Last Friday, UOK caught the learning bug at TEDx Brighton. From gut microbiome to outer space, from mental health to social justice, wonderful ideas were held together by the golden thread of hope leading to collective action.
A standout talk was from Daniel Wilsher, where he eloquently spoke about mental health and how acts of service towards one another lie at the heart of community. If each of us did one act of kindness today and the chain continued, we would reach a large number of people impacted by goodness very soon!
If every person was of service to just two new people, in 32 generations, 8,589,934,591 would be impacted! If each generation is a day then the whole world and more would be impacted in 32 days! The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’
-Daniel Wilsher
We learnt that accepting imperfect progress is important and it’s also imperative that we sing, dance and make merry on our way to collective action. Like Percy Tussamba said, “The best story is the one still being written.”
Sam Zindel told us to “Don’t just do something, sit there.” We found it meaningful to reflect and find stillness in our minds. Mental Health Support and Wellbeing work requires us to be nourished because we cannot pour from an empty cup. Each of us is a pebble and every pebble has the power to create powerful ripples but it takes more than just hope. As Busayo Twins said, “Hope alone does not save people, collective action does.” We look forward to bringing the learnings and energy from the day to our work at UOK. We are proud of all the work our partners do to take action and support people in times of need.
It was eye-opening to hear from Cara Wheatley-McGrain make the connection between our inner microbiome and outer ecology and how, on a planet that grows 1000s of plants, we have succumbed to the industrial tyranny of just 3 crops. The connection between physical health, our diets and holistic wellbeing is often overlooked and we are excited to talk about this using our channels. After all, knowledge is power. Change comes from knowing.
A big shout out to Gavin Willis from the brilliant agency for good, Search Seven and Simon Chuter for catching UOK bug as well! It’s great to make these connections.✨
We will be back for more next year, TEDx Brighton! Find out more about TEDx here
