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Focus Your Mind: One of the Most Eye-Opening Speeches You’ll Ever Hear · Motivation Mindset Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You're going to make the decision of what you want
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to do with the information that you're being given. I
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: have no power over you. You have the power. And
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: you need to know that we think so often that
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: we are helpless, but we're not helpless because we have
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: our minds. We have our minds, and you shape and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: mold your life from moment to moment by your thoughts
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and your beliefs and your attitudes. And you also want
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: to know that you really are important to this world.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: You might say, well, I really don't do anything, but
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  Speaker 1: you are. Just the fact that you're alive is important
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and your life has meaning. It really does. And you
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: can contribute to the peace and the harmony of this
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  Speaker 1: planet just by using your mind. Now, some people get
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: involved politically, and some people march, and some people do
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: peace chore and some people help feed the homeless and
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: do all sorts of things. And that's fine. But you
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: can also contribute to the peace and harmony of the
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: planet just as much by how you use your mind.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Slow down, think deeply. With my sighted eye, I see
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: what's before me, and with my unsighted eye, I see
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: what's hidden. Alice Walker in the intro sequence of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: beloved children's show Mister Rogers Neighborhood. The first interior shot
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: does not show the host. Instead, in the beat before
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Fred Rogers appears on the screen singing his cheerful song
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: about being a good neighbor, viewers see a traffic light
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: blinking yellow. For more than thirty years and for nearly
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a thousand episodes, this subtle piece of symbolism opened the show.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: If as a hint it went over the heads of
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: most people watching, viewers were still primed to get the message,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: because whether Fred Rogers was speaking on camera, playing in
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the neighborhood of Make Believe with King Friday the Puppet,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: or singing one of his trademark songs, just about every
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: frame of the show seemed to say slow, depth, be considerate,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: be aware. As a child at Latrobe Elementary School in Pennsylvania,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Fred Rogers had been a victim of vicious bullying. Kids
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: picked on him because of his weight and because he
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: was sensitive about it. It was a horrible experience, but
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: this pain spurred his groundbreaking work in public television. I
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: began a life long search for what is essential, he
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: said about his childhood. What it is about my neighbor
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't meet the eye. He even framed a print
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of that idea on the wall of his production studio
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  Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. A snippet from one of his favorite quotes,
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  Speaker 1: what's essential is invisible to the eye. That is, appearances
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: are misleading. First impression are too. We are disturbed and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: deceived by what's on the surface, by what others see.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Then we make bad decisions, miss opportunities, or feel scared
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: or upset, particularly when we don't slow down and take
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the time to really look. Think about Khrushchev on the
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: other side of the Cuban missile crisis. What provoked his
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: incredible overreach, A poor reading of his opponent's metal, a
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: rush to action, shoddy thinking about how his own actions
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: would be interpreted on the World's Day. It was a
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: nearly fatal miscalculation, as most rush jobs are. Epictetus talked
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: about how the job of a philosopher is to take
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: our impressions, what we see here and think, and put
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: them to the test. He said, we needed to hold
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: up our thoughts and examine them to make sure we
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: weren't being led astray by appearances or missing what couldn't
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: be seen by the naked eye. Indeed, it is in
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  Speaker 1: Stoicism and Buddhism and countless other schools that we find
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  Speaker 1: the same analogy. The world is like muddy water. To
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: see through it, we have to let things settle. We
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: can't be disturbed by initial appearances, and if we are
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: patient and still, the truth will be revealed to us.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: That's what mister Rogers taught children to do, starting a
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: crucial habit as early as possible in their lives. In
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: countless episodes, Rogers would take a topic, whether it was
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: self worth or how crayons were made, divorce, or having fun,
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  Speaker 1: and walk his young viewers through what was really happening
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  Speaker 1: and what it meant. He seemed to naturally know how
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  Speaker 1: a kid's mind would process information, and he'd help them
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  Speaker 1: clear up understandable confusion or fears. He taught empathy and
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  Speaker 1: critical reasoning skills. He reassured his viewers that they could
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: figure just about anything out if they took the time
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  Speaker 1: to work through it with him together. It's a message
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  Speaker 1: he shared with adults too. Just think, Rogers once wrote
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  Speaker 1: to a struggling friend, just be quiet and think. It'll
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: make all the difference in the world. There is on
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  Speaker 1: the surface a contradiction here. On the one hand, the
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  Speaker 1: Buddhists say we must empty our minds to be fully present.
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  Speaker 1: We'll never get anything done if we are paralyzed by overthinking.
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  Speaker 1: On the other hand, we must look and think and
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  Speaker 1: study deeply if we are ever to truly know, and
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  Speaker 1: if we are to avoid falling into the destructive patterns
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  Speaker 1: that harm so many people. In fact, this is not
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  Speaker 1: a contradiction at all. It's just life. We have to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: get better at thinking deliberately and intentionally about the big questions,
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  Speaker 1: on the complicated things, on understanding what's really going on
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  Speaker 1: with a person or a situation, or with life itself.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: We have to do the kind of thinking that ninety
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  Speaker 1: nine percent of the population is just not doing, and
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  Speaker 1: we have to stop doing the destructive thinking that they
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  Speaker 1: spend ninety nine percent of their time doing. The eighteenth
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: century zen master hak Quin was highly critical of teachers
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  Speaker 1: who believed that enlightenment was simply a matter of thinking nothing. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: he wanted his students to think, really, really hard. This
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  Speaker 1: is why he assigned them perplexing cohas like what is
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  Speaker 1: the sound of one hand clapping? And what did your
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  Speaker 1: face look like before you were born? And does the
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  Speaker 1: dog have the Buddha nature? These questions defy easy answers,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the point. By taking the time to meditate
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  Speaker 1: on them deeply, in some cases for days and weeks
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  Speaker 1: or even years, students put their mind in such a
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  Speaker 1: clarified state that deeper truths emerge and enlightenment commences. And
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  Speaker 1: even if they don't get all the way there, they
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  Speaker 1: are stronger for having tried. Suddenly, ha Quinn promised his students, unexpectedly,
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  Speaker 1: your teeth sink in, your body will pour with cold sweat.
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  Speaker 1: At the instant it will all become clear. The word
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  Speaker 1: for this was sattori, an illuminating insight when the inscrutable
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  Speaker 1: is revealed, when an essential truth becomes obvious and inescapable.
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  Speaker 1: Couldn't we all use a bit more of that? Well,
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  Speaker 1: no one gets to satori going a million miles a minute.
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  Speaker 1: No one gets there by focusing on what's obvious, or
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  Speaker 1: by sticking with the first thought that pops into their head.
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  Speaker 1: To see what matters, you really have to look to
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  Speaker 1: understand it. You have to really think. It takes real
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  Speaker 1: work to grasp what is invisible to just about every
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  Speaker 1: one else. This will not only be advantageous to your
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: career and your business, but it will also help you
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: find peace and comfort. There is another great insight from
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Fred Rogers, which now goes viral each time there is
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: another unspeakable tragedy. Always look for the helpers, he explained
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  Speaker 1: to his viewers who were scared or disillusioned by the news.
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  Speaker 1: There's always someone who is trying to help. The world
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  Speaker 1: is full of doctors and nurses, police and firemen, volunteers,
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  Speaker 1: neighbors and friends who are ready to jump into help
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  Speaker 1: when things go wrong. Make no mistake, this was not
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  Speaker 1: some glib reassurance. Rogers, building on advice from his own
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  Speaker 1: mother when he was a child, had managed to find
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  Speaker 1: comfort and goodness inside an event that would provoke only
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  Speaker 1: pain and anger and fear in other people, and he
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  Speaker 1: figured out how to communicate it in a way that
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  Speaker 1: continues to make the world a better place long after
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  Speaker 1: his death. So much of the distress we feel come
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: from reacting instinctually instead of acting with conscientious deliberation. So
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  Speaker 1: much of what we get wrong comes from the same place.
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  Speaker 1: We're reacting to shadows. We're taking as certainty's impressions we
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: have yet to test. We're not stopping to put on
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  Speaker 1: our glasses and really look. Your job after you have
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  Speaker 1: emptied your mind is to slow down and think, to
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  Speaker 1: really think on a regular basis. Think about what's important
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  Speaker 1: to you. Think about what's actually going on, Think about
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  Speaker 1: what might be hidden from view, Think about what the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the chessboard looks like. Think about what the
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  Speaker 1: meaning of life really is. The choreographer Twyla Tharp provides
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  Speaker 1: an exercise for us to follow. Sit alone in a
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  Speaker 1: room and let your thoughts go wherever they will. Do
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  Speaker 1: this for one minute. Work up to ten minutes a
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  Speaker 1: day of this mindless mental wandering. Then start paying attention
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  Speaker 1: to your thoughts to see if a word or goal materializes.
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  Speaker 1: If it doesn't, extend the exercise to eleven minutes, then twelve,
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  Speaker 1: then thirteen, until you find the length of time you
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  Speaker 1: need to ensure that something interesting will come to mind.
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  Speaker 1: The Gaelic phrase for this state of mind is quietness
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  Speaker 1: without lonliness. If you invest the time and mental energy,
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  Speaker 1: you'll not only find what's interesting or your next creative project.
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  Speaker 1: You'll find truth. You'll find what other people have missed.
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  Speaker 1: You'll find solutions to the problems we face, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: insight to the logic of the Soviets and their missiles
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  Speaker 1: in Cuba, or how to move your business forward, or
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: how to make sense of senseless violence. These are answers
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  Speaker 1: that must be fished from the depths. And what is
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  Speaker 1: fishing but slowing down, being both relaxed and highly attuned
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  Speaker 1: to your environment, and ultimately catching hold of what lurks
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  Speaker 1: below the surface and reeling it in