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Wisdom Trailer

Inspired by the idea that wisdom is the greatest gift one generation can give to another, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman interviewed, photographed and filmed 50 of the world’s great writers, actors, artists, designers, politicians, musicians and religious and business leaders of our time. He posed seven questions to each of his subjects - all over 65 years of age. Their candid responses offer uniquely inspirational and often surprising insights.

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• Awareness, Movies, Personal Development

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Going Silent For 17 Years

The story
For almost three decades, John Francis has been a planetwalker, traveling the globe by foot and sail with a message of environmental respect and responsibility. For 17 of those years without speaking.

Why this story inspired me
It shows what the actions of one man can lead to if he chooses to follow his instincts. Not knowing where his journey will take him but being interested in the journey.

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that more people become aware of their own potential to really make a difference.

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• Awareness, Green, Speeches

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Je Bent Mooi

The story
In november 2009 I gave a presentation about creativity at the Kansdenkdag event in Maarssen (Holland). At the end of the presentation I gave the audience an assignment in which I asked them to place stickers with (personal) inspiring quotes on objects in the place where they live. Then I asked them to make a picture of the result and mail those pictures to me. I promised I would let these pictures inspire me to make a new creation. Since the quote ‘Je bent mooi’ (which is Dutch for ‘You are beautiful’) turned up in several of the received pictures, I decided to use that line to write a song. After that I asked a friend of mine to help me record it by playing piano as I would sing it and play guitar.

Since I wanted to put ‘embrace your mistakes’ into practice, we only played the song 3 times together and picked recording number 2 to be the final version. And yes, there are mistakes in it. But that’s also what the song is about. Everything and everyone being beautiful in their own way. The video was shot in Amsterdam and Tilburg. Another friend of mine helped me out shooting it. Meeting all the people in the video was a great experience. Should you want to understand the lyrics of the song then you can read the translation at the bottom of this post.

Why this story inspired me
Simply filming random people that you meet as you wander through a town shows that the lyrics are right: You are beautiful. All people are.

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that more people will start to focus on the beauty that’s everywhere around them instead of comparing themselves or others with the models on TV, billboards and in magazines.

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• 1073 clicks |
• Awareness, Music, Personal Development

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Seth Godin - Stay Curious

The story
Seth Godin shares his view on the importance of staying curious. A lot of people stop being curious because the schoolsystems are not focused on keeping people curious. But if you are able to persist your curiosity will become an easy habit that can help a lot of people.

Why this story inspired me
A lot of insights that I believe are true are shared in this conversation with Seth. It’s hard to stay curious when the world around you seems to keep telling you to go with ‘certainty’ instead of living a ‘risky’ life. But I believe that, in the end, a risky life is what living is about. It’s about exploring. It’s not about knowing what the future will be like. It’s knowing that you don’t know what’s ahead of you and looking forward to what’s going to come. Whatever that may be.

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that people who have chosen to be curious will get extra strength from this story and continue to focus on what it is that they want to discover. Stay curious.

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• Awareness, Personal Development

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How To Live To Be 100+

The story
To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world’s “Blue Zones,” communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. At TEDxTC, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

Why this story inspired me
The presentation shows that having a purpose in your life and living life in a community (friends, family) are of big influence on your chances of reaching a high age while remaining healthy. It’s also a good idea to create a life in which the activities that you do demand you to move your body.

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that more people will see the importance of creating opportunities for older people to stay active in a way that let’s them know they’re still part of society after they retire. The documentary Young At Heart is a great example of the effect that such initiatives can have.

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• 1980 clicks |
• Awareness, Personal Development, Speeches

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Tell Us Your Secret

The story
You may find the brave voices captured in this short film haunting, shocking and humorous. In some of their faces you’ll see joy, anguish and grace as they trust you with their confession.

Why this story inspired me
It’s always such a great thing to see people share their stories in front of a camera. No matter how small the story. It made me realize that the best movie there is, is the one we all are in. No casting agency can beat this selection of ‘actors’.  ;-)

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that more people will have the guts to have a meaningful conversation with a stranger. I sometimes fail to try, but when I do try the outcome is sometimes surprising.

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Young At Heart - A Chorus Full Of Life

The story
A documentary on a chorus of senior citizens from Massachusetts who cover songs by Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and other unexpected musicians.

Why this story inspired me
It shows what happens when old people (the average age of the choir members is about 80) are willing to keep exploring new experiences together. The chorus gives them a goal (performances), friends (the chorus members) and a chance to keep an open mind (the leader of the chorus practices songs with the members that they sometimes hate at the beginning but grow to like).

What I hope sharing this story will lead to
I hope that more people will watch this documentary and see for themselves how great life can be for older people if they have something to do that makes them feel alive.

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• 2292 clicks |
• Awareness, Movies