WEBVTT

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I have some good news for you today.

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And that is that you can
rewire your brains

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and be great in your own right 
if you really want to.

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I'm going to give you
a brain-based perspective

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on why we say that.

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Your brain will look
different on the inside

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when you go home tonight

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than what it looked like
before you came here this morning.

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Nelson Mandela was known for saying,
"I was in jail for 27 years,

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but my mind was never in jail."

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So we're going to have a little bit
of a neuroplasticity perspective

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on how we can become great
in our own right.

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Now, when we look at this slide,

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that's what a normal brain
is supposed to look like.

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And specifically, I'd like you
to focus on an area there

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which we call the cerebellum.

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When we look at
a live model of this brain,

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this is what your brain looks like,

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and the cerebellum
is this area at the bottom.

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The cerebellum's function
is to give you balance,

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coordinated movements,

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it controls certain aspects 
of your speech,

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but it's also the home
of 50% of your brain cells.

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So obviously, one would assume

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that that's a very important
part of our brain.

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Now, a woman in China
was admitted to a hospital,

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complaining of nausea

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and just having vertigo and imbalance.

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When they did a CAT scan,

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it revealed that this woman's brain

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looked like this.

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Please note that black area there

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is only cerebrospinal fluids.

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Her cerebellum was missing.

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Are you freaking out yet?

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(Laughter)

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How is it possible
that you can go to hospital,

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you act like a normal person,

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you speak, you walk, you talk?

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Yes, dizziness, nausea,

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but no one expected this.

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Now, our whole talk
is about how your brain compensates.

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And it's going to be very important

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that we need to understand how that works.

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The principle is called neuroplasticity.

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Now, this lady,

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despite mild mental impairment
and some imbalance,

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she managed to marry, have children,

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and have a fairly normal life.

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And scientists were fascinated,

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How is this possible that someone
can live a life like this

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and be seen as normal,

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yet half of her brain cells are missing?

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And that's the significance of this case.

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How is it possible
that the brain can adapt

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so that people can still have
a fairly normal life

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without half of their brain cells?

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And this case is a testimony
for this principle called neuroplasticity.

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Now, to give you an example again,

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this woman's brain, literally -

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if we now looked at a model of the brain,

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said this whole area was gone,

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and she adapted.

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Neuroplasticity

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is about the brain's ability
to adapt and rewire itself

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so you can survive
and thrive in your world.

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Except for regulating
basic bodily functions,

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what we have to remember
is the main function of your brain

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is to help you survive.

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And that's good news
because your brain will help you adapt.

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If you do the hard work
to build new pathways,

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the brain can adjust and adapt
to help you not just survive

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but to actually thrive.

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What I'd like you to do
as you are sitting there,

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I'd like you to clap your hands

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and cross over,
touch your nose and your ear,

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and switch over to the other side.

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So just do this simple
movement activity with me, please.

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Aha!

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(Laughter)

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So how are we doing here with regards
to feeling how brain fit we are?

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This is a simple bilateral
or cross-lateral movement activity

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that we do to improve our brain fitness.

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The good news about this

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is if you're going
to continuously try this,

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the harder you try

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and the more intensely you repeat this,

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the quicker you'll learn to do this.

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Again, it shows you
how powerful your brain is

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and how quickly we can improve
our neuro-agility.

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Now, our world is changing very fast,

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and we are facing
an era of disruptive change,

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and we are going to need
to be really neuro-agile people

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to not just survive
but to thrive in that world.

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And that means that we are going
to have to flex our mental muscle.

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Now, let's quickly talk
about how neuroplasticity works,

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and what does it look like.

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There are three levels
that we need to understand

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on the way neuroplasticity works.

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Right now, at this moment,
as you are listening to me,

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your brain cells
are making those connections.

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But if we cut the brain open,

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you will see that your brain
has white and grey matters;

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in other words, that's where the learning 
and the thinking really takes place.

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So your brain on its most basic level
functions electrochemically.

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And if we talk about
electrochemical functioning,

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it literally means that the brain
produces 20 to 25 watts of electricity,

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and that these impulses are transmitted
from one cell to another.

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So what you will see on the screen

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are those impulses being transmitted

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through the dendrites
of a neuron, a brain cell.

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But what you are looking at now

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is that you will see there are also
some chemicals being released

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that transmit these messages
from one cell to another.

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So the best way to illustrate this is -

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I want two people who I have asked
before we started this session

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to just come on stage,

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and I want to illustrate to you
the electrical functioning of your brain,

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and I want you to think
about the impact of that.

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So in my hand, I have a thing
called an energy ball.

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It's just a little ball with a flashlight,
and it's got two poles,

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a positive and a negative.

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When these two poles
are connected with each other,

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the little flashlight goes off.

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Guys, can you come on stage, please?

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So all this proves is my body
conducts electricity,

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but it gets a little bit
more interesting than this.

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Can you just join me
on stage here, please?

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André, you stand on that side -
and there, there we go.

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Now, when we touch hands,

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all I'd like you to do,
just put your finger on that pole there.

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Nothing is happening now.

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Just touch hands.

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Break up.

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Touch hands.

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Break up.

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Okay, now, André, keep this in your hand

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so the camera can see.

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Hold my hand.

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Again, just touch
where you touched previously,

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and -

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Thank you.

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Now, keep it there.

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If I break up here -

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What this illustrates -

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Thank you so much. Much appreciated.

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(Applause)

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What this illustrates

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is that my energy
influences other people's energy.

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And the implication of this
is we need to think,

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What energy did you bring
into this room here today?

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Often when people meet
Nelson Mandela,

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they often would refer to him
being charismatic.

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And on its most basic scientific level,

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this man transmitted
tremendous constructiveness,

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positive energy.

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You see, we should think
about energy and electricity

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like dropping a stone into water.

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When we drop a stone into the water,

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it has a ripple effect,

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and so your and my energy
influence each other

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all the time.

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So that just illustrates
the electrical functioning.

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So the moment we choose to change
our thinking and our emotions,

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we change the energy
that we radiate into our world.

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But if we look at
the chemical functioning,

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very important that everything 
in your body is always about chemicals.

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And maybe the best way
to illustrate this again -

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when we look at the next picture,

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you will see that they are chemicals

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that help to transmit messages
from one brain cell to another one.

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We call them neurotransmitters.

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Now, I want to illustrate this
through a story.

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When Nelson Mandela was president,

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he once visited an old age home, 
and he was in the Alzheimer's ward,

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speaking to people there.

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And he walked up to an old lady,

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and he asked her,
"Do you know who I am?"

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And she looked at him like this,

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and she took him by the arm and said,

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"Listen, if you don't know
who you are, go ask the nurse."

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(Laughter)

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Why I told you this story

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was, simply, you experienced
a good feeling when you laughed.

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You experienced a chemical 
called serotonin being produced,

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which is good fuel.

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But we can also, if we stress too much,

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produce chemicals that act
as inhibiting chemicals.

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They block transmission between cells.

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So our thoughts and our emotions

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impact the chemicals
that regulate our mind.

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If I drive down the road
and someone runs right in front of me,

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and I hit the brakes,
and the car comes to a standstill,

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I feel pins and needles in my legs -

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an example of the inhibiting chemicals

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that influences - the fuel
that's not good for me.

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You control that.

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So, neuroplasticity 
on its most basic level,

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is about your electrochemical functioning.

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But when we look
at how your brain functions,

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and we cut open the brain,

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you look at your brain model like this,

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and you look at the white
and grey matters.

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At this moment,
as you are listening to me,

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your brain cells are connecting 
and making structural changes;

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and if you sufficiently reinforce 
those structural changes,

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it becomes a permanent pathway;

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and when it becomes a permanent pathway,

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it means your behavior,
that emotion or that habit,

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becomes second nature -
it becomes automatic.

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This is good news.

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You are the results
of these neuron pathways,

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and if they are pathways
and habits you don't like,

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you can change it,

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but you need to carve a new pathway

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into the white and grey
matters of your brain.

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With intensity and repetition,

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you need to replace
the old negative pathways

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with new constructive ones.

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But if you do,

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you bring about a structural
change in your brain.

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That's good news

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because it says we never
have to be victims

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of our "behavior" and our environment,

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but we can outthink our circumstances.

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But this case of the Chinese woman

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is a case where even functional changes
take place in the brain,

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where the functions of the cerebellum,

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of balance and coordinated movements
and some speech functions

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have been replaced 
by the cerebral cortex -

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this outer layer here.

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Fantastic!

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It means we can overcome adversity,

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and miracles can happen.

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Because from a scientific point of view,

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I still think it must be a miracle

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for someone to be born
without a cerebellum,

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and she lives a fairly normal life,

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and she's a mom,

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and she understands
the world the way I do.

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So, the implications are
we can change whatever we want

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if we could rewire ourselves

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and sufficiently spend time
with reinforcement and intensity

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to replace old negative behavior patterns

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with new constructive alternatives.

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The other implication
is quite profound for me.

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This woman never experienced
the label of being "disabled"

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because they didn't know
that she didn't have a cerebellum.

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Yes, she started only talking 
at six years old.

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Einstein started talking at five.

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So what's the problem?

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(Laughter)

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But she started walking only at seven.

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Yes, that's a bit late.

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But not having had the burden
of a label that "You are disabled"

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actually made her live
a fairly normal life.

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We should be careful of the labels
we put on ourselves and on others.

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So, if I want to, then, change my brain,

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how do I do it?

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One, assess all the bad habits,

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the things that are bad for your brain,

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the behavior you'd like to change.

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Two, you make a conscious choice

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to reinforce the new behavior
so much more than the old behavior,

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so you focus on your solutions
so much more than your problems.

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Three, it takes a lot of hard work
and reinforcement

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to build those pathways.

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Your brain works like a movie:

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it has a soundtrack, it has visuals,

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and it has emotions.

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So the bottom line,

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you want to reinforce new behavior,

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you start speaking words of life

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and speak positive,
constructive solutions.

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Two, think forward.

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Envision your solutions.

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Feed your mind

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with the pictures and the dreams

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that will help you become that person
who is great in your own right.

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Four, act upon it.

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Just do it.

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I love Nike statement: Just do it.

00:15:54.690 --> 00:15:55.957
Because when we do it,

00:15:55.957 --> 00:15:59.068
we seal the deal in the deepest
parts of the brain

00:15:59.068 --> 00:16:00.801
called the limbic system.

00:16:01.051 --> 00:16:05.721
So say it, see it, do it, experience it.

00:16:06.551 --> 00:16:10.217
I'd like to conclude this session
simply by saying this,

00:16:10.327 --> 00:16:13.903
You are the result of your thinking.

00:16:15.283 --> 00:16:19.106
Your habits is how you think habitually.

00:16:19.506 --> 00:16:23.291
So when your start
changing your thoughts habitually,

00:16:23.501 --> 00:16:25.683
you start changing your emotions.

00:16:25.953 --> 00:16:29.121
When you change
your thoughts and emotions,

00:16:29.121 --> 00:16:30.771
the fuel you run on,

00:16:30.831 --> 00:16:32.801
you change your behavior.

00:16:33.041 --> 00:16:36.736
When you change your thoughts, 
emotions and behavior,

00:16:36.826 --> 00:16:39.102
you change your performance.

00:16:39.392 --> 00:16:43.182
That puts you in the driver seat 
of your own life -

00:16:43.272 --> 00:16:45.630
master of your own destiny,

00:16:45.780 --> 00:16:48.005
architect of your own life.

00:16:48.215 --> 00:16:50.624
And that was an idea
I thought was worth sharing.

00:16:50.704 --> 00:16:53.741
(Applause)