring you back to
something that had happened before or to
something that might happen at some
point in the future and in meditation
you bring you awareness out of the
stories of the mind and into this
present moment into the space between
the thoughts into that which is always
the same into that which actually never
changes and if you think about that
you’ll you’ll find how freaking deep
this is so yeah as you discover that
state that remains unaffected by outside
influences and as you get to know your
reaction patterns you can start to train
your minds to focus on the things that
you can influence and to make peace with
the things that you can’t because as you
learn as you as you get to know how your
mind actually works like the more the
more you understand how your mind works
the more the changes become just like
waves on the surface and you then have
the ability to choose in a way that you
didn’t before which thoughts you want to
engage with and with which not you can
choose which ones are good and helpful
and which ones are actually rather
limiting as you can see from a place of
clarity the thing is what really limits
our freedom is that we get stuck in our
heads we get stuck in our fears and our
prejudiced prejudices in our shoulds and
shouldn’ts and we miss that our freedom
is right there in the awareness of the
present moment now I don’t want to tell
you how you should deal with the changes
that are happening but address the way
you see them the outcome of this has to
be that if if you have a different way
of seeing the changes then in action in
response to those changes will be
different too
and what is needed to respond to
personal as well as global issues is
clear thinking and meditation builds the
ground from which this kind of thinking
can emerge this way a meditation can
help to create free individuals that are
more resilient and adaptive to change
that are able to reflect and take more
deliberate action instead of being
driven by their fears and emotions and
that’s the experience that I had is that
I understood that I’m actually free from
the limitations of my mind I can use my
mind as my tool but I don’t have to
identify with all its stories and ideas
there is a space inside of me that I can
connect to in meditation from which that
from which I can observe my mind as well
as the changes that are happening around
me without getting so much affected by
them and what I’ve found is that in that
space I have access to an awareness
where I intuitively know what to do and
what not to do and this this realization
actually comes with a great sense of
freedom and confidence as I know how as
I now have the ability to actually work
with my mind instead of being controlled
by it and I believe that everyone who
wants to find out more about the
limitations of the mind can find answers
to their questions when they connect to
themselves on that level so what I want
to leave you with today is the idea that
despite the fact that we cannot
influence what is happening around us we
do have the ability to master our
thinking and thus change our entire life
experience and that I think is an idea
worth spreading thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
address those of you who care about
freedom those of you who see a benefit
in living a life free from the
limitations of the mind so let me take
you on a journey to open you up to new
ideas and new ways of seeing that will
allow you to get a different
understanding of your own life
experience your fears and the stress
that they create do not only impact your
personal freedom and happiness but they
can also influence the way that you
respond to changes in the outside world
and at the most basic level everyone has
the same kinds of fears you either fear
that something that you don’t want to
change will change sometime or you do
want something to change and your fear
that it won’t my observation is that
people increasingly fear the changes
that are happening in the outside world
while they become one we’re disconnected
from themselves and I would like to
introduce an idea a technique that has
been around for quite some time actually
that can help each individual to be more
calm and relaxed to get a sense of
direction in life and to be less afraid
of the happenings that are going on in
our world and this technique is the
practice of meditation now that’s the
short answer but here’s the in-depth
answer the research on meditation has
exploded ever since we entered our
current millennium and the effects that
this practice has on the human body and
mind are flat-out incredible you can
find studies from universities like
Harvard Harvard Medical School and
healthcare institutions all around the
world on the benefits of meditation that
are being uncovered so what happens in
meditation in meditation you tune out of
what’s going on around you and turn your
focus inwards as you’ll know many forms
of meditation include closing the eyes
and that is simply because your eyes or
your vision is that sense that
gives you the greatest input in terms of
outside stimuli it’s in this visual
silence that your body can enter a state
of deep relaxation while your mind stays
active and alert and what’s happening is
that in meditation you begin to get a
perspective on the nature of change you
start to understand that everything is
constantly changing even your own hopes
and dreams are not consistent yet you
never stop to observe that instead
you’re constantly busy reacting to the
changes that are going on inside and
outside of you but you need to grasp and
explore that if you want to know how to
make a difference as you then will have
the kinds of tools you need to affect
the kinds of changes that you want
because when you understand the nature
of change you can actually be forced for
change now when you’re looking at the
changes you see that some changes are
welcomed while others are not so what is
it about the change that makes them not
welcome is it then really the change
itself that triggers the negativity or
is it actually your thought about the
change that is upsetting well research
has shown that in general the way you
perceive a situation is actually not so
much dependent on the kind of situation
that you find yourself in but it depends
much more on your individual kind of
filter in terms of program thought
patterns and judgments that will in turn
tell you how serious the situation is
and what triggers stress the most is
when you feel that you do not have an
influence on how things will turn out
the feeling that you don’t know where
things are going that you’re not in
control can be really disturbing and in
this fast-paced world most changes are
unpredictable until they actually happen
so how can meditation help you there
well the promise of meditation is that
it provides a stable ground on which to
stand to observe the changes they’re
happening without getting too stressed
out about them
what it also gives us a sense of clarity
to know how to act more effectively to
change situations in your favor what
happens is that in meditation you’re
able to take a step back and thus leave
the position of the victim of the story
more easily and as you do that you find
that this increases your ability to be
less reactive and to take more
appropriate action if you don’t treat it
as your story but as a story that you
are observing as an uninvolved character
it will be a lot easier to know what
needs to be done so in meditation you
close your eyes and watch you observe
the thoughts and feelings that come and
then let them go
keeping the awareness in the present
moment and as you observe your thoughts
you will see that sometimes it seems
like you actually are your thoughts as
you are so identified with them yet
somehow you can always observe a space
between the thoughts – and as you do
that as you observe that space between
the thoughts you will see that your
thoughts and ideas are constantly
changing but the space between them will
always be the same now often the
expectation is that meditation should
just make us free from stress and why
meditation really is an effective tool
for stress management that’s not where
it ends the awareness that opens in
meditation will mature and when it does
it will bring about a certainty a way of
understanding the true nature of the
mind there’s a very common misconception
that I was also convinced of for a long
time that in meditation there should be
no thoughts but this is actually a
misunderstanding of the nature of the
mind itself the nature of the mind is
that it will always have thoughts so
what really should be said is that you
should be free from thoughts being free
from thoughts you start to observe that
the thoughts actually come and asked for
and intended and that’s what the mine
does it’s providing you with thoughts
concerns and pieces of information that
are supposed to either bring you back to
something that had happened before or to
something that might happen at some
point in the future and in meditation
you bring you awareness out of the
stories of the mind and into this
present moment into the space between
the thoughts into that which is always
the same into that which actually never
changes and if you think about that
you’ll you’ll find how freaking deep
this is so yeah as you discover that
state that remains unaffected by outside
influences and as you get to know your
reaction patterns you can start to train
your minds to focus on the things that
you can influence and to make peace with
the things that you can’t because as you
learn as you as you get to know how your
mind actually works like the more the
more you understand how your mind works
the more the changes become just like
waves on the surface and you then have
the ability to choose in a way that you
didn’t before which thoughts you want to
engage with and with which not you can
choose which ones are good and helpful
and which ones are actually rather
limiting as you can see from a place of
clarity the thing is what really limits
our freedom is that we get stuck in our
heads we get stuck in our fears and our
prejudiced prejudices in our shoulds and
shouldn’ts and we miss that our freedom
is right there in the awareness of the
present moment now I don’t want to tell
you how you should deal with the changes
that are happening but address the way
you see them the outcome of this has to
be that if if you have a different way
of seeing the changes then in action in
response to those changes will be
different too
and what is needed to respond to
personal as well as global issues is
clear thinking and meditation builds the
ground from which this kind of thinking
can emerge this way a meditation can
help to create free individuals that are
more resilient and adaptive to change
that are able to reflect and take more
deliberate action instead of being
driven by their fears and emotions and
that’s the experience that I had is that
I understood that I’m actually free from
the limitations of my mind I can use my
mind as my tool but I don’t have to
identify with all its stories and ideas
there is a space inside of me that I can
connect to in meditation from which that
from which I can observe my mind as well
as the changes that are happening around
me without getting so much affected by
them and what I’ve found is that in that
space I have access to an awareness
where I intuitively know what to do and
what not to do and this this realization
actually comes with a great sense of
freedom and confidence as I know how as
I now have the ability to actually work
with my mind instead of being controlled
by it and I believe that everyone who
wants to find out more about the
limitations of the mind can find answers
to their questions when they connect to
themselves on that level so what I want
to leave you with today is the idea that
despite the fact that we cannot
influence what is happening around us we
do have the ability to master our
thinking and thus change our entire life
experience and that I think is an idea
worth spreading thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
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