The first of these questions is how often do we throw around the word happy and happiness. It's almost as if the meaning is simple and self-explanatory. But if I asked you right now to define happiness, to tell me what it means to live a happy life, I bet you'd hesitate.When psychology attempted to do this, we got over 20 definitions of happiness in the form of theories like the self-determination theory or frameworks that highlight the need for autonomy, goal setting, and self-acceptance. Beyond this, ther ...

I'm just sitting there by that cozy spot near the window. The one with the soft light that always makes the words seem just a little more alive. Today, it's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Again, it's the 21st time I read it.Each time I open it, I'm amazed at how much I still love it. how much I feel like I'm fighting my way through the tri- wizard tournament with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The words flow almost automatically, and I don't even need to read them.I know them by heart. But today, something ...

You're arrogant. You're too shy. You're fragile. Too much. Too girly. Too whitewashed. Too Chinese. That's what they said to me. That's what I heard. Sometimes said it to my face. Sometimes said it behind my back. And at first I joked about it. You clearly need therapy, not me. I'm perfect. Yeah, the arrogant one. But later in the washroom, on the train, laying lying awake at night, the silence will sneak in and I will start to ask myself, wait, who am I really? That question followed me through my teenage ...

[Applause] I was attacked as an eight-year-old because I talked like a white girl. My family had just moved to a new town and one day after school, a kid grabbed me, spun me around, and scratched my face. She nearly took my left eye.This is my earliest memory of feeling like an outsider. So, code switching and roleplaying became my early survival tools. I copied how the popular kids talked and how they acted cuz my young brain decided that I needed to fit in to survive.I want you to think about a time when ...

[Applause] 11. 11 was my age when I first went to a boarding school to live far from my parents. Really, I was not only happy but also scared.I always struggled with finding my real identity and my true self in a way because I hated being in contradiction with the world around me. Even now, changing environments, going to an old girls boarding school with people coming from different religions, regions, social backgrounds seemed exciting for many of the girls who were accepted, but like a whole new challeng ...