Transcriber: Sofia Aleem Reviewer: Peter Van de Ven
Love life, and it will love you back. It’s a very simple term.
Why do we make it so complicated?
Us humans make it so complicated.
I am here today, at TedX Enniskillen, to talk about being the change,
and I believe that starts with ourselves.
So today I’m going to talk about the forgotten art of enjoying life.
People often ask me, “How do you do what you do,” Karen?
“You’re a mom of six, and you have three publishing presses.
You write books. You seem to achieve a lot.”
And I love achieving things, and I’m not shy to admit it,
but I do everything with joy.
And I think that joy
is not prioritized enough in everyone’s life,
and so I want to share with you my perspective on joy
and how we can have joy in our lives right now in this moment
and not just aspire for it in the future,
actually have it right now.
Because it is a choice, you know, it is a choice.
You can choose it every day. I get up and I choose it every day.
There has been times in my life where I haven’t prioritized joy
and I let external influences, you know, just bring me down to the ground.
And I've been at very low points.
But when I come out of a dark period that I had back in 2006,
when I endured PTSD,
when I came out of that, I made a sacred promise to myself
that I was going to prioritize joy and see where it brought me.
Because, you know, it can’t do any harm.
We can all enjoy life.
And what I have discovered in the ten years since
and observing other people
is that people who embrace joy in their lives have more success.
The wonderful Jack Canfield talks about “Joy is the essence of success.”
And myself - people often say to me, “You’re very successful” -
what was my definition of success?
I feel successful
because I get to have a beautiful blend between family life and business life,
and I get to achieve my dreams.
And we can’t put dreams on the backburner.
We really need to be working towards our dreams
and believing that anything is possible,
and it is possible when you believe it to be.
Now, I’m up here talking about joy and all hunky dory.
Lots of things are happening in the world.
I am a mom of six.
I endure challenges every day, and challenges are part of life,
and they’re never going to go away,
never going to go anywhere.
But for me, I have a different perspective of challenges.
Whenever I’m in business, a challenge is an opportunity to grow,
to learn something new,
to grow into the person that I need to be
and learn the knowledge for the next step.
With family challenges, that’s different
because it really pulls on your heartstrings
when you have family challenges.
And I just recently, we had a huge one.
Last August my daughter was diagnosed with type one diabetes.
We don’t have type one diabetes in our family,
so we didn't know where it came from.
And it was in such a traumatic way because she went into ketoacidosis,
so we nearly lost her, and she was in ICU for four days,
which just shook us to our core.
But what it really verified for me is that I am so blessed
that I live at a very high vibration
because when trauma like that happens in your family,
you can fall below the line.
But when you prioritize joy,
you have a full cup
so that when challenges come, you can deal with them.
You have a full cup that when somebody needs you,
you can pour into them.
And it makes such a difference.
And that is why I am really passionate
about sharing the forgotten art of enjoying life.
Because not only does it make
a really good story at the end of your lifetime,
it actually serves you well throughout your life
and serves those around you well.
And to be the change for others and for the world,
you need to first be the change for yourself
and you will really make a difference.
Now,
I was fascinated to discover when I was doing research for this talk
that the Global Happiness Project
does an annual survey --
this is their 10th anniversary now,
in 2022 --
and there was a 15% increase in people Googling “happiness”
and the same decrease in people Googling “income.”
Can you imagine?
Like people's priorities are changing.
So people are striving for happiness
without realizing that just with a shift in perspective
or just a shift in a daily routine,
you can actually start having more happiness in your life
right now in this very moment.
And why would you not choose that?
It is a choice that you make every single day.
You cannot have a positive and a negative thought at the same time,
so what do you choose for you?
I know when I go on the tangent of a negative thought,
“Pull you back, Karen,” because you can choose different,
and it really makes a huge difference for everyone around me.
So I have a wonderful friend, who’s Fleur Chambers,
and she had the Happy Habit app,
and I incorporated it into my mornings
because being a busy mom of six,
sometimes happiness isn't the priority first thing in the morning.
So I decided to take action
and listen to the Happy Habit app for 3 minutes in the morning.
And my goodness, what a difference that it has in my morning, on my day,
and just has this beautiful ripple effect through my own personal day,
but trough everyone that surrounds me, to everyone I work with.
And it’s just got a calming effect, which is a very important thing.
When you have joy,
other things don’t have such significance
because you're choosing it in your life.
So it’s really, what do you choose for yourself right now?
You can be the difference in your life.
You can be the difference
and share that message with someone that you love
who needs to hear that,
and just be that and prioritize joy in your life.
So love life and it will love you back.
It’s your choice.