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Graduation is here! The global marketplace is changing. The economy is in recession and the rules of business seem to shift every day. What does it really mean to be successful? Do you think you have what it takes? On Sunday, May 10, at 10:30 a.m. ET, watch Oprah’s commencement speech at Duke University live on CNN.com and Oprah.com.
Daniel Pink tells Oprah Winfrey why creativity and imagination will be powerful forces for success.
(OPRAH.com) — Your left brain is logical, linear, by-the-numbers; the right side is creative, artistic, empathetic. Oprah Winfrey talks with Daniel Pink about his groundbreaking book, “A Whole New Mind”, and explores how right-brain thinkers are wired for 21st-century success.
The best part: Anyone can tap into the right mind-set.
Pink, a former chief speechwriter for former Vice President Al Gore, presents a convincing argument that our country is entering a new era — the so-called conceptual age — during which right-brained skills such as design and storytelling will become far more crucial than traditionally left-brained skills such as accounting and computer programming.
While the latter skills are readily outsourced, transformative abilities such as empathy and creativity are crucial in a new age “animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life,” he writes.
Because I’ve always been a right-brain kind of person — more of an inventive and empathetic storyteller than a linear, logical number cruncher –this book really spoke to me. Now, you know what happens when something new excites me: I want to share it with as many people as I can.
In June 2008, I was invited to Stanford University to give the commencement address (my goddaughter Kirby was among the graduates). Oprah.com: Oprah’s Stanford commencement address
After finishing Daniel’s book, I ordered 4,500 copies, one for each student in Stanford’s class of 2008. I wanted to present them (along with another of my favorites, Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth) as graduation presents. For four days straight, a team of people tied ribbons around the books, which were waiting on their chairs. Watch Oprah’s Duke University address on Sunday on Oprah.com or CNN.com.
When we sat down in the studio in Chicago, I told him the story of my ribbon assembly line. “That’s the kind of work we typically try to outsource!” Daniel joked. In “A Whole New Mind,” he explains that one of the trademarks of the Conceptual Age is the outsourcing of traditional white-collar jobs such as law, accounting, and engineering to less-expensive overseas workers, particularly in Asia. But as he points out, you can’t outsource creativity.
Feel left out? Fear not, Daniel says: He has identified six right-brain-associated aptitudes that he believes anyone can develop, and tells us how we can use these skills not only to stay competitive in the workplace but to improve our lives and our world.
Winfrey: Let’s start with the bold statement you make on the cover of your book: Why will right-brainers rule the future?
These days, just about everyone with a pulse is starting to get this message—the ominous signs are all around us. Climate change, most scientists agree, is a reality. The average global temperature has climbed sharply in the past 30 years. If the current warming trend continues, the earth’s temperature in the coming decades could reach heights not experienced since the time of the dinosaurs. In just one year, the Arctic Ocean has lost an area of year-round ice cover the size of Texas. The results of all this warming could be cataclysmic, experts warn. Coastlines will shift as polar ice caps melt; storms, droughts, and floods will increase; massive human migrations could take place. The world is in danger.
But what does this have to do with yoga? Quite a bit, it turns out. The essence of yoga is balance, and that means not only balance in our bodies or our emotional lives, but also balance in our relationship to the world. Yoga’s core principles can motivate you to take meaningful actions that are good for the planet and also appropriate for you, whatever your circumstances. And while your yoga practice is deepening your commitment to living green, it can also help you to cope with the anxiety that the state of our world can provoke.
There are times when you know just what to do, and life seems to rise up and support you and your ideas. And then there are times when it is all a little murky, and you might feel a bit lost. Thankfully, you have your yoga practice to come to—a time to tap into a deep connection with yourself and remember who you really are and what is most important to you. Nothing could be better.
When you bring the spacious awareness you experience in your yoga practice to your whole life, you’ll experience the kind of presence that will make you stop in your tracks, engage your senses, and find joy in daily life. But for most of us, accomplishing that is easier said than done. Often it requires a conscious effort to examine the status quo, push in new directions, and find fresh approaches to evoking that same sense of grounding, connection, and happiness we find on the mat.
Here, then, are 10 possibilities to help you get there. Put these ideas into practice one at a time, or try several at once. You might want to welcome one of them into your life as an offering to the New Year. Whatever approach you choose, here’s to feeling more alive, more present, and more aware of what makes you happy.
1. Get Energized About Your Future
Your yoga practice helps you live in the present, but life in the world demands a certain amount of decision making and planning. What’s your vision of where you want to go and how you’ll get there? When you take a proactive approach, your dreams are more likely to become reality. Knowing what you want is, of course, the first step.
If you need help discovering your life’s path, start by talking it out, says Nancy Wagaman, a life coach in San Diego. You can develop a goal list and create affirmations, she says. You can draw a picture of your future—even pray for guidance. “There are so many ways to energize the new vision you want for your life. The more you energize it, the more you draw that energy to that vision. And the universe tends to support you,” she says.
Of course, your vision may change over time, but the important thing is that you’re an active participant in your future.
