Survival of the Kindest
Alex Peavey |
TEDxYouth@RVA
• November 2017
How can being present in the moment completely change your life for the better? In this talk, Alex Peavey reflects on how his first practice of mindfulness still affects him decades later. He challenges us to change our mode of thinking from survival of the fittest to survival of the kindest by always choosing joy.
Alex Peavey is in his 14th year at Collegiate School where he served as the head boys’ varsity basketball coach for 12 years, and he continues to work as a school counselor, assistant boys’ varsity lacrosse coach, and mindfulness teacher. He has been practicing mindfulness since the age of 15, and with the knowledge that it can cultivate peace of mind as well as peak performance, Alex has been teaching these techniques to others for over a decade. In addition to introducing mindfulness to the students, faculty, and parents at Collegiate School, Alex has brought it to “Mindful Mondays” at the Cameron K Gallagher Foundation, colleges and universities across the state, regional and international conferences, correctional facilities, corporations, and the federal government. After almost a lifetime of practicing mindfulness, Alex found these strategies to be of the utmost importance last March when he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. Even in spite of the physical and mental challenges he has faced in the last year, mindfulness has allowed him to choose the path of joy over and over, and this is a path he hopes others have the opportunity to experience in their own lives as well, beginning with the gateways of awareness and compassion.