Ven Virah

Transcript

good evening how's everyone doing tonight I think you can do better how's everyone doing tonight great my name is van if we haven't met before just imagine Tony Robbins dipped in chocolate now very grateful for all of us to be here tonight we are all on this journey of life contributing to society while making sense of the future and life doesn't always go the way we plan imagine how I felt when I lost the girl of my dreams and a job of my dreams my girlfriend said that we needed to talk we met face to face but this time she didn't put her face on

my face instead she dumped me in the most classical way honey it's not you it's me and a few days later my boss fired me and he said then it's not you it's the company him pretty much so what I was partnering on these broken dreams I thought what is the purpose of life what am I going to do so I did what any broken man would do I watched The Oprah Winfrey Show and I realized that I had to make a change so I packed my bags and I joined a silent meditation retreat here are the rules I had to follow for ten days

no talking no reading no writing no Facebook no texting no email no coffee no burping no fighting and the first few days were awful I just couldn't concentrate but I kept going and on the tenth day I heard this voice inside my head that said live the life of love and service live a life of love and service these echoing words changed my life years later I became a manager at the biggest company in the world unfortunately because of budget cuts I had to fire an employee and it broke my heart when I said it's not you it's the company I needed to do something

about this I did what any helpful person would do no I did not watch The Oprah Winfrey Show instead I wrote a heartfelt letter and I made a few phone calls in that letter of recommendation what a few phone calls was how I went about with this and when that employee read the letter he started crying and he took the letter home and he brought it to his wife she started crying and then he cried because she cried and then later in the evening he came back to the office and he dropped a box of baked brownies made by his wife now I don't know

how you would say this but if you fire an employee and get a box of big brownies from their wife I think you're doing something right so then what I want to share is love and service is what really fueled my life and I met an amazing woman that I attracted and four months ago she became my wife she's right there and now it's not about me it's about us so in the end I believe that whenever somebody lives a life of purpose they will achieve a legacy that is far beyond everything they've ever imagined I stand before you here tonight not just as a

manager not just as a husband but also as a leader to thousands of young adults from all across Canada who are together doing humanitarian work and every time I see them serving food to the homeless donating blood or making someone's day I feel loved and I see service that is transforming our own Canadian Society now I can't imagine what my legacy is going to look like but I do know this whatever wherever life leads me it will lead me to somewhere where I will continue to serve and love my legacy

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.