Commencement

“Thank you President Carter for the kind words.  Hello Buckeye family and congratulations Class of 2024!!!  I am forever grateful to this institution for the countless opportunities to learn, to grow, and to serve.”

“Class of 2024. You have already overcome and achieved so much.  As the first pandemic class, you’ve had to adapt and be resilient.  Let’s create some new memories together today!”

“I am the grandson of refugees who fled with just the clothes on their back. My grandmother always taught me to study hard because what I know can never be taken away. I learned my first word of English “hello” on the flight from Taiwan to Cincinnati at age 7. I was bullied a lot as an Asian kid and felt misunderstood.”

“My dad taught me to think for myself, to believe that I can figure out anything, and pushed me to strive for more. My mom taught me to have an abundance mindset, be kind to others, and follow my heart.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge all who sacrificed and supported our journey. To all the family and friends in the stadium - you are our heroes!”

“I’d love to get started by getting our energy flowing. Please rise if you are able to. Sing along and follow my movement!”

“When I wake up in the morning and I step outside, I take a deep breath and I get real high, and I scream at the top of my lungs: WHAT’S GOING ON? x 2

Hey… hey…. I said hey… what’s going on? x 2”

“Now place your hand on your heart and take a deep breath in with me, 2, 3, 4  hold 2, 3, 4 release 2, 3, 4

What you just did is called box breathing, used by the Navy Seals to remain calm and think clearly in stressful situations.  Now that we are more present, let’s start with a parable.”

Three blind men touch an elephant.  The first says “it’s a snake! The second argues “no it’s a wall!” The third rebuts, “no it’s a rope!”  None of them are wrong, but their perspectives are limited.

My goal today is to share new perspectives that will lead you to financial, emotional, and spiritual freedom.

Money issues are one of life’s biggest stressors and a leading cause of divorce.  A new study shows that to have a 20% down payment for a house, the median age of the home buyer is in their 60s!  Anyone want to wait that long?  My hairdresser lamented that she’ll be able to retire a week after her funeral.  If you dream of owning a home or retiring before your funeral, you have to become financially literate.

Saving is not enough because inflation exploded after the pandemic which is why everything got so expensive.  Our government printed so much money to fund special projects and wars - guess who is paying for it?

The mechanics of investing are actually easy, but it comes down to mindset.  The most common barriers are 1) fear, 2) laziness, and 3) closed-mindedness.  Great investors are open minded and understand things before others.

I know this might feel polarizing but I encourage you to keep an open mind. Right now, I see Bitcoin as a very misunderstood asset class.  It is decentralized and finite which means no government can print more at will.  In the early days, the exchanges for Bitcoin were prone to hacks and fraud.  But this issue has been solved with the recent launch of bitcoin ETFs backed by the world’s 2 largest asset managers, BlackRock and Fidelity.  And you can hold these ETFs in your retirement accounts just like you hold the S&P 500.

I’d love to do a demo for you:

So here are 4 quarters.  Inflation after 4 years has turned this into 3 quarters of purchasing power.  Now if we apply some innovation and open-mindedness…

Investing in your financial literacy will unlock so much freedom and possibilities for you.

For emotional freedom, I stumbled into singing as a wellness practice after I went through a terrible heartbreak.  Every morning, I felt so much sadness and pain. I considered taking antidepressants, but intuitively just started singing each morning.  I’m not a trained singer but used it as a musical therapy.  I later learned that singing stimulates the amygdala where we store emotions. It’s a powerful way to release negative energy stuck in the body.

And singing is also powerful for manifesting - “what we sing about we bring about.”  Search “The Singing Revolution” and you’ll see how Latvia, Lithuanian, and Estonia got their independence through group singing in the late 80s

Lastly, I’d love to share about the power of intention for spiritual growth.  Life is a series of intentions.  Each intention is a lesson for our soul to learn.  Intentions are the “how” vs goals are the “outcomes.”  For example, the intention is to live with abundance or to feel secure, vs. a goal might be to have a million dollars.  There are plenty of millionaires who don’t feel they have enough and plenty of folks in Bhutan, the happiest country in the world, with a lot less that feel abundant.

I’d love to help you find an intention for your next chapter.

Would you gently close your eyes?  Now think of someone you really admire.  Notice what is the quality or attribute you admire about this person.   Is it that they are kind?  patient?  authentic?  good listener?  Persistent?  Empathetic? Now put your hands on your heart.  What is a virtue you want more of in your life?  How do you want to show up in the next chapter of your journey?  Perhaps you want to be more present, more grounded, more daring, more disciplined, or just more loving?  Now imagine yourself being that intention.  Take a deep breath in.  When you are ready, exhale with a big smile.

I’m gifting everyone a custom bracelet with your WORD as a daily reminder - details coming via email.

There will be challenges on your journey, each one an opportunity to practice a different intention.  We cannot learn forgiveness if no one has wronged us, compassion without suffering, and resilience without setbacks.  We cannot learn tolerance without differing perspectives. 

I wanted to share a final thought on conflict resolution in our divisive times.

Going back to our elephant parable, conflict resolution requires the ability to hold multiple perspectives.  What I have learned hosting gatherings with people across cultural divides is that both sides are in deep pain and grief.  Pain unhealed turns into hatred.  Hurt people hurt people.  Healed people help people. When we heal ourselves, we heal the world. World peace starts with inner peace.

Especially in this election year, keep an open mind and genuinely engage people with different perspectives than your own. It’s easy to stay inside your social media echo chambers.  Take the effort to make new connections with folks who have different perspectives.  Be alert that news outlets are businesses that need eyeballs for advertisers.  They’ll run click-bait-y headlines to grab attention but might not be totally true.  And when you use your voice, are you causing more divisiveness or are you part of the healing?  Can you be the flower in the gun?

The “word” on my bracelet is “&” - we need to end suffering on both sides of a conflict.  Racism is not ok.  Human collateral damage is not ok. We need to be pro-forgiveness, pro-healing, and pro-humanity.

Harmony is not everyone doing the same thing, but rather an intentional effort to respect other paths up the mountain.  As Ram Das says, we’re all just walking each other home, and it’s an honor to walk together as a Buckeye family.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for keeping an open mind.  I hope this is just the beginning of our friendship.  I loved my experience as a chemistry TA and would love to be your life TA for anyone interested!  Let’s connect on socials!

Please stand for one last celebration!

This little light of mine… I’m gonna let it shine x3

Let it shine x 3

Everywhere I go… I’m gonna let it shine x3

Let it shine x 3

Let peace be our choice, love from our voice. A future that’s bright when we all shine our light.  Congratulations again!  Thank you!   I love you all!  OH!