The Power Within

[fajrdrako]

I didn't go to work today. I took the day off and went to a day-long event at the Congress Centre, where organizers called CMC Management had assembled a group of speakers on the theme of "The Power Within - Ignite the Spirit". I had expected something vaguely New Age, but it was more of a business-oriented forum, with an eye to the practical in terms of self-improvement. "Transformation" is the preferred term these days.

I was there because the main speaker, the final speaker, and the best speaker, was Deepak Chopra.

Deepak Chopra is a doctor who has made his fame by writing about ayurvedic medicine and thought - becoming a popularist of the theories behind yoga. He has written a series of self-help books for the modern west, with titles like Perfect Health and Unconditional Life. He also does television and the lecture circuit. Perhaps my favourite of his books is his autobiography - in which he tells the story of how he went from being a very westernized doctor (whose training was in Boston) to a practitioner and advocate of the ancient Vedic practices of India.

He's done as much for yoga in the west as B.K.S. Iyengar, only in a different way. Many of his books are like The Tao of Physics, an attempt to explain ancient Indian thought by translating it into modern scientific language.

He is one of my heroes, and I jumped at the chance to hear him speak.

I went with two close friends, Beulah and Lisa. When we arrived, the loudspeaker was loudly playing Abba music. Abba! Who'd have guessed? Loud though it was, you could barely hear it above the crowd noise: 2,400 people in one large room. The host and master of ceremonies was a comedian named Jessica Holmes - apparently she has her own TV show. She did a funny Celine Dion parody skit, and then a brief introduction to the theme of the day. In case anyone was too far back to see properly, the speakers were shown on two large screens to either side of the stage. I could see just fine, but sometimes found myself watching the screens instead of the person - especially when there was a tall gentleman sitting in front of me, smack between me and centre stage. Luckily he moved after lunch.

The speakers before Deepak Chopra were:

Doug Hall from a place called Eureka!Ranch, that helps both big and small businesses to be successful. He told us how to become billionaires. I took notes.

Mark Victor Hansen co-author of many best-selling books like "The Power of Focus" and "The One Minute Millionaire". He was lively, funny, and interesting, talking about "thinking outside the box" (isn't that a cliché?) and how to reach our BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Debbie Ford is another author whom I've actually read a little bit. She talked about 'feeding the inner flame', and how we make choices all the time that shape our lives, and how to train ourselves to make advantageous choices.

Loretta LaRoche was another comedian, who talked mostly about laughter and not feeling sorry for ourselves. She was funny, but sort of the opposite spectrum to me and any issue I may have. She talked, for instance, about how it's dumb to get uptight if we don't make our bed every day. Hey, that's not the lesson I need. I need the lesson that taking care of details of my life like bed-making (occasionally) at least makes me feel better about myself, staves off depression, and helps my self-esteem. (Now I'm wondering when I last made my bed. Saturday, I think.) She ended with a good quote: "Laugh at what you hold scared and still hold it sacred."

For lunch, Beulah, Lisa and I took soup and sandwiches to the terrace on top of the Rideau Centre. It's a little-known oasis of calm up there, with trees, lawn, and picnic benches. There are birds and flowers, and often squirrels.

After lunch there was a concert from a group called Leahy, who could be nothing but Canadian: they're a family of musicians who play electronic-Celtic music and dance, though the piece that they did that I liked best was Hungarian.

Next speaker: Robin Sharma, author of "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari". He was my favourite of the bunch (excepting Deepak Chopra). Intelligent and profound, heh ad a lot of good things to say and his talk was packed with good lines and useful thoughts. His prayer: "Oh Lord, please help me become the person my dog thinks I already am." He talked about inspirational figures like Martin Luthor King, Jr., Norman Cousins, Pascal Thibodeau, and Oseola McCarthy. He recommended books, he threw out quotes, he talked about self-knowledge and building community and what makes life worth living. He said that we should never hesitate to buy a book. ("A book?" whispered Lisa to me. "How do you stop at one?" ) He said we should read for thirty minutes per day. ("Only thirty minutes?" said Lisa, horrified.) But he was only talking about 'wisdom literature'. Fair enough. He said that in the first fifty years of life, we are building legitimacy. In the second fifty years of life, we are building a legacy. He quoted Rumi: "Give up the drop, become the ocean."

I liked that.

Kathy Cleveland Bull impressed me much less. She looked good, though. She talked about the book "Who Moved my Cheese", which I thought I maybe wanted to read before I heard her talk about it, and then decided I didn't want to after all. Some of her comments on strategies for success and dealing with people were good: "We support that which we help create", and: "Until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the perceived pain of change, you won't change."

Then the pièce de résistance: Deepak Chopra.





In a couple of hours he covered life, the universe, and everything. So much of what he said was so interesting that I can't begin to summarize it.... Well, just a few highlights.

The four fundamental challenges facing our world: social justice, economic freedom, economic balance, and non-violent conflict resolution.

He talked about "quantum leaps" - creativity on the part of the universe in which change happens without the perception of continuity. He talked about the constant changes on our bodies and everything else on the atomic level, theYoga Sutras of Patanjali, and how perception works. He talked about the make-up of the brain and the relationship between soul, knowledge, the material world, the 'quantum domain' and the 'non-local domain'. He quoted Walt Whitman (you see why I think this guy is great?) and talked at length about synchronicity without mentioning Jung. He talked about the primary causes of individual troubles and what to do about them. He talked about yoga and 'wisdom traditions', teleology, affirmations, and the Alliance for a New Humanity. He talked about everything and then everything else, and I think I want to read all his books again, including the next one that isn't published yet.

Home. Tired but happy. Ignited? Maybe a little bit.

Comments

three days were not enough

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

O, divine gift. You got to hear Deepak Chopra speak.

If I'd known he was going to be in Ottawa, I would have been in the car yesterday. Ahhh, how amazing that would have been!

Re: three days were not enough

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

He was as good as you'd have thought he would be.

But he'll probably be speaking somewhere closer to you than Ottawa! He often speaks in the States, I believe, and his visits to Canada are comparatively rare. (Unless maybe to Vancouver.)

It was a great day; I'm still feeling good from it.