Meet our CalmCon Speakers: Navin Amarasuriya
We hope you’ve been enjoying our interview series featuring the various speakers at CalmCon 2021. Today, we speak to Navin Amasuriya from The Contentment Foundation. He shares more about what sparked his passion in mental health and wellness, how the practice of meditation has been beneficial to him, and what the audience can look forward to during his panel at CalmCon 2021.
Could you tell us more about The Contentment Foundation?
We are an evidence-based non-profit based organisation that offers child and adult-centred wellbeing curriculum to schools around the world. Using scientifically evidenced practices and measurement tools, we help students and teachers cultivate practices of physical, psychological and emotional well-being.
You left your 150-year-old family business to set up the foundation - what sparked this passion for mental health and well-being?
I used to be involved in corporate work and part of my work there was implementing environmental metrics. What dawned on me was that it was very hard for individuals to care about trees or rivers etc if they didn’t care about themselves. It was obvious that the foundational behaviour of self-care was incredibly important.
Also, when I was in university, I came across the work of Matthieu Ricard and Richard Davidson. At that point, they were in the very early stages of advancing the neurological insight into the efficacy of training the mind. They demonstrated that our subjective perception is just as important as our ‘objective observation’ of the world around us. I naturally gravitated towards their work which sparked my interest in mental health and well-being.
Having been in the wellness industry for some time, have you noticed any changes post COVID?
Definitely! Covid has primarily been talked about as a medical event and it definitely has affected millions on that front. At the same time, you can also see that it’s a psychological event that has affected billions. We can’t control what the future will hold, but we do have some agency over how we see it. That’s also where the importance of cultivating wellness practices comes in.
In terms of the “population” I work with (ie. students, teachers, and parents), I’ve definitely seen the impact and increased stress. Educators have increased responsibilities that they weren’t necessarily “trained for”, parents play dual roles, and kids have no chance to interact with their classmates - there are so many factors that point to deep challenges within the heart and mind.
You’ve shared how important meditation is to you - do you think your views on achievement and contentment have been influenced by this?
Yes, for sure. I’ve come to realise that achievement is as much as the way we perceive it as the external achievement itself. I have a natural tendency to compare myself to others. When I was younger, the question I rarely stopped to ask myself was what or who I was comparing myself to. I could complain about a train being late, or I could be grateful there is a train. The event is the same, only my yardstick changed.
When I was growing up, the opportunities presented to me weren’t that obvious but when I look back and reflect on things that have come my way, I recognise how lucky I am. The surest way to be unhappy is to create a condition that I will only be happy when I achieve some accolade, or when I buy something I can’t at the moment. It’s a never-ending cycle of hedonic adaptation. Engaging in contemplative practice has allowed me to take a step back to try and explore a different form of motivation, one that comes from viewing my short life as part of an echo of work through time.
What are your hopes for the mental health and well-being of the next generation?
There’s a quote that I love - “Do not wish your children an easy life, but the strength to endure a difficult one”. With things like climate change, mass migration, populism, etc.. they have their work cut out for them. That can’t be avoided. What I do hope, though, is that the next generation will be armed with the tools and knowledge to navigate these challenges and find meaning and peace by meeting the world with wisdom and compassion.
What can the audience look forward to during your panel? What are you looking forward to?
The audience can definitely look forward to exploration, and that’s something I’m looking forward to as well - not starting with an answer in mind. The title achievement versus contentment seems like there will be a winner takes all fight to the finish, but I see it more as a dance between two ideas that transcend each other.
Hear more from Navin as he talks about “Achievement vs. Contentment - How Are They Intertwined?” at CalmCon, Calm Collective’s virtual mental health & well-being festival for Asia, taking place 12-13 November 2021. Make sure to head to calmcon.asia to get your tickets!