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Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Published: 2015-05-21
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yJPcdiLEkI
to research study and they tracked more than a thousand people from birth until age thirty two looking for what made someone successful what common characteristic or trait was seen in a successful individual it wasn't their race what language they spoke would neighborhood they grew up and how much money their parents had it wasn't how well they did on standardized tests or even their IQ it was
self control those who are successful quite good careers financial stability loving relationships and physical health they were the ones who could focus pay attention and regulate their emotions they were the ones a practice mindfulness it doesn't matter if I give you all the Chinese new iPads and Stephen hawking's teaching you math if you can't focus and pay attention how will you do mindfulness is the foundation
for all other learning for all success you will have to your entire life so I ask you why if we know that this is the single most important predictor of success for human beings why are we teaching it to you mindfulness exercises are designed to train your brains have focused attention and emotional regulation is mindful listening eating breathing movement it's a way of engaging in the
present moment without attachment without judgment mindfulness is grounded in more than thirty years of scientific study most major universities in the world Harvard MIT Stanford Gail Oxford and Cambridge just name a few teach and or research this practice in fact Oxford has a master's degree in mindfulness this isn't religion and this is hippie nonsense isn't some idea I came up with a my backyard this is
science there exist literally thousands of studies that show was that mindfulness practice decreases depression anxiety and stress increases overall feelings of well being happiness focus attention and academic achievement so I ask you again why if we know this why would teaching mindfulness to you we are inundated with distractions our phones our tablets all the sights and sounds that surround us neverending dialogue our brain is having
with itself the ability to focus on one thing at a time for an extended period is a skill and it requires practice you'll know what I'm talking about your sig in your class and you're pretty sure you heard the teachers say the words important quiz but then I girl you met over the weekend text and why you have to respond you are so cool in interested
but not too interested I mean you're not desperate another breeze blows through the window at why and what is that smell sickle always been in this class she's got pretty hairy man I like a girl it smells good we do I smell good teflon deodorant today my sweating sweating is weird it's like your body's crying smelly tears and then about rains and you have missed all
of class and you definitely have absolutely no idea what's important and what's on the quiz the ability to turn your attention to the class to focus on something that frankly might not be that interesting like algebra the skill and it requires practice my focus is how we get there I find it funny when people tell me that they only to practice mindfulness I got this really
that is so strange because I'm pretty sure Kobe Bryant RD loans have a look play basketball but he still practicing he also practices mindfulness now mindfulness isn't just about the ability to focus and pay attention it's also about being able to feel emotions like pain anger frustration anxiety and fear and not react to them my first is a space between our emotions and our responses so
that we can actually think first sometimes we forget that our emotions are ever changing the Chilean pain common goal like ocean waves and mindfulness allows us to serve rather than drown and sometimes we forget that we're not the only ones feeling pain look around the room the person next to you in front of you behind you they have all experienced pain everyone of you have all
experienced pain pain is inevitable suffering well that's a choice we not may not be able to choose all the uncontrolled circumstances that life presents with us anymore than we can choose the weather right but we can choose not to be victims to our circumstances because we can choose our reactions pain and anger well they're just not good excuses because they're part of every human experience and
if we respond to anger with anger we only make the situation worse the harsh truth is that it doesn't matter how bright she is in justifiable your emotions may be it is irrelevant because you will be judged based on your reactions and not sure reasons mindfulness allows us to be reflective and not reactive it's not about running from our motions are not feeling our motions allowing
us to not be overwhelmed by our motion it's not about controlling our thoughts and emotions but rather not having our thoughts and emotions control us I have two teenagers I teach teenagers and I was once nine hundred years ago a teenager myself the struggle to deal with your emotions is real and overwhelming the part of the teenage brain that regulates emotions that hasn't fully yet developed
but the part that feels emotions that's the size of a full grown adult so something small can really easily turn into something big you're walking in the hallway we see your friend they look right at you know like Hollywood star in the ignore you like your Casper see walking to your next class you spend the entire time trying to figure out why this person hates you
now you tested all of your other friends and nobody's responded you free played last three conversations you have with them in your head you still have no idea what went wrong C. decided that will you hate them to now I mean who are they to ignore you right or you've decided that well cash they ignored you and no please respond to any of your text messages
sent man this must mean that actually nobody likes you and really you don't have any friends and no one's ever gonna love you and you're definitely gonna die alone with a hundred cats obviously I clearly look at this right here this is called taking a left turn down chrisley and we are all guilty of it mindfulness allows us to stop at the intersection of reality increasingly
choose which path we want to go down now with all of the no needs and benefits of mindfulness practice I ask you again why are we not teaching it to you well part of that is because for a long time mindful of practices been a privilege offered in well funded schools are through expensive individual instruction C. E. O.'s celebrity is world famous athletes they flock to
the train paying as much as ten thousand dollars to learn the secrets of success now it's important that we have mindful leaders but we are missing great thinkers innovators and doers those who can't afford to pay for the skills required to succeed do we really think all the best and brightest halfpenny born with money and what about those born in poverty in poverty is dramatic were
born intergenerational poverty whose parents and grandparents aunts uncles sisters and brothers all live in poverty they're surrounded by the trauma of poverty stress a contagious disease doesn't just affect the adults affects everyone living in the home we know that poverty is dramatic we know the trauma changes the brain and so without practices like mindfulness gifted children are left behind I believe that mindfulness practice should be
offered in every school in every county in every district in every state it should not be about whether or not if thank you and it shouldn't be about whether or not your parents can afford the instruction where they can afford to move you to the right zip code in the right school district I believe that mindfulness practice can reverse generational poverty and we can move kids
up out I fourth grade student who gruppen generational poverty parents were in and out of prison drug use he was considered a trouble maker academically behind him and repeated great he would get so frustrated he throws desk across the room run out of the classroom building out of the school and all the way down the street multiple times a week now two years later he practices
mindfulness everyday he is no more customer behavioral issues and he's a gifted and talented program and he would tell you that it wasn't until someone taught him how to deal with his emotions but someone taught him mindfulness practice that he was able to change his whole life we know that one of the number one predictors for student dropping out of high school is behavioral issues we
know that if you drop out your four times more likely to live in poverty so we create these very specific rules and consequences but do we really think little Timmy doesn't notion public Tommy in the eye or does it matter to stop himself because he never learned how to manage his emotions and for some those emotions can become so overwhelming they can feel permanence suicide is
the third leading cause of death in children ages ten to twenty four forty eight hundred succeed in taking their own lives every year and a hundred and fifty seven thousand are treated for self inflicted injuries just in the U. S. in a study looking at three hundred and twenty schools students ages thirteen to seventeen they found that nearly half forty nine point five percent met the
criteria for suffering from at least one mental health issue anxiety depression ADHD eating disorders we know that schools are the number one provider for support for students we know you're struggling we know that mindfulness works so I ask you again why are we teaching it to you it's with this in mind that I conducted a research study with the university of Colorado Denver on the impacts
of mindfulness instruction I'm fourth grade students in a low income school here in Denver we look at the teachers perception of the student's ability to regulate their emotions engage in prosocial behavior and academic achievement those students who went through mindfulness practice score two hundred and fifty percent higher in emotional regulation six hundred percent higher prosocial behavior and five hundred fifty percent higher on academic achievement than
those who did not go to the class we then asked the students of wanting a mindfulness glass one hundred percent anonymously self reported that they enjoyed the class they benefited from the practice they will continue to do it and they believe all other children should learn it they saw the greatest improvements in their ability to calm down focus and avoid fights as well as feeling happier
school and at home a teacher rated the classic ten out of ten and said that she believes mindfulness instruction actually lead to an increase in teaching time a between eleven and twenty minutes mindfulness practices are exercises designed to help you become a more mindful human being when you can focus and pay attention to miss a distraction when you can feel intense emotions rather than react reflect
and responds mindful listening now that's going to be important to every relationship you ever have for your entire life Michael eating that's gonna determine your physical and mental health and mindful breathing allows you to find calm and focused piece in the chaos these practices that ultimately lead to compassion generosity kindness altruism we need the world to be more mindful we need you to be more mindful
first you have to decide that you want to be the change you want to see in the world and then go about being it throughout this talk I asked you why you aren't being taught mindfulness I will end with asking you to take personal responsibility for your life if you believe as I do as many many many others do that the path to your success the
path to a better world lies in the practice of mindfulness then ask your teachers and administrators to bring in experts to give you the skills that you need to have to succeed you need to take ownership over your future change will happen by choice not by chance and we will change the world one minded time and it starts with yours thank you
