The Alumni Relations Office has kicked off its Keep Learning Lecture Series for the year with The Power of the Mind, a talk given by Dr. Hady Safa, founder of consulting and training firm STANDARDS. 

To a packed house of over 150 participants, Dr. Safa highlighted how people’s reactions are strongly influenced by their beliefs, which are themselves influenced by life experiences, interpretations of events, and expectations of social conformity.

According to Dr. Safa, 92 percent of people’s worries are useless. Of the remaining eight percent, half pertain to problems the worrier can’t solve, and the other half to those that can be solved if the person learns how.

“Scientists say that the average human uses only a small percentage of their mental ability,” said Dr. Safa. “We simply react to stimuli rather than learning how to think creatively. These reactions are decided emotionally; it is either anger, grief, pleasure, comfort or pain that make us react to incidents and circumstances.”

Citing historic and modern thinkers such as revolutionary leader Mahatma Ghandi and inspirational speaker Tony Robbins, Dr. Safa walked the crowd through the process of becoming aware of negative thought patterns, recognizing them, and changing them to be more productive – or at least less damaging. 

Before starting STANDARDS in 2005, Dr. Safa became a widely known expert in human resources, change management, innovative solutions, leadership and business development. He now does consulting for leaders across different fields and is a motivational speaker.