The prison of your mind (TED talk)

I stumbled upon this TED talk on youtube and thought it was very well done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaRO5-V1uK0

I thought it was a bit conflicting with the general message of being aware (although I'm not sure if he ever really specifcally mentions that) of your mind and then when he says something along the lines of "learn to master your emotions" that sounds a bit strange to me... Thoughts on the video anyone?

Enjoy!

Being aware of every thought, good or bad, that flies through your mind doesn't mean believing them. As someone who's struggled with crippling self doubt and social anxiety, I know that 90% of the thoughts that penetrate the mind are not beneficial or as he would put it "empowering". Being aware means you can sift through and dispose of them accordingly, as not to dwell on them and feed negative emotions.

I agree with his message overall. I often tell my 12 year old to "get out of your head".

"never believe in the predictions that dont empower you or else you will wither away and die"

"if somebody pities me they are wasting their time because i have chosen a life of strength - the worst drug to ever hit the human race is pity"

"you are not your condition"

"the only disability [there is] is ones refusal to adapt"

"its a belife in yourself that you bring value to the human race"

"when we feel like we're not enough we do stupid stuff - we chase external validation to try to tell us that we're enough"

"deep down inside ive found that every human being just wants to be loved - even if theyre tough, even if theyre scary, even if theyre vicious - get them in the right position at the right time, theyll tell you the truth; they just want to be loved.
they want to be able to look in the mirror and love themselves, and if you can figure [how to do] that out, youre going somewhere"

"but you cannot feel sorry for yourself"

"at the other end is what i call bullying yourself, beating yourself up, telling yourself that all those negative predictions are true, that youre washed up, that youre a failure, that youre never going to amount to anything. bullying yourself is the worst thing that you can do"

"you can not afford to pity yourself, you can not afford to bully yourself, you have to love yourself"

---

i can tell you this - im ok with the fact that im wrong about a lot of things

im ok that ive made a bunch of really stupid mistakes, and that i know theres no way to change the fact that im still going to make a bunch more

im probably going to cause a lot more problems in the course of my life, unless i LOSE my life altogether much sooner than im hoping

im ok with all of this because i know that i am commited to bringing value to the world

and that when i make mistakes i can adapt

i refuse to belive the predictions that dont empower me

because i have learned to love myself it is impossible for me to pity myself for very long or to beat myself up too harshly

and i have the ability to forgive others as well
and i dont feel sorry for very many

and my life is good

i enjoyed the talk
i thought he was very compelling and he spoke from experience as someone who faces hardship personally and also as a therapist for prison inmates and therefore someone who is face to face with the tragedy of others on a daily basis, a situation which primes one for valueable insight and perspective on the human condition

and i never did see a soccer ball give a lecture before

thanks

This is great, thanks for sharing.