Being Positive is Not for the Faint Hearted by Lea Waters at TEDxMelbourne (Transcript)

Lea Waters

Here is the full transcript of Lea Waters’ TEDx Talk: Being Positive is Not for the Faint Hearted at TEDxMelbourne conference.

TRANSCRIPT:

I want to start by sharing with you two events that radically altered my life 12 years ago, and really are the reason why I’ve become a professor in positive psychology.

The first was giving birth to my son, totally life changing. I went from spending my days at university writing a book, to spending my days at home wiping a bottom, and I loved it.

The second event is a bit confusing, really, because, unlike giving birth, it wasn’t really the kind of event that you would classify as life-altering. It was just watching the news. I was so tender-hearted from becoming a new mom that when I watched the news, I burst into tears. And you know these really messy tears where you get the red, swollen, puffy eyes and where your nose turns into an instant snot factory? I’m talking those kinds of tears.

And I’m a psychology researcher, right? So when I have these unexpected reactions, I automatically start to analyze myself. And I’m sitting there thinking, “Huh, why am I crying? It’s just the news”. But then this other question bubbled up, and I thought, “Why haven’t I cried before?” And that’s when it hit me. I’ve been manipulated by the media corporations. They’ve desensitized me, and I’ve grown to accept a news corporation’s version of human nature.