Arianna Huffington was interviewed by Camilla Cavendish, The Sunday Times Associate Editor on Thursday, May 29th.
In the illustrious headquarters of a Times UK, about 300 people gathered to hear insights from Arianna Huffington, who has recently been making headlines for her ‘third metric’ concept brought to life via her new book (“Thrive – her 14th book to date), conference and presentations.
Arianna’s journey towards the new metric of wellbeing began with a collapse in 2007 from exhaustion with her breaking her cheekbone and getting 4 stitches in her eyebrow.
Delusion of Time
She began by talking about the delusion of time – “we are living under a collected delusion where time invested equates to success”. She wishes she would have spent less time worrying, being anxious, being afraid, overreacting to bad things happening e.g. a taxi driver getting lost en route to an event. As a mother she has always been there physically for her kids, however she wishes she had been there fully and not processing something in her mind.
We are living in an age of time famine, confirmed by surveys as being more covetable than money.
The Monks & Mindfulness
Arianna then spoke more about mindfulness, a topic covered in detail in her book. She explained that we all have in us a centre of wisdom, intelligence and peace but we never live there in our hyper-connected society. This is something Buddhist monks discovered and practice today.
What's impressive about her book is that there is scientific evidence go substantiate what she says. Mindfulness involves focussing on the breath in order to shut off the cycle of negative thought (what!?! There are others like me who also have negative thoughts?!).
We spend so much time learning to play golf, ski or tennis but we spend little time learning how to be happy and compassionate. The book provides 12 steps to break the addiction to out current non-sustainable stress-infused lifestyle.
Two thirds of entrepreneurial start-ups fail so perhaps there is a correlation between burnout and failure? We need new role models. Stress is dangerously rampant – binge-drinking, anti-depressants, suicides etc. This is the time to introduce new role models. Even god took a day off on the 7th day!
2013 was the year that CEO’s ‘came out’ as being meditators. There is a global shift happening in which mindfulness is going mainstream!
At the end of the day, switch off your devices and escort them out the room!
Technology Causes Stress
Technology today is very addictive – so many in the room go to bed with their phones next to them. There is no doubt that this is unhealthy. Arianna elaborated though that what is healthy is that we are all aware of the dangers of technology, especially parents seeing their children's relationship to screens. Arianna calls it's the snake in the digital garden if Eden. The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) drives this. The problem is all the “incoming” notifications.
On the topic of the media industry, Camilla stated that “Social media should fuel the stories we need to tell rather than the ephemeral froth”.
Q & A
Arianna was asked a range of questions ranging from her thoughts on Hilary Clinton as the next president to whether she felt pressure to look good. She gave insight into Athe role her mother played in her life, as she used to say that failure doesn't matter. Failure not the opposite of success but something on the road to success. Her mother was instrumental I'm helping her get into Cambridge as a 16 year old girl I'm Athens unable to speak a word of English.
When someone asked if she had an equation for success involving energy and love, Arianna very lovingly got emotional and teary, summing up that it is all about love. This question obviously struck a chord with her. Even when she was asked about her definition of god by Oprah she replied that for her god is love. What a touching display of authenticity!
I asked Arianna about whether she really believes that you can start a business whilst neither necessarily burning the candle at both ends and having wellbeing and balance. She replied that it's not about balance but having moments for renewal. It has become the norm for our batteries to be equated with our phone batteries!
Someone else asked about teaching mindfulness in schools. Arianna mentioned that there is even a game that encourages mindfulness for kids. She highly recommended reading Camilla's article on the topic of mindfulness which also mentions the current initiatives in the schools I'm the UK.
When asked about her eulogy, she said she doesn't believe in dying and it's merely a process like”dropping your rental car off at the airport”.
The evening concluded with book signing, pictures and a lovely chat and option to get Jaffeblend to blog on Huffpost….! What an unexpected end to an evening with a remarkable lady. The book can be ordered on Amazon here.
[This document was typed on my new MS word for iPad app, only possible after coughing up £79.99 for the Office subscription. I could have just used Evernote, but ever the curious techie, I wanted to trial the experience. Really love it!]
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