Translator: Biliana Nikolova Reviewer: Anton Hikov
And so.
As I said,
everyone considers me a positive person in my life,
in the sense people around me think I’m a positive person.
There is only one close person in my life who does not think so.
This man is me.
Yes.
That’s why I decided to become such a person.
To do so, I put this task on my calendar.
At this time
I had a weekly plan,
which included meetings with various associations,
books I had to read.
I recorded it for Monday of that week.
I said, “I will be a positive person on Monday.”
And over the weekend
I sat down to review.
I sat down to check how I was going.
I thought, okay. I said, “I’ll go to the meetings.”
I noticed.
I will apply for an exchange program.
I noticed.
I will become a positive person.
Can I really say that I have accomplished this task?
I had read quotes, saying, “Be happy, be positive.”
You have heard them: “Do not worry! Life will be nice! “.
I have read such books as well.
Are they enough to be able to say that I have become a positive person? Is it?
Audience: “No.”
Is positivity a degree, a diploma or a title in our lives?
Can I say from today to tomorrow that I have become a positive person?
No.
I can not say that I have become a positive person;
this is something we do every day.
Something we face in every situation in our lives.
Right?
In fact, I am not the only one who has heard the notion of “positivity.”
I think everyone in this room has heard about the revolution of thoughts in our lives;
we have heard that we need positive thoughts,
that negative thoughts are very powerful,
that they can destroy us, so we have to think positively,
that’s why we talk about thinking, thinking, thinking …
But today I am not here to talk to you how to think positively.
So if you want to throw tomatoes on me,
no problem because they are quite expensive,
so I can get some for home.
All right.
So yes.
There is no recipe about how to become a positive person,
but I will be honest with you.
Trying to approach positively in life, I managed to deal with many situations,
with the many difficulties I have encountered in my life.
And one of the things that helped me to keep positive thinking,
was gratitude.
Follow my thought.
Imagine that this little rug, so we call it,
this red carpet, I like it very much …
It is a trademark of TED and TEDx, right?
When you see it, you think of TEDx.
Let’s use it,
here it is, so we use it.
Let’s say this red carpet here,
exactly this one,
is what I have in my life, is not it?
And all these black things,
are the things I want to have.
Sometimes when we see things,
I mean our goals, what we want,
we forget what we have.
Because I’m stepping
on the red part, I do not look at her,
but I just think, “Oh, look at all those black things I want,
I can not reach them, they are far away. “
And then I look at the carpet
and I say, “What is this? What is this?”.
I even begin to think,
that what I have is nothing, there is no wealth.
And I only think about the things I can not get.
I found inspiration in the blog “WaitButWhy”,
if you have heard of it,
there was described as an ice block,
in our case this carpet will be.
This revolution of thoughts that makes us think that positivity
will help us cope with the situations in our lives.
And, as I said, for me
Thanksgiving is one of the things that helped me.
What time is it, please?
Gratitude is the thing that helped me think positively.
But there is always something else.
For example, competition.
I do not like the competition.
For example, I do not want to be better than any of you
here in this room.
I believe as a human being that every person
in this room or outside it is my continuation,
the continuation of my being.
So if I succeed, that means my community has succeeded.
And if my community has succeeded or somebody has succeeded,
like the people we saw this morning, that complements my success.
All of these things help me to think positively because if someone succeeds,
I do not feel, “Oh, I do not achieve great things in my life,
but see him or her, I can not be like them. “
No, I just think that the relevant thing or experience, this success
is added to my success, that’s positivity.
But I do not want to talk about it just as a powerful force.
Even if all the wonderful things that come to mind,
for example, close your eyes and imagine
something good that happens in your mind.
Are these things real?
Or is positivity not only to think positively?
If you encounter difficulty or see an obstacle,
is it enough to think in mind that everything is fine and will be fine,
that it will be okay?
Or I have to create another scenario
and tell a story that does not look like a reality
and will it help me feel better? Is this enough?
That’s why I started thinking.
I began to think about the positivity that helps me in my life.
When did I start questioning her?
Just a few months ago,
when I lost my mother.
So, two years ago, I was just such a man,
a really positive person,
who thought that whatever happened could not stop me,
but I started to ask:
“Is this positivity sufficient to deal with this suffering?”
Something I can not change with thoughts,
nor with action, because it is irreversible;
something that can not change.
And this positive thinking helped me think,
that things will get better,
just that part of “be happy” that I criticized at the beginning.
And this positivity
allowed me to name the emotions, my sadness.
It is as though we are beginning to think that grief is not part of life.
We just need to be happy,
but sadness is also part of our feelings;
it is a feeling that has to be expressed.
There are many ways to express sadness or happiness,
not only through words, but also through feelings,
through movement, through song, through art,
through everything that can bring those feelings out of the way.
Are these positive thoughts sufficient?
No, they are not.
Because if positive thinking
I was pushing to believe that
what I see as something bad,
difficulty or obstacle,
should be transformed into something positive in my mind
and deny the reality that could be changed, perhaps
maybe we can use the negative to change society,
not the positivity.
I mean, that
if positive thoughts pushed me to deny reality,
and to create illusions in my mind for good things,
for magical things,
for example – I will use this – I brought my magic stick –
to put beautiful thoughts in my mind
without even trying to make progress.
I do not need her.
Positiveness does not look like this. No?
(Applause)
I thought you were really thinking
can change our world.
Only my world, not interested in anyone else,
I can create this world in my mind,
but do we want to fool ourselves with an imaginary world,
thinking only positively?
No, I personally do not want to create an illusionary world.
Psychologist Dr. Meninger says:
“Attitudes are more important than facts.”
Think about it.
Attitudes are more important than facts.
This means that whatever happens,
everything is a matter of how we react or act on the event.
Quite the same:
whether you think only do the facts
have any positive aspects?
Let’s just look at the positive side and ignore the negative side.
Let’s forget it.
There is something I can extract,
so we forget the positive side.
For example, there is a war.
I would say that many people die,
but I say, “Let’s see the positive side. There are survivors. 100 people have survived. “
A thousand are dead,
not to think, 100 people have survived. “
This is not positivity.
That’s why I change the statement:
“Attitudes are more important than facts.”
of another statement.
For me it is: “Attitudes must change the facts or
at least trying to change the facts. “
If I see something,
the positivity should make me believe,
that I can try to change something or add something,
not just to create a world in my mind and to have good thoughts.
That is why I personally believe in civic engagement.
Civil engagement.
I believe that through civic engagement
we can do things to act,
we can do many things to help
or contribute to the world.
Something like trying to get into action
their positive thinking.
But how?
I talked to different people.
Ali told me …
In fact, they are all imaginary.
(Laugh)
So, Ali told me,
I can not do it, I can not change.
They have ideas, they have solutions in their minds.
If you talk to them, they’ve created wonderful worlds
in your consciousness.
Have ideas, have solutions to problems.
But if you ask them
“Why do not you try to get them into action?”,
how do you answer?
They answer you for example:
“The whole government (” El doula “).
This is the “main comment”. Excuse me,
“The main answer”.
They may say, “I need encouraging people,”
or “People around me do not encourage me.”
They may say, “It is not my responsibility. I am not responsible for this, “
or “Difficult” or “Difficult”,
“I can not change things alone”.
All these answers, despite their wonderful thoughts and ideas.
Therefore, personally, when I have a thought,
positive thought in your mind,
the fact, in my sense, my desire to make a change
means I will try to bring this thought into action
and when I try to do that,
it means I will handle this thought.
I’ll think about how to put it into practice.
Right?
When you want to realize something,
it means you will try to think about it.
How can I apply it in practice?
It may be in your imagination at the beginning,
but I will always try to do something that will help me realize it.
For example, one of the causes that really,
really excite me, are the causes related to children.
I have always said that education in Algeria
or the education system around the world is an absolute failure,
as it kills the creative potential of the children;
does not turn children into active citizens.
We go to school to learn things,
which are sometimes not even interesting to us.
But I thought this was something I can not change myself,
is not something I hold in my hands,
education is not in my hands so I can change it.
And then I heard the concept of “mentoring”
after which I was invited as a participant,
just as you are today,
and I saw what “mentoring” is,
which is a project I am coordinating at the moment.
I realized there was a way,
I do not have the power,
I am not responsible for this in the ministry or the government,
I do not have the power to change education directly,
but I have access to the kids.
I can work on a project that touches children directly.
I do not need power.
That is why I joined the project, which aims to shape, train
or follows the children during a very sensitive period of their lives,
adolescence.
Between 12 and 15 years of age.
And the purpose or the main task of the project
is to create active citizens in the future.
I have personally had such experience among the Scouts,
who opened my eyes to the world of civic engagement,
but the children of many other people,
young children or even high school students,
they have no idea about it until they get into the university
and start hearing about events, existing clubs,
right?
Which of you has been able to work with associations from a very early age?
All right.
Units,
and who have had such an experience later as adults at the university?
Okay, you’ve gotten more.
We want this concept to reach children at an early age,
so that it can be processed and considered,
to build their dreams on it
and to believe that they are changing their society.
For me the positive thought inside my mind
is useless,
if I do not try to put it into action, in some action.
I know it’s not just: “Be happy, be positive, you’ll do it!”
At least I think I should try.
If something can be changed, I have to try, I have a responsibility.
That’s why positive thoughts for me
and the seeds we talked about this morning,
should look exactly like that.
Not only in my mind but blooming like flowers
and come out from the inside.
Thank you.
(Applause)
And so.
As I said,
everyone considers me a positive person in my life,
in the sense people around me think I’m a positive person.
There is only one close person in my life who does not think so.
This man is me.
Yes.
That’s why I decided to become such a person.
To do so, I put this task on my calendar.
At this time
I had a weekly plan,
which included meetings with various associations,
books I had to read.
I recorded it for Monday of that week.
I said, “I will be a positive person on Monday.”
And over the weekend
I sat down to review.
I sat down to check how I was going.
I thought, okay. I said, “I’ll go to the meetings.”
I noticed.
I will apply for an exchange program.
I noticed.
I will become a positive person.
Can I really say that I have accomplished this task?
I had read quotes, saying, “Be happy, be positive.”
You have heard them: “Do not worry! Life will be nice! “.
I have read such books as well.
Are they enough to be able to say that I have become a positive person? Is it?
Audience: “No.”
Is positivity a degree, a diploma or a title in our lives?
Can I say from today to tomorrow that I have become a positive person?
No.
I can not say that I have become a positive person;
this is something we do every day.
Something we face in every situation in our lives.
Right?
In fact, I am not the only one who has heard the notion of “positivity.”
I think everyone in this room has heard about the revolution of thoughts in our lives;
we have heard that we need positive thoughts,
that negative thoughts are very powerful,
that they can destroy us, so we have to think positively,
that’s why we talk about thinking, thinking, thinking …
But today I am not here to talk to you how to think positively.
So if you want to throw tomatoes on me,
no problem because they are quite expensive,
so I can get some for home.
All right.
So yes.
There is no recipe about how to become a positive person,
but I will be honest with you.
Trying to approach positively in life, I managed to deal with many situations,
with the many difficulties I have encountered in my life.
And one of the things that helped me to keep positive thinking,
was gratitude.
Follow my thought.
Imagine that this little rug, so we call it,
this red carpet, I like it very much …
It is a trademark of TED and TEDx, right?
When you see it, you think of TEDx.
Let’s use it,
here it is, so we use it.
Let’s say this red carpet here,
exactly this one,
is what I have in my life, is not it?
And all these black things,
are the things I want to have.
Sometimes when we see things,
I mean our goals, what we want,
we forget what we have.
Because I’m stepping
on the red part, I do not look at her,
but I just think, “Oh, look at all those black things I want,
I can not reach them, they are far away. “
And then I look at the carpet
and I say, “What is this? What is this?”.
I even begin to think,
that what I have is nothing, there is no wealth.
And I only think about the things I can not get.
I found inspiration in the blog “WaitButWhy”,
if you have heard of it,
there was described as an ice block,
in our case this carpet will be.
This revolution of thoughts that makes us think that positivity
will help us cope with the situations in our lives.
And, as I said, for me
Thanksgiving is one of the things that helped me.
What time is it, please?
Gratitude is the thing that helped me think positively.
But there is always something else.
For example, competition.
I do not like the competition.
For example, I do not want to be better than any of you
here in this room.
I believe as a human being that every person
in this room or outside it is my continuation,
the continuation of my being.
So if I succeed, that means my community has succeeded.
And if my community has succeeded or somebody has succeeded,
like the people we saw this morning, that complements my success.
All of these things help me to think positively because if someone succeeds,
I do not feel, “Oh, I do not achieve great things in my life,
but see him or her, I can not be like them. “
No, I just think that the relevant thing or experience, this success
is added to my success, that’s positivity.
But I do not want to talk about it just as a powerful force.
Even if all the wonderful things that come to mind,
for example, close your eyes and imagine
something good that happens in your mind.
Are these things real?
Or is positivity not only to think positively?
If you encounter difficulty or see an obstacle,
is it enough to think in mind that everything is fine and will be fine,
that it will be okay?
Or I have to create another scenario
and tell a story that does not look like a reality
and will it help me feel better? Is this enough?
That’s why I started thinking.
I began to think about the positivity that helps me in my life.
When did I start questioning her?
Just a few months ago,
when I lost my mother.
So, two years ago, I was just such a man,
a really positive person,
who thought that whatever happened could not stop me,
but I started to ask:
“Is this positivity sufficient to deal with this suffering?”
Something I can not change with thoughts,
nor with action, because it is irreversible;
something that can not change.
And this positive thinking helped me think,
that things will get better,
just that part of “be happy” that I criticized at the beginning.
And this positivity
allowed me to name the emotions, my sadness.
It is as though we are beginning to think that grief is not part of life.
We just need to be happy,
but sadness is also part of our feelings;
it is a feeling that has to be expressed.
There are many ways to express sadness or happiness,
not only through words, but also through feelings,
through movement, through song, through art,
through everything that can bring those feelings out of the way.
Are these positive thoughts sufficient?
No, they are not.
Because if positive thinking
I was pushing to believe that
what I see as something bad,
difficulty or obstacle,
should be transformed into something positive in my mind
and deny the reality that could be changed, perhaps
maybe we can use the negative to change society,
not the positivity.
I mean, that
if positive thoughts pushed me to deny reality,
and to create illusions in my mind for good things,
for magical things,
for example – I will use this – I brought my magic stick –
to put beautiful thoughts in my mind
without even trying to make progress.
I do not need her.
Positiveness does not look like this. No?
(Applause)
I thought you were really thinking
can change our world.
Only my world, not interested in anyone else,
I can create this world in my mind,
but do we want to fool ourselves with an imaginary world,
thinking only positively?
No, I personally do not want to create an illusionary world.
Psychologist Dr. Meninger says:
“Attitudes are more important than facts.”
Think about it.
Attitudes are more important than facts.
This means that whatever happens,
everything is a matter of how we react or act on the event.
Quite the same:
whether you think only do the facts
have any positive aspects?
Let’s just look at the positive side and ignore the negative side.
Let’s forget it.
There is something I can extract,
so we forget the positive side.
For example, there is a war.
I would say that many people die,
but I say, “Let’s see the positive side. There are survivors. 100 people have survived. “
A thousand are dead,
not to think, 100 people have survived. “
This is not positivity.
That’s why I change the statement:
“Attitudes are more important than facts.”
of another statement.
For me it is: “Attitudes must change the facts or
at least trying to change the facts. “
If I see something,
the positivity should make me believe,
that I can try to change something or add something,
not just to create a world in my mind and to have good thoughts.
That is why I personally believe in civic engagement.
Civil engagement.
I believe that through civic engagement
we can do things to act,
we can do many things to help
or contribute to the world.
Something like trying to get into action
their positive thinking.
But how?
I talked to different people.
Ali told me …
In fact, they are all imaginary.
(Laugh)
So, Ali told me,
I can not do it, I can not change.
They have ideas, they have solutions in their minds.
If you talk to them, they’ve created wonderful worlds
in your consciousness.
Have ideas, have solutions to problems.
But if you ask them
“Why do not you try to get them into action?”,
how do you answer?
They answer you for example:
“The whole government (” El doula “).
This is the “main comment”. Excuse me,
“The main answer”.
They may say, “I need encouraging people,”
or “People around me do not encourage me.”
They may say, “It is not my responsibility. I am not responsible for this, “
or “Difficult” or “Difficult”,
“I can not change things alone”.
All these answers, despite their wonderful thoughts and ideas.
Therefore, personally, when I have a thought,
positive thought in your mind,
the fact, in my sense, my desire to make a change
means I will try to bring this thought into action
and when I try to do that,
it means I will handle this thought.
I’ll think about how to put it into practice.
Right?
When you want to realize something,
it means you will try to think about it.
How can I apply it in practice?
It may be in your imagination at the beginning,
but I will always try to do something that will help me realize it.
For example, one of the causes that really,
really excite me, are the causes related to children.
I have always said that education in Algeria
or the education system around the world is an absolute failure,
as it kills the creative potential of the children;
does not turn children into active citizens.
We go to school to learn things,
which are sometimes not even interesting to us.
But I thought this was something I can not change myself,
is not something I hold in my hands,
education is not in my hands so I can change it.
And then I heard the concept of “mentoring”
after which I was invited as a participant,
just as you are today,
and I saw what “mentoring” is,
which is a project I am coordinating at the moment.
I realized there was a way,
I do not have the power,
I am not responsible for this in the ministry or the government,
I do not have the power to change education directly,
but I have access to the kids.
I can work on a project that touches children directly.
I do not need power.
That is why I joined the project, which aims to shape, train
or follows the children during a very sensitive period of their lives,
adolescence.
Between 12 and 15 years of age.
And the purpose or the main task of the project
is to create active citizens in the future.
I have personally had such experience among the Scouts,
who opened my eyes to the world of civic engagement,
but the children of many other people,
young children or even high school students,
they have no idea about it until they get into the university
and start hearing about events, existing clubs,
right?
Which of you has been able to work with associations from a very early age?
All right.
Units,
and who have had such an experience later as adults at the university?
Okay, you’ve gotten more.
We want this concept to reach children at an early age,
so that it can be processed and considered,
to build their dreams on it
and to believe that they are changing their society.
For me the positive thought inside my mind
is useless,
if I do not try to put it into action, in some action.
I know it’s not just: “Be happy, be positive, you’ll do it!”
At least I think I should try.
If something can be changed, I have to try, I have a responsibility.
That’s why positive thoughts for me
and the seeds we talked about this morning,
should look exactly like that.
Not only in my mind but blooming like flowers
and come out from the inside.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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