Translator: Tara Dawson Reviewer: Tanya Cushman
In our modern world, everyone is always looking for the next big thing:
the key to success, health, happiness, and well-being.
New methods, solutions, insights, facts and figures pop up everywhere
in this sheer endless search for "The Perfect Life."
This is my grandma
on her motorbike in Italy in 1956,
not knowing that this would be one of the last trips she would take
for a very, very long time.
When the Wall was built in 1961,
it divided Germany, the country she grew up in,
and ended her freedom.
But she never stopped hoping, dreaming, and believing in a better future.
In 1989, four years after I was born,
suddenly the wall was history.
My grandparents put my sister and me
into their tiny little, GDR, East German, Trabant car,
and finally took us to all the different places they had been longing to visit
and missing for such a long time.
We slept in this car; there were four of us.
(Laughter)
When we got taller, we moved into a tiny little tent next to it.
We even slept in a cow stable.
We didn't have any money, but we were finally free,
and that's what really mattered.
As a cultural scientist and psychologist,
I guess I know almost everything there is to know
about the science of happiness and well-being.
All the facts and figures,
all the studies.
I know that 50 percent of your happiness is determined by your genes,
so you cannot do anything about it;
another 10 percent by circumstances you cannot change or influence,
as good or bad as they might be;
but the remaining 40 percent -
and that's what really counts -
are influenced by yourself,
by your internal state of mind, your actions, thoughts, and behaviour.
So in my case,
my childhood experiences, our adventures,
and not the least, my grandma's words
told me more about happiness than anything or anyone else ever did.
Because, in the end, it's not about science;
it's not about brain structures or chemical reactions.
In the end, it's all about how you fill this mix-tape called your life.
So, imagine your life was a tape recorder.
Sometimes,
one or the other button might get stuck.
Sometimes, the tape gets tangled in the small cogs.
But most of the time, it is running: the soundtrack of your life.
When do you push which button?
"Play" is all about the many different reasons you get up in the morning.
It's about motivation.
It's about getting started or getting started ahead.
And it's about what you love.
And it's about the best state your mind and body can possibly be in.
When time rushes and everything seems perfectly under control,
this state is called "flow."
So think about,
When was the last time you were so motivated and so focused
that nothing else played a role anymore, and time just went by?
Once we've started moving,
there's one thing we sometimes tend to forget
and might end up being totally stressed.
It's my favourite button; it's the "Pause" button.
Because sometimes I myself forget to press it.
The Pause button is about finding time to calm down and to rest.
It's about mindfulness,
and it's about being exactly here and now
and nowhere else.
And it's about taking a deep breath,
here and now.
And while you're breathing,
I want you to skip back
to all the moments and memories you've had so far in your life.
I want you to remember them because they mattered so much.
Skip back to all the places you've already been to,
to all the wonderful things you've already done,
and to all the good things you've already learned,
because I think there's so much to remember.
And while you're there,
skipping back,
also think about everyone you've met along the way.
So many people.
There's a saying that says
that you become like the five people you spend most time with.
So choose wisely whose voices and actions you would like to record.
Whose words do you never, ever want to forget?
Who mattered so much that you want to have them in your life on a regular basis?
Think about the people who really count,
and get in touch with them -
today, tomorrow,
and every single day that follows.
Play, Pause, Rewind, Record.
Last but not least, there's one button that takes a look into your future.
"Skip Forward" to the unknown,
and look what the future might bring.
What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
And,
when was the last time you did something for the very, very first time?
You are in charge.
Mix your mix-tape the way you want it.
Listen to the sound of your life.
Skip Back and Forward, Record, Play, and Pause.
Live your life,
because as far as I know, there's only one life you've got.
My grandma's soundtrack
is one of the most colourful, loveliest, and inspiring ones I have ever known.
I often wish it would still be playing,
and in a way, I think it always will be.
So, why am I telling you this?
I want you to go to these five buttons on your tape recorder as a daily routine.
I want you to use them all; don't only play one of them all the time.
Use them all.
Implement them into the fabric of your life
because every mix-tape tells another story.
Let yours be unique, authentic,
full of love, laughter, and learnings.
Let it be a daily inspiration
for yourself and for the people you love the most.
Thank you.
(Applause)