Unleash your potential

Talk Notes & Highlights

• Take it lightly and laugh

  Humour is one of our greatest coping mechanisms. Don’t take things too seriously or personally. Don’t be the centre of your own universe. We are all a bit ridiculous!

• Smile, it’s good for you!

  Happiness helps us live better, mentally and physically. Do more to bring a smile to lives. Dogs, exercise, meditation, hobbies, gardening and being in nature help release endorphins. Avoid isolation and be connected with loved ones and those around you. Choose to be thankful for the good things. Happier people live longer.

• Health

  Look after your long-term health. Exercise and stay well. What can we do to stay mentally and physically well?

• Take ownership

  Once we face up to difficult issues, they stop being difficult. It is the key to survival and not becoming a victim. See "Survive victimhood".

• Survive victimhood

  Change the way we think to survive. The day we stop changing our own state of mind, we fall into being a victim, and that's when we will be beaten. Help others not to fall into the victim mode. Allow others to help if needed, asking for help is a sign of strength.

  During his capture by the Khmer Rouge, Chris never stopped believing he would make it and took ownership of his situation. He refused to be a victim and gained his and his comrade’s release. Those caught by the were Khmer Rouge were nearly always killed.

  Chris visited a man in Cambodia who lost his legs. There was doubt by the medics that he would live. The man repeated over and over “How will I feed my family”. Chris told him to take ownership of his life. He asked that man to realise what he still had, making the man recognise that he still had his hands. Chris told the man he introduced him to a charity school who would teach him to carve wood. The hopeful man survived and was able to make a living, he too wanted to set up a school to teach people carving.

• The power of belief

  The view from Chris's house in Cambodia, he observed a pig tied to a stick in the ground. Why did this huge pig not tuck at the rope to free itself? The pig eventually went to market and a piglet replace it. No matter how much the small piglet pulled it couldn’t remove the stick. Chris realised that the piglet learnt to be helpless, and even after growing and becoming capable of freeing itself, it didn’t simply because it didn’t believe it could. Never underestimate the power of belief. Recognise that was choose our beliefs.

  A witch doctor attended a man who had been cursed. Within three days of the curse, the man died. A placebo was given to other curse victims, and they were fine, it was all to do with the power of belief. Human beings are capable of believing themselves to death.

• Disappointments are good

  Out of each disappointment is an opportunity to learn, grow and improve ourselves - the greater good.

• The power of influence & thoughts

  You have the power to influence your fate and others around you. We have more choices than we realise. Our thoughts can disable us or make us. What negative thoughts or things do we need to leave behind or take out of our heads to move on? The most infectious things are negativity and enthusiasm. Reframing and looking at things differently will change your life and help you not take things personally. Helpful thinking verses unhelpful thinking, be flexible in the way you think and recognise unhelpful thinking.

• Chris’s Positive Philosophy

  These principles helped Chris survive:

  - Work out worst-case scenario.
  - Be totally realistic and understand the reality.
  - Put a positive perspective on it
  - Choose a positive attitude and use your imagination for solutions.
  - Positivity unlocks our imagination.

• What’s good?

  In bad situations you can always reflect and be thankful for the good, either the good in the situation or what good things you do have. Choose to be thankful, it will make you happier. Have a mantra to help you manage, think of things that will inspire you and take you to a happy place. Find a happy place in your mind.

• Great opportunities

  Sometimes they’re right in front of us, as long as we take the time and effort to see them. Make the most of what opportunities there are. Ask positive questions. Write down where you want to be or the things you want, it will almost certainly happen.

• A positive to being blown up?!

  Chris states the positive he found was being able to help people, like his friend in Cambodia who lost his legs and became a wood carver. Plus raising money for others in similar situations and helping them overcome adversity. Similarly, through Chris’s experiences we have been able to learn his story, feel inspired and hopefully become better.

• Luck

  Make your own luck. Effort, practice, time and seizing opportunity can make you very “lucky”.

• Small things = Big differences

  In a race when you can’t run any further, what can you do? Take small steps instead and build upon those.

  Chris has a valve in his prosthetic leg, if that valve has a small leak, he will run a mile 2 minutes slower and it will be harder. Small things can make a huge difference. What are the small things you can do that will make a big difference?

• Meaning of life

  Chris believes it's being apart of something bigger than ourselves, living life with passion and enthusiasm.

• Others

  People won’t remember what you say, or what you do, but they will remember how you make them feel. Listen to people. At the core of us are human relationships. What are the things you can do to support others and have them support you? What are the things you can do to work together more effectively? Help yourself and others be the best they can be.

• Karma hurts!

  Be kind to others. In the next life what was done by you, might happen to you.

• Crush proof life

  Don’t allow yourself to be crushed. Do what you can to be your best. Follow positive principles to take ownership and not fall into being a victim. Be realistic and use your imaginative for positive solutions. Take things lightly, find humour and joy every day or make it yourself. If you can, help others with their experiences - it may be the most rewarding thing you do.