A journey listening to intuition | Nicolas Roos | TEDxINPENSEEIHT

Ten years ago, he had a normal life similar to the majority of people. Realizing that we wasn't taking any pleasure in his life, he decided to drop everything and leave with a backpack, for an adventure of 30 months over 30,000 km. Back in Europe after this journey, Nicolas shares his vision through music, street performances, talks, speeches in schools, that allow him to communicate the peaceful amazement at our capability of living together in this magic that is life. He has also recorded his experience in a book "Vivre la magie, récit d'un voyage à l'écoute de son intuition" (Living the magic. the story of a journey listening to intuition" (Edilivre, 2017).

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Hi, my name is Nicolas, I am 30.

Ten years ago, I was like you.

I was a student.

I was spending my days
sitting on a chair listening to a teacher,

and hoping that one day
I would find a job I would enjoy,

that I would succeed in life.

And sometimes, I was wondering,
"What on earth am I doing here?"

Back then, I had lots of dreams.

I dreamt of seeing the world
and maybe find where I belonged.

But in the end,
I kind of forgot my dreams.

I got back in line, found a job
and went on a routine.

Then, one day, this thought came back,

"What on earth am I doing here?"

At that moment, an idea came
to my mind, a single word: "travel".

"Travel" ... Instantly,
my heart started pounding,

my whole body started to vibrate,
ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom...

Wow, travel, travel, travel ...

I felt alive, vibrating
like I hadn't felt for so long!

It was like I had fallen in love.

So I told myself, "Waw, this is so strong,
I have to do something.

What? I don’t know, but I’m going to try.

I’m going to dedicate my life
to this force that make me vibrate,

this force that I call 'intuition.'"

So there was just one thing left to do:
I quit my job, I quit my flat.

I packed my life
in a backpack and I left ...

to experience an amazing summer!

It all started here.

We were about 15 people

on rafts made entirely of recycled
and re-used materials from garbage,

to prove that it's possible
to travel in a sustainable way.

Together, we lived
this adventure for a month,

on the Ebro river,
in Spain, totally illegally.

We did everything we wanted,
we had no limit.

I felt like a real pirate,
it was so great!

This experience gave birth
to a dream inside me:

why not continue this experience
and live on water like a sailor,

like in the age of the great explorations.

Summer went on,
and I went to a Rainbow Gathering,

where people meet in the middle
of the forest to feed on Love.

These places are the only
ones in the world

where I can practice my yoga, naked,
singing Indian mantras,

and everyone find it normal.

One night, I was talking
with a guy around the fire

about stories I've heard:

“You know, I've heard that some people

hitch-hike boats
to go to the Canary Islands.

They can find a sailing boat and cross
the Atlantic Ocean, that’s crazy!”

No kidding, I was there with him,

and a girl I'd never met
before came and said,

“Are you interested
in sailing across the Atlantic?

Well, I will go soon, maybe the captain
has room for you too, here is his number.”

Ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom ba-boom, wow!

If I had seen that in a movie,
I wouldn't have found it credible.

But it was happening to me.
I told myself, “That’s really crazy!"

I went, "Yeah, why not?
Living on the water, on a boat ...?

I came back downtown,
called the captain who told me,

“Let's meet in three months
in the Canary Islands.”

And so I went for two months
on a sailing boat,

with its ups and downs,

and all the difficulties of living
in the middle of the elements,

and at the same time this joy
of seeing a 360 degrees panorama,

seeing the stars,
and taking the time to journey,

taking the time to tune
with the elements.

This trip took us from the Canary Islands
to Cap Verde to Martinique,

and I spent 13 days without seeing
a single bit of land,

and no other human souls
than those on board with me.

That was psychologically very hard.

Although there were hard times,
let me show you something fantastic:

How to take a shower

while sailing in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean, it goes like this:

(Flowing waves)

(Video) Woman: Go, Nico!

NR: Got it?
Woman: It's filming! Go!

(Laughing) Yippee, please another loop!
NR: I can't hear you!

(Woman laughing) Another looping!

That's it!

So after two months on the sea,
I arrived in Martinique,

the Caribbean, this place
on Earth where it's always hot.

I could live, sometimes bare-chested,
or wearing a T-shirt all day long.

I healed from a sinusitis
I had since I was a kid.

I finally didn’t feel cold anymore,
that was awesome!

I spent two months in Martinique
before I felt like going.

So I went to the harbour
and looked for ads.

There, I found a note: “Young skipper
looks for a partner to go to Cariaccou."

I had no idea where it was, but my heart
was vibrating, ba-boom, ba-boom ...

I called the guy, we met the next day,
and we left for Cariaccou.

We arrived just in time for the Carnival.

Carnival is the celebration of spring,

but in the south Caribbean
where I was,

they celebrate it in a special way:

people throw paint at each other
and dance behind speakers all night long,

What they dance is the Soca.

If you don't know about the Soca dance,
it’s a very friendly dance!

Let me show you:
The girl is in front like this,

and the man dance behind like this.

It was great, I had such a good time!

The next day, a girl invited me
on the island of Grenada.

I met her there, with her partner
and her two kids.

We became friends and with this family,
I learned how to live in the Caribbean.

They invited me over, their house
was only 10 square metres big.

Try and picture how small that is.

From what I saw of their tiny house,

there were just enough place to put
a double bed, some clothes,

a gas cooker, and a corridor this big.

And surprisingly, this family
was very happy in their 10 square meters.

Yes, this is the Caribbean,
it's always hot,

their garden was the natural
world around them,

but this family knew how
to be contented with what they had.

They appreciated it,

and this is a value
that I learnt with them,

and over my whole trip,
discovering new cultures.

I learnt that we can be satisfied
with what we have, even with little.

We can appreciate what we have
instead of always wanting more.

Afterwards, I went on different boats
to Trinidad and then to Venezuela.

Finally, I did my 100% ecological journey.

I went from Europe to America
a bit like Christopher Columbus.

It took me six months, but I faced
the challenge, I was so happy!

Venezuela was such a mess,
I quickly went to Colombia.

In Colombia, I discovered a new family.

They were people who, like me,
live and travel for their passion.

They are musicians, jugglers, craftsmen.

Everywhere they go, they spread their art
show it, sell it, make some money,

and then continue their trip.

This new family teaches me
to play at the traffic light.

So I go to the traffic light,
do my show with my magic ball

while cars are waiting,

then I pass my hat
before the light turns green.

Then the cars leave and I keep going.

For the first time of my life,

I could honestly earn money
doing what I really like.

This was a true revolution for me.

This way of traveling and performing,
I imported it in Europe

I still make a living of it
from time to time and it's great!

I carried on my trip south and wished
to go in the Amazon forest.

In the Amazon, there are all these
indigenous people and their cultures

we don't really know about
and find strange.

They have these rituals with sacred plants
that seem quite mysterious for us.

I learnt something there:

many plants that we use
in the Western world

can cause illnesses and even death.

I'm talking about tobacco and others.

In these cultures, these plants
are not used to cause illnesses

but to heal, on the contrary.

So I thought that perhaps,
before using those plants,

we could, first, learn
from these cultures and traditions,

while they would learn
from our technology and our science.

It seemed to me a great challenge
for the 21st century.

I spent several weeks in the forest
but I needed to move on,

I got tired of mosquitoes.

And I had a dream:
I wanted to trek on my own.

So I went to the centre
of Peru near Huaraz,

to go up to 4,000 meters in altitude.

My challenge was to hike alone
above 4,000 and even 5,000 meters.

Here we reached 4,600 m,
then I went to 5,000 m

where I discovered
a beautiful and pure silence.

All around me
were snowy peaks and passes.

I was in such a beautiful solitude
which also could be so heavy at times!

I chose to travel alone to know myself
better and discover the world.

But I know that when this solitude
is heavy on me,

it is time to go back
to those who understand me.

And those who understand me,
live like me, I know where to find them.

We call this a "rave party", a "trance"
or "psychedelic festival," whatever.

It's a place people gather to dance
together to electronic music,

to feel like a tribe, like our forebears
who were dancing around the fire.

Together, we share the values of joy,
harmony, and peace.

Together we celebrate our connection
with life, with Nature and the universe.

Some may use psychedelic products,

not to flee reality but to know it better
and know themselves better.

In this crazy crew, there is
this French girl who told me,

“Nicolas, I can sell you my van
when we come back to France."

Ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom...

“Waw, travelling in a van? Yeah!

I'm pretty tired of my backpack,
and that was my childhood dream!”

But, coming back …

I had started this journey not knowing
whether I'd come back or not.

Not coming back was a option.

So, I started to consider it,
but truly, I wasn't ready at all.

I had been traveling for months

but I hadn't found
what I was looking for yet.

So I kept going and my next
challenge was to hitchhike across Brazil.

Hitchhiking in Brazil was terrible,

I was standing under 40°C,
and only truck drivers would take me.

It was very hard, but I managed
to reach the Atlantic Ocean.

You can see me here,
happier than ever.

I was free.

At last I had found
what I was looking for:

doing whatever I wanted
whenever I wanted.

I was free, smiling and healthy,
but I felt greatly confused.

I couldn't sleep at night, every night.

I had too many ideas,
too many visions

of all my dreams for the future,
when I would come back.

Every night inside my head,
I invented symphonies, musics,

books, movies, scripts,
all sorts of things.

I had only one thing to do:
come back and follow these dreams.

So, I came back.

Finally, I bought a van to keep
traveling and share my passions.

I started to compose music
and play in festivals.

I wrote a book
that was published last month.

I started doing conferences
to share my experience.

And everywhere I go,
I do my magic ball show

to amaze both young and old,

telling somehow that we can marvel at life

by slowing down
and appreciate the simple things.

I also organized my own concerts,

where we come to chill, to sleep,
even here in Toulouse, France.

I finally felt I belonged, I felt useful
while doing what I liked.

I must confess
I wouldn’t have done all that

if at some point in my journey,
I hadn't gone on a mediation retreat.

This is called "Vipassana",
the penetrating vision.

It is a 10-day retreat
during which we keep silent.

During these ten days,

we spend eight hours a day
sitting closed-eyed,

observing whatever rises inside us,

becoming aware of all
that is going on inside us,

of each thought,
each sensation, each emotion.

We observe without
being part of the process.

We observe everything
that happen inside us.

To be honest, ten days like this
are very transformative.

For the first time, my mind was clear.
I was lucid about myself.

I realized I was running away
from something in my life.

This helped me to come back
and get back to a sedentary life.

Now, I ask you to watch
the next two slides in silence.

Do you see this?

This is what we all have
been one day, probably,

a little baby, innocent, naive,

ready to experience everything,
explore everything

and ready to forgive everything.

And this is what we will
probably all be one day.

When I look at this,
I ask myself the question,

“What really matters?”

The answer I found is that when I die,
I want to be able to say to myself,

“I did what I had to do.”

This is only my own answer,
and my answer is not important.

What really matters
is that you find your own,

one that agrees with who you are.

Now, I don't know,

are you not hearing
this particular silence,

specific to introspective moments,
when we ask ourselves deep questions,

when we are here, together,
face to face with ourselves,

and we aren't overwhelmed
by daily thoughts,

about how to fight,
earn money or achieve success,

and we aren't overwhelmed
by thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow?

I think it is in this particular silence
of introspection while facing ourselves,

that true new visions can come into being.

Thank you.

(Applause)