New Year, New Lifestyle
Updated: Jan 25, 2020
A philosophical (but practical) message for 2020
Here’s a summary of this valuable TED Talk, to get you off to good start this year.
A philosophical (but practical) message for 2020
Here’s a summary of this valuable TED Talk, to get you off to good start this year.
T
TED Talk – Kelowna
Subject – One Skill = An awesome life
Speaker – Dr Shimi K Kang
(A Psychiatrist, but a down-to-earth one)
“We humans are in trouble”, Dr Shimi begins.
(No, this is not a Greta Thunberg message.)
She says…
We live in a state of bizarre paradox, a place of negative evolution.
We have made “sleep deprivation” a symbol of ambition
We’ve made “too busy” a symbol of importance.
Yet never before, have we had as much convenience as we have today.
So, where has our Health , Purpose, Passion , Meaning, Joy in life gone?
Answer: ADAPTABILITY….made the difference between flourishing and…survival of those who are the best fit in life to survive.
The business story in all of this…
· The Company Kodak didn’t adapt.
· Netflix adapted to online screening and is flourishing.
· Blockbuster didn’t adapt, refused to adapt and are fighting extinction.
The ability of to make lemonade out of lemons is the expression of adaptability.
So, the question is …
· How do we adapt
· Why do we adapt,
· When do we adapt?
When we get a good nights’ sleep, we are rewarded with clear minds. We are left with a feeling of well-being and joy which has a ripple effect on everyone around us.
So, repeat that behaviour and always get a good nights’ sleep. Is that the message?
Some may argue that we are rewarded when we shop. “I like to shop and I like to win”, she says.
So, is that what we need to do?
But we are over-gathering, over-competing and perfectionism is ruining us.
How much stuff do we need?
We are so off balance, that we have forgotten what it is to be human.
The Dolphin
The dolphin has what everyone wants. They are highly intelligent, and they do no tutoring, they have fit svelte bodies and they don’t wear spanks and they don’t have fad diets. They have great social lives and they don’t drink alcohol. They show compassion and they don’t even do yoga.
So how do they do all this in a very competitive and sometimes dangerous environment.
Dolphins don’t make sacrifices on the basics of life.
Basics are how we adapt and thrive.
There are three things basics of life, encapsulated by this acronym.
P.O.D. The centre piece of the Dolphin culture
Read On Point
P
P is for Play
We have forgotten that play is one of the basics of life. Dolphins play every day.
Look back at the type of play of our older generations.
Not the play of today.
Old school Leggo was simple, unstructured, no rules, imaginative and limitless on what can be created.
Today, games are restricted, complicated, full of rules and we know the final outcome.
The play of today makes kids fragile and they are fragile!
When we “free play”, we are rewarded. It stimulates abstract thinking, emotional regulation for problem solving and for strategy.
Play makes us comfortable with uncertainty, it makes us take risks and we learn from trial and error.
O
O is for Others – Others is why we adapt. Social connection is a basic of life.
Humans have forgotten how to connect with eachother, physically.
Social isolation and being lonely is a health risk.
It is well known that solitary confinement is used as a form of torture. It leads to break downs and self- mutilation. It socially corrodes our bodies.
Your social connection is something that is beyond yourself.
It is why you changed, why you adapted.
We need science as permission for common sense.
Meaningful social bonding lights up our brains. We feel great. The emphasis here is on the word “meaningful”. Not superficial socialising or engaging socially for status.
D
D is for Downtime
Downtime is when we adapt.
Stress is the no 1 health epidemic of the 21st century.
Mindfulness and downtimes improve our memory, our focus, our concentration our relationships, our life satisfaction. Humans have forgotten that rest and relaxation is a basic of life.
Progressive Companies
The most progressive Companies in the world are bringing in yoga classes, meditation rooms, beds and couches into the workplace. They know that breaks is the moment of breakthroughs.
Looking inward gives us innovation and inspiration.
When we rest, we are rewarded.
Bring POD back into YOUR life, she says.
When I played, I found new passion.
When I connected, I found new purpose.
When I rested, I found my balance.
We can choose balance, she says. We are perfect instruments of adaptation.
There is a simplicity and the beauty to all of this.
It’s fascinating to note how kind and generous nature is to us, if we just let nature guide us.
Dr Shimi Kang is the Author of the book – The Dolphin Way – A good new years reading book