Journal Entry for Kelly Blooms Lost and Found: Awakening the In-Between Ted Talk

Kelly Blooms Lost and Found: Awakening the In-between Ted talk is a conscientiously hilarious and thought-provoking motivational talk. Kelly humorously tells the audience that she was a computer science dropout and that her second attempt at school forced her into studying about leisure and parks, a field of education in which she holds a Ph.D. During the talk, I was particularly amused by the fact that she could so proudly discuss her failures in life, an aspect that most individuals would shun from to protect their self-image and recognition in the society. This aspect greatly encourages me to understand that even the most successful people, Ph.D. holders, faced challenges or even failed at one time in their life.

From her perspective, Kelly claims that parks and other recreational facilities are among the few places that individuals are free to be truly themselves. The natural environment awakens the human spirit and releases the mind from all the troubles and hustles of the cosmopolitan cities in which we live. The natural environment sets free the human spirit and allows a period of meditation and reflection on life. An individual who is at a park can enjoy the undisturbed natural ecology, stroll across the grass and shrubs and completely rests the mind of an individual thus allowing him or her to free from all the negative issues. In my opinion, national parks are places that people can visit for recreation purposes. Moreover, the natural sceneries allow humans time to reconnect with nature and also allows people time to have fun, find mental and spiritual wealth and also promote total wellbeing. During my visit to a neighborhood national park, I realized that these conservation sites are serene milieus from which individuals can find respite from the struggles and stressors of the daily life.

During the talk, I was particularly mesmerized and encouraged by her tips on how to be authentic and blissful in life. Kelly narration of how she played basketball with a bear was so touching. It accentuated the importance of living by the moment rather than spending time thinking about what tomorrow holds or the next goal that we desire to achieve. Although the key to achieving happiness is elusive, the Ted talk show has encouraged me to take advantage of simple strategies such as engagement in physical activities and visiting recreational sites in a bid to improve my level of happiness and promote self-reflection.

What I find particularly motivating in Kellys talk is her tone, confidence, stage presence, and articulation of ideas. Though I feel that my public communication skills have significantly improved due to frequent class presentations, the speaker greatly encouraged me to fine tune my public communication skills. As a result, I will ensure that I properly rehearse before public speaking, will try to envision my best performance rather than think of the consequences of what may happen if I fail. Moreover, I will strive to improve eye contact with audience, maintain a confident posture during the talk, and finally make sure that my voice is loud and clear to ensure that the message is properly delivered to the audience.

Towards the end of her talk, Kelly talks about the temporal nature of the human life. She discusses how short the human life is when she compares it to Vishnu schist, one of the oldest rocks in the world, about 1.75 billion years old. From this, I deduced that the human lifespan is short and therefore I should embrace the opportunities that I get and strive to achieve my dreams within my limited time on earth. Remarkably, the Kelly Ted talk was not just an eye opener but also a great piece of encouragement to improve ones life.