This images is cropped from: http://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/in-conversation-with-arianna-huffington/
This entry is a bit different to what you've come to expect form me as it is, in its most literal form, a blog i.e a web-log as, last night I attended "Thrive, an audience with Arianna Huffington" hosted by The School of Life.
It was amazing to spend time in her company in the packed to the rafters Emmanuel Centre in Central London where it was almost standing room only. (Not to mention a few 'handbags at dawn' moments when people tried to save seats for others. Ouch.)
This images is from: http://www.emmanuelcentre.com/our-history.html
Arianna's charm and presence filled the atrium of space and I was captivated by her honesty and humility as she shared stories of her humble beginnings, her relationship with her mother, her rise to success and also her take on how we can truly thrive today, from the inside out.
I wasn't able to record every single insight she shared word for word as I was drinking it all in but I was able to scribble down some fantastic gems that hit home with me and I hope these go some way in helping you thrive in your own way.
I've collected these in a quick fire fact sheet so they're nice and digestible as I'll be coming back to this post for sure! Here we go:
When it comes to thriving, try these three steps on for size:
1. Sleep.
- Arianna described sleep as a performance enhancement tool! – Can I get a hell yeah?!
- She addressed the kudos that has become associated with being really busy and tired and joked she’d been at dinner with people that boasted they had only had three hours sleep and yet she thought that “perhaps if they'd had four hours, this dinner would be a lot more interesting!”
2. Recognise your relationship with technology.
- Pick a time each day when you turn off devices and really disengage from the internet - this can include your bedroom becoming a device free zone!
- It is in those times of quiet, free from distraction that your brain allows wisdom and understanding to come forward.
3. Love it or lose it.
- This one from Arianna was a real biggy for me: “At the end of the day find something that doesn't serve you and drop it”. For her, she shared that she no longer forced herself to ski having never quite mastered being comfortable whizzing over the snow.
- I’m going to really look at all the things I’m trying to do and the resistance that comes with certain things as, Arianna wisely says, “you can liberate a project by stopping it.”
Some other valuable insights I scribbled down include:
"How to play the game of life depends on what you value. Your eulogy will have nothing to do with your CV. Nobody ever reflected on a loved one’s life and highlighted how “John’s contribution to the project led to an increase in market share!” So true it hurts, right?"
“To define a ‘good life’ by measuring ourselves against power and money, reduces the future of human potential down to our to-do lists.”
“Focus less on being a ‘go getter’ but rather on being a ‘go giver’.”
“Find me a place to stand and I’ll move the world” Archimedes....Life is about arriving at your own definition of success.”
"Let’s learn from each other's stories."
"Wake up calls can’t work if you’re ignoring them."
"Live life as if everything is rigged in your favour. Rumi"
And I'll leave you with the doozy that is:
“'No'... is a complete sentence”
Now that's one I am going to start to turn on a bit more for myself. How about you? Which of the quotes is your favourite?
With love,
Lucy xox