Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat
Lunch Program - Part 1: Well Being in the Digital Era
- Future narrative development and the ability to aspire to creativity, vision, insight, imagination, higher consciousness, and transcendence are predicted to depend on an individual's knowledge of their personal story.
- Success is defined as the progressive realization of worthy goals and is predicted to follow automatically with ease when one surrenders to the wisdom of uncertainty, unpredictability, curiosity, wonder, imagination, sensation, feeling, and relationship.
- An individual's future well-being is categorized by scores on energy and quality of life scales: a score of 8, 9, or 10 indicates thriving; a score of 5, 6, or 7 indicates struggling due to factors like lack of sleep or stressful relationships; and a score below five indicates a current or imminent crisis involving chronic illness.
- Approximately 95% of chronic disease factors are determined by the quality of life rather than genetics, as new technologies like CRISPR are predicted to affect only 5% of these factors and fully penetrant gene mutations cause a small fraction of disease.
- Financial windfalls such as a lottery win are predicted to result in a temporary increase in happiness that returns to a baseline set point within six months, with a prediction of unhappiness arising five years later due to concerns regarding taxes and investment management.
- Long-term happiness is predicted to stem from choices that bring fulfillment, meaning, and purpose, whereas choices made solely for personal pleasure provide satisfaction for approximately 24 hours to one week before requiring repetition or risking addiction.
- Wealth is predicted to lead to unhappiness if it constitutes an individual's identity, but is expected to result in happiness if the wealthy individual is not defined by money and uses their wealth to make a difference in the world.
- Daily voluntary choices are predicted to account for 40% of an individual's happiness, contingent on the patterns of decision-making.
- The process of asking deep existential questions regarding purpose and identity is predicted to yield future realization and wisdom even without knowing the immediate answers, as life moves individuals toward answers when they are intimate with their inner self.
- Life experiences are predicted to be devoid of value if an individual is not present, as thinking exclusively about the future degrades the ability to be present for it when it arrives, while integrating playfulness, joy, and relationship prevents a life from becoming spiritually bereft.
- The future application of the "Stop, Take breaths, Observe, Proceed" formula is predicted to enable individuals to proceed with compassion and awareness.
- Paris Hilton is predicted to be able to maintain youthful energy combined with the wisdom of experience as she moves into the next phase of her life.
- Repeating the affirmation "I am" is predicted to lead to a realization of infinite possibilities, while resting in the stillness of one's being positions an individual to better assess present-moment awareness.
- Individuals who love what they do are predicted to have no desire to do anything else, and those who work hard and possess skill at various levels are predicted to be capable of doing anything in life.
- Low-grade anxiety, low-grade depression, and inflammation are noted as findings in chronic disease studies, suggesting a future link to illness if these states persist.
- Viewing life as a problem is predicted to result in unhappiness, whereas viewing it as an opportunity is predicted to result in happiness.
- Individuals who feel isolated and lonely are suggested to be able to use social media for the conquest of fear, and low-grade anxiety and depression are linked to chronic disease factors.