Transcriber: Yiyeon Bae Reviewer: eric vautier
Good morning, Orange County.
(Audience) Good morning!
So, today
it's all about innovation
and borders.
I'm going to speak and
dance at the same time because
it's the kind of the thing that I enjoy to do
and brings me into a place where I can see
new possibilities.
But also,
I'm keen as you've heard
to cross the line
and bring the audience
into the narrative
because your intelligence,
your collective intelligence
is not contained.
So
my first thought,
is to bring you into
a space that I've been thinking about
quite a lot.
It's to do with the anthropology
of the senses.
In our Western traditions,
we quite regularly think about
our senses as relating to our organs
that sense the outside world.
However, we find,
if we look into other traditions,
from other parts of the world,
things are not quite as simply scripted.
So we find that,
affect,
emotion,
sentiment,
are not separated
from the senses of touch.
Feeling, hearing, tasting.
So what's the point?
Well,
we find in one particular culture,
In West Africa,
that the anthropologist,
Catherine Lingus
has been studying
is that they have an expanded view
of the senses
which would include
the imagination,
which would include
intuition,
which would include
perception
and would include sensation.
So,
for today,
I would like to invoke us to have
an experience that we can take home
and play with.
So we are going to start a little experiment,
because it's humongous,
this idea of being this stelar,
incredible creator, innovator,
where am I going to get this idea from?
Right?
But I'm sure
I am in the company of many such innovators,
but maybe your challenge is
how to inspire others,
to join you, on your journey.
So,
how do we navigate our way through this life?
we set up
a whole bunch of filters,
so we can navigate our way through everyday.
So, we don't have to respond to everything
that's coming at us because it needs a decision,
and it ..
so we try
and we make it measured.
So, we bring in the borders
in order
to find our way through the day.
But in order to find that place
of creativity,
and suggesting that we have to find a way
to clear,
the pathway of some of those filters,
some of those rules,
some of those regulations,
some of those default positions,
that we go to everyday.
So,
here's what we are going to do.
We are going to do a little experiment.
But the real experiment will start
when you go home
and you really got the time.
So what can the body tell us?
The mind and the body,
they are separate, right?
Well, I think the body can give us some information
about how to navigate our way to a creative end
or means.
So we are going to take ourselves back
to a place of discovery
a very small baby step to finding our way through
our filters.
So,
I want you to imagine
that you will take a day
soon,
where you start your day,
and instead of getting up your bed to your right,
you are going to get out of your bed to your left.
When you go to the bathroom you are gonna brush your teeth
not with your right hand,
but you are gonna brush your teeth with your left.
When you make your coffee,
you are not going to pour it with your (right hand)
your are going pour it with your --
and when you are going to the car,
you are going to open it with your --
(Audience) Left hand.
-- the opposite side.
So what I want you to consider is
the opposite side of your body is going to lead.
Sound simple?
(Laughter)
I want you to give it a go.
An earnest go.
But,
this is one consideration.
Do it on a day
when you have time
to think
and reflect
on the sensations
that occur when you make the shift.
There's going to be frustrations
at times
but allow the frustrations to happen
and then
listen.
Listen to what occurs in the body.
As you're brushing your teeth with your left hand
and your shoulder's up and your back is arched
and you're feeling
'Are my teeth getting cleaned?'
You are in the moment.
You are not thinking about the 75 e-mails
that you've got to respond to.
You're not thinking about the children
and what time you've got to pick them up.
You are in the moment.
So,
everyone, fold your arms for me.
That very familiar position
that we all take from time to time.
Okay, first thing,
observe.
Which arm is wrapped over the top?
Your left or your right?
Ok, now I want you go swap over.
(Laughter)
Are you there?
Aha!
It's not as easy as we thought
and still we might quite not be there.
Relax, relax.
And one more time.
Your regular.
Just take a moment,
feel the sensation
and then change over.
Take a moment to notice what you feel
that's a pretty straightforward start
now as you go into your day,
you are going to find things that challenge you a lot more
in lots of different ways.
But if you attend to that moment,
you will find that your other senses
are gonna kick in, to help you
find your way through.
So, you may be stiring your tea
or your coffee
in the other direction,
and suddenly,
your hearing opens up,
or your sight extends
or you may find that suddenly
you are in a moment where
you're having
an imagination or something that's not actually there.
Hold that moment.
Allow it to extend.
Draw yourself further
into that imagined place.
Where you are kind of having synesthesia
and affect of drawing your senses together
with your internal senses
and making a cluster.
This way,
taking your baby steps
into yours or your colleagues' imagination
will give you another way to think about
the body and the mind.
Thank you.
(Applause)