July 13th to 16th marked the 2nd run of our Shine the Light facebook pop-up group, a platform designed for our youth facilitators to share their stories and insights with their friends, loved ones and the general public. The 4 day session truly amazed us on a few levels: (1) at reaching 200 people that were willingly added into the group as listeners, (2) that our 12 speakers had so bravely chosen to share their stories to a (mostly) unknown audience, (3) that we were blown away by the courageous stories and deep insights shared.
Our speakers were mostly tertiary students that are not professional speakers, and to speak on Facebook live where you cannot read any cues or feedback on how your listeners are receiving your message, is downright nerve-wrecking.
Despite that, the speakers chose to do it out of love and care for others, for the potential people that would be impacted by their sharing.
Quickbites of wisdom nuggets shared.
on keeping your inner child alive:
“Wonder and beauty comes with humility and vulnerability.”
on anger: it’s not all that negative:
“Anger is closely linked to authenticity, not selfishness. See your emotions without judgement and you raise compassion for yourself and others.”
on self-love:
“Self-love is knowing who you are and what you can give to the world.”
on sadness as strength:
“Sadness is closely linked to the love I have for people. It highlights what I think is unsatisfactory and gives me the vision of what is possible.“
on facilitation and wisdom:
“Wisdom in ourselves is a glowing star that is sometimes covered with dust, but all it needs is a moment to be uncovered.”
on adapting to work life:
“Everyday spent in life should be spent living.”
on creation and leadership:
“Developing great leadership is developing great character, and building yourself to be a better leader is no different from building yourself to be a better person.”
on awareness:
“No one else knows yourself as well as you do. Who am I at the very core if I strip away all the noise around me?”
on forgiveness and change:
“With forgiveness comes change, but there can be no change without forgiveness.”
on play to win: undergrad edition:
“There is no reward in scarcity but there is always reward in abundance.”
on security in vulnerability:
“When you risk, you become more vulnerable, then you become more secure! The more guarded you become because you want to be more secure, the more you become who you’re not.”
on being you:
“Remember you are the author of your own story. You are able to edit and interpret your own. How can I retell my story to be one of courage, inspiration and love?”
Responses from the audience
“Very thankful to be in this group. Huiru – talking about anger management hit home for me especially.
Clara – play to win (thanks for that.) Very intentional.
Nick – your seeing wonders. I hope to see more wonders with my daughter too
Thanks you all speakers. You guys are courageous, authentic speakers”“Yuanmin I don’t know you but you feel like an explosion of stability.”
“Just want to say that you all are a very amazing bunch of Young Adults. You impress me and I have learnt so much from each of you. Wishing you all blessings in all you do.”
“Leon’s sharing is very deep, every single point that he shared. I am going to do an article on it. Huiru’s and Chelsea’s ones too are mindblowing!”
Thank you for your participation, see you at the 3rd edition!