From a Doleful to a Soulful Life: Healing, Hope and Inner Power | Dr. Coomi Vevaina | TEDxYouth@LPHS

The speaker highlights our unpreparedness for life's emotional challenges, noting that schools don't teach us to manage anger, fear, or depression. The World Health Organization predicts depression will be a major pandemic by 2030. The speaker shares her journey from a miserable, anxious child, labeled a loser and bullied, to someone equipped to handle life with hope and courage. She recounts a difficult childhood marked by academic struggles, emotional meltdowns, and a victim mindset due to financial scarcity, social rejection, and personal tragedies like miscarriages. This led to deep self-pity until she became fed up with her misery. In her late 20s, she encountered an American Jungian psychologist who believed happiness is a choice. Initially furious and skeptical, she decided to explore his suggestions. This led her to devour books and courses, becoming fascinated with inner work, literature, psychology, and wisdom literature. She realized the only person she could change was herself. She embraced the "snow globe" metaphor: when life shakes us, we feel fragmented. She learned to peel off psychological layers to understand her true self, a process she describes as powerful and iterative, leading to greater self-realization, less reactivity, and more joy. She now believes happiness is indeed a choice, and she has tools to regain equilibrium quickly. Wisdom literature taught her the importance of stilling the mind to access an unchanging "still center" amidst life's constant movement, preventing anxiety and distraction. She also found significance in the *vesica piscis*, a symbol of the union of opposites. Her quest led her to spiritual practices and a desire to help others. She met a former student who, despite a militant past, now fought for social change from a "center of peace," illustrating that inner peace translates to outer and global peace. This shifted her from oppositional thinking to a "pro-peace" stance, recognizing the productive energy of being "pro-something." To facilitate change, she developed the CARS model: Commit, Act, Review, Share. For example, to overcome jealousy, one commits to change, takes action (e.g., self-talk), reviews the new pattern, and shares the experience. This aligns with Gandhi's idea that changing perceptions can change destiny. Her inner journey transformed her from a competitive, "self versus other" consciousness to a cooperative, "self and other" consciousness, moving towards unity. While acknowledging she still slips, she quickly bounces back with wisdom, courage, and service orientation. She shares her story not as a claim of perfection, but to inspire others to use inner work tools. She urges those feeling lost not to despair, reminding them they are not alone and possess immense inner strength. Her message is to choose joy, growth, and to live awesomely.