Translator: Marta Ruggio Reviewer: Maria Pericleous
My speech is about changing your mood,
and since light is essential for serotonin,
the happiness hormone,
I'd like to ask the director to switch on the lights,
so I can see people's faces.
Ok. No, no, better to switch it off, I'm joking!
(Laughter)
So my speech,
which we are going to watch live together,
is about mood change.
Who wants to change their mood to overcome stress and difficulties?
Can you please raise your hands?
Great!
Perhaps you are worried about something,
or stressed, with many things to do, but with less and less time available,
or other people’s problems we always have to solve,
instead of our own.
Or maybe because we have to deal
with people who take our smile away
maybe because they're stressed out, negative,
or they don't respect us,
don't listen to us, don't answer us and let us down.
It's also true that when it comes to external problems,
we still have a choice, that is to say our mood.
Because by changing our mood,
we manage to soften the blows of life,
and to interpret differently what happens to us.
Since we can do it, and we've already done it.
Has it ever happened to you while driving - do any of you drive?
Do you have a driver's licence?
(Laughter)
Having a license is important.
Maybe you had someone cut in in front of you.
Obviously, it’s something that annoys everyone.
But it probably happened to you at least once
that the one who cut in front of you said they were sorry.
Surely, our reaction, our mood,
but also our attitude towards the problem is completely different
if the same person
disrespects us, wants to be in the right and gets angry, right?
So the same situation can be seen differently.
Has it happened to any of you?
Someone might be wondering:
"Why is he asking questions and making us raise our hands?
Why does he make us raise our hands?"
All together! Don’t say it to yourself.
Good question, thanks for asking, I didn't see it coming.
When we raise our arms,
-there is research in my book-
the cortisol level in blood decreases and together with adrenaline,
as you know, is one of the primary stress hormones.
It is the one that causes muscle tension,
also neck, cervical and back pain.
It is also responsible for reducing
the amount of oxygen to the brain to take it to the muscles.
Plus, the cortisol interferes with serotonin and dopamine activity
which are responsible for vision, memory and concentration.
So, let's raise your arms, let’s try it now, air our underarms also.
It looks like a robbery. But a happy one, a happy robbery.
We won't stay like that for 40 minutes, of course:
but as you can see, you raise and lower your arms to respond.
When we raise them up, we move,
our brain triggers the release of endorphins
we all know as happy hormones,
our body's natural painkillers.
Who doesn't have a couple of endorphins to shoot up when needed.
So they make us feel great
because otherwise it seems like -being sat down like you are now,
having someone speaking in front of you,
what does it remind you of, something you did for at least 15 or 20 years?
School.
How many of you went to school?
(Laughter)
Lovely, it's a good thing.
When we were at school, at least at my school,
especially during the first hours
when you would rather be in bed sleeping, resting,
our facial expression, at least at my school,
was this one.
(Laughter)
So, in your opinion, with this facial expression,
was our brain efficient or inefficient?
Inefficient. How many of you think so?
How many of you think - which is very important -
(Applause)
when we...
when we get out of here, because we will, of course,
we want to take home some techniques to change our mood,
so we have to be at our best,
be an alert person, what would this person look like, how would he be alert ?
(Laughter)
Of course, an alert person has a specific attitude,
the books say "motion creates emotion".
In Romagnol, because I have the Romagnol "sh", moshion creates emoshion.
If you act like you're happy, it's easier to become happy.
Even in the 20th century, William James,
the famous father of empirical psychology, said:
"it's impossible to stay sad if you show signs of happiness".
You can tell when someone is sad, of course.
Have you come across sad, pensive people, has it happened to anyone?
Have you yourself been sad or pensive?
I've never seen a pensive or worried person who looks like that.
(Laughter)
Right? Usually, they have slightly bent shoulders.
According to you, do we breathe better or worse this way? Worse.
Oddly enough, without even being aware of it, we assume the one posture
which doesn't bring oxygen to the brain to solve our problems.
And if it's true that "moshion creates emoshion", in Romagnol,
if I stay like that, I challenge anyone to do that and think:
"Life is wonderful!"
(Laughter)
"I am so happy today!"
"Yippee, yippee".
Right?
On the contrary, we need to have the posture
typical of an enthusiastic, alert and happy person.
If a person has just won the lottery, what do they look like?
First of all they're not here, they are already off traveling.
For sure they are standing up straight, let's try that.
Let's try, don't hunch your shoulders. Straight shoulders, let's try.
Open your arms and legs.
No, I can't say "open your legs", sorry.
This way we certainly breathe better.
We bring the maximum amount of blood to the brain through the basal artery;
most importantly, when we smile, we activate our endorphins.
Let's try to have this posture for 40 minutes.
OK?
No, joking. Only for 30 seconds,
but all together at the same time as if we were really here today.
Why am I saying this?
Because if we do it all together, it's something easy,
normal, that made you laugh, something you already did in your life.
Instead, if you saw someone walking like that
and smiling to themselves, you'd think, "What is this fool laughing at?"
rather than being serious, sullen and irritable.
Plus, we have a little inner voice
that prevents us from changes.
It says: "Don't do it, don't smile! It's dangerous, you'll die after".
(Laughter)
You must be serious, irritable or seething.
So, how do you defeat that little voice?
By acting.
When we act, we try.
We can do it all together but also on your own.
Just like football players, professionals.
What do they do before a match? They warm up.
They warm up in the stadium. If they do it in the post office, it'd be a bit odd.
But the problem isn't the workout, it's the place.
Here in the right place, let's do it altogether for 30 seconds. Ready? Go!
(Laughter)
How is it going?
(Laughter)
Does anyone feel faint?
Can you feel the endorphins greatly increasing?
It's almost over.
Hold hands, if it helps,
but only if your hands are clean.
If it helps, try to look at me. Oh, you're already doing it, OK.
Look at your eyes. I mean...
(Laughter).
Look upwards with your eyes,
because it shifts brainwaves towards a positive attitude
and, in the meanwhile, open your mouth and smile, without saying, "Aaah"
since we're not at the doctor now.
(Laughter)
The more we bend our head, the more we want to laugh
in a spontaneous and natural way. Let's try.
You're awesome! Awesome!
(Applause)
So, we tried that.
Why did we laugh? No one said you had to.
It's because our brain linked these facial expressions
to a positive state of mind since we were kids.
In fact, when an adult moves close to the cradle where a baby sleeps,
how does he do so? Like this,"Grr"?
or, "Aah"? The first or the second one?
The second one over a million times.
Every time you see a baby, you say that automatically
and our brain recorded it.
So, we can use it to change our mood.
Just as we can use some of the advertising techniques:
I don't know if you saw the Checco Zalone's film.
He visits his grandmother in Puglia,
he enters her room, turns on the light, and she starts knitting.
He turns off the light and she stops.
We can use the same thing on ourselves.
So, let's try: When I click my fingers, we'll have a neutral face, as in school,
with a blank stare, neither happy nor sad.
Try the neutral face for a bit. Very good, neutral suits you.
When I click my fingers you'll be happy. Ready?
If I do the neutral face longer, you'll laugh even more.
Ready? Go!
(Laughter)
You're really awesome!
Let's take a deep liberating breath.
Let the air out, through the mouth of course.
Put one hand on your belly and push the air out of your mouth
over your belly button. Does everyone know where it is?
Push it and breathe in smiling. Hold your breath for four seconds to allow
gas exchange to occur in the alveoli, with your mouth open and smile,
winking as if you found out someone's shenanigans, like that.
Let's try.
Breathe out, breathe in.
(Laughter)
Very good, well done!
It's good that we gratify ourselves because when we do something,
even something simple, rewarding is essential.
Change is a suffering "lever"
bringing us toward a happiness one.
Unfortunately, the happiness "lever" when we don't reward ourselves,
maybe because we think it's too complex,
becomes a suffering "lever". So, what can we do?
I invented a method which I called "Good mood engineering"
because we have to be creative, to find a way to be in a good mood.
Obviously, the point is to find the easiest thing
you can do now to be in a good mood.
After, you'll gratify yourself with some techniques.
Would you like to try one of them?
Is anyone interested? Lovely.
In this method, the first step is to be aware
that there is a problem, because if you don't realize it,
you'll never find a solution, right?
A problem that, unlike the external problems,
concerns yourself, so you move toward the solution.
You take responsibility because you make yourself a priority.
It doesn't mean being an egoist.
Even the footballer
makes himself a priority when he comes onto the pitch.
He warms up for himself, not to get hurt.
But when he does it, he helps the team as well.
You know what I mean? OK. We've just tried.
The second step: physical attitude.
I get into the best posture to reach a positive state of mind
and a mental attitude that will allow me to be focused on solutions
and to use language in a smart way,
because sometimes we trip up on the language.
Do you know anyone who, contemplating the weather,
gets in a bad mood? Do you know anyone who is meteoropathic?
It's not a serious disease, my aunt has a black belt in meteoropathy.
Not in meteorism, but in meteoropathy.
When she looks up at the weather -
winter weather in Romagna is not good
even if some ads show you the sun at six in the morning.
It's dark, cold and foggy.
When she raises the roller blinds
she says, "What an ugly rainy day, what a tiring day awaits me".
Would it be a tiring day according to you?
Yes, but not because the universe decided so.
It's because our brain works "as if".
You put yourself in a "tiring day" mood, different from the one you were in
at school when they said, "there'll be a sub in tomorrow".
You got into a happy mood, you even liked the subjects you used to hate
just because there was a sub.
An example that made it clear to me:
try to think about a fork. Do you have a fork in your head?
Not stuck in your head.
A fork and an empty plate. Do you have them in your mind?
Try to visualize the fork scraping a plate,
a fork scraping the blackboard at school,
it's a negative sensation, right?
And yet, there's no fork, no plate and no blackboard.
But we reacted "as if".
Every word creates a suggestion in our minds
and knowing it, we use language in a smarter way.
Rather than saying a tiring day, what else could I say?
"Differently easy day" sounds better.
Instead of "ugly", "not beautiful".
Which one do you prefer? "Not beautiful" or "ugly". "Not beautiful".
The word "rich", in neurosemantics, is one of those that makes us happiest.
Rich in demands is better than demanding, right?
Rich, lucrative, abundant.
Stimulating for her, numbing for him.
(Laughter)
So, using language this way, you changed your mood already.
Otherwise, you act like my aunt who, even in good weather,
says, "It's a really nice day but I have to go to work anyway".
If you say I have to do that, you get into a worse mood.
Now that she knows about the fork scraping the plate,
she looks at me when it's good weather and she says:
"I hope it doesn't spoil!"
(Applause)
Let's do this fulfillment
that is based on the three steps method,
-awareness, physical and mental attitude.
Clap your hands aligning the fingertips.
Oriental disciplines say that it boosts energy levels.
Believe it or not, clapping your hands that way, smiling energetically,
creates energy, doesn't it? At least my hands became red.
We will do it for 40 minutes, ok? No, I'm joking. Only twice.
Clap your hands saying these positive words which are good for the harvest,
the grape harvest, world peace, peace of mind, that are:
"very good, very good" and lift your enthusiasm.
Ready? Go!
"Very good, very good, yeah!"
Thanks everybody!
(Applause)
(Music)