We often think that self-care involves eating well and exercising, but actually it all starts in your head. Just like your physical muscles, your mental ones can be trained as well. That’s why bestselling author Wouter de Jong will transform the Beurs van Berlage into a gym for the mind during TEDxAmsterdam. In only twenty minutes, you’ll train your brain to be more resilient – even (or especially) when things aren’t going your way. Instead of being your own worst inner critic, you’ll learn to be your own coach. The outcome: a better world. Because a clear, satisfied mind prefers to care for others instead of binging on Netflix or food. When in good (mental) shape, we are more helpful and loving towards others and ourselves. So train your mind, because a better world starts in your own head.

Keep asking questions, is what Wouter wants us to do. Questions get stuck in your head while answers fade away. Questions influence your subconscious much more than answers. And this will in turn influence your behaviour. A way of creating compassion is to ask compassionate questions. The more often you pose them, the greater the impact they will have. ‘Some questions are so good that it would be a shame to ruin them with an answer,’ according to author Harry Mulisch.

Compassionate questions that you can ask yourself regularly:
– What do I need now?
– What does kindness get me?
– What would it be like if I totally accepted my pain?
– What if I’m enough without having to achieve anything?
– What if I already have what I think I need?
– What would it be like to accept myself?
– What would it be like if I didn’t have to understand everything about myself?

During his moment on stage during TEDxAmsterdam 2019, Wouter will make sure that we will ask each other important questions that bring us further, give us new insights and gain us new perspectives but most of all make us all be part of a better world.