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Mike L

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If you could teach the world 1 valuable thing you learned, what would it be and why?

The 1 valuable thing you learned could be anything, whether it is a skill, a lesson you learned, a quote you heard, or even the most simple things.

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Topics: Learn better life better world curiosity life social interaction teaching
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  • Chetan Sahai

    • +3
    Sep 1 2011: Always answer with "yes, and" rather than "no, but", which is the natural way we respond. This allows to build on something that the other person has said, rather than be judgmental or confrontational. This is a simple but effective technique taught in improv and helps greatly in building relationships and relating to people instead of controlling.

  • Joohyun Lee

    • +1
    Sep 1 2011: Love is wise, hatred is foolish. -Bertrand Russell

  • Chris Pavlis

    • +1
    Sep 1 2011: Adults don't know half of what they think they do, and are usually mistaken about which half, trust your own reasoning for odds are you'll be at least as right as they, possibly more-so, and above all don't let them hamper your creativity.

    But by the time this is learned it's too late

  • Nicola Bartkowiak

    • +1
    Sep 1 2011: A quote that I learned from someone I deeply respect:

    Namaste
    I honour the place in you
    in which the entire universe dwells.
    I honour the place in you
    which is of love, of truth.
    of light, and of peace.
    When you are in that place in you
    and I am in that place in me,
    we are one.

    :)
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    Tom Hodge-Sellers

    • +1
    Aug 31 2011: knowledge is power

  • James Snead

    • +1
    Aug 29 2011: "Don't give up, don't ever give up."
    -Jimmy V

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoVM9nm42E
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    Dave Lim 500+

    • +5
    TED AttendeeTEDx OrganizerAssociate
    Aug 29 2011: "When you are busy judging someone,
    you have no time to love them."
    ~ Mother Teresa.
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    Marisa Hammond Olivares

    • 0
    Aug 28 2011: EVERYONE deserves to have the benefit of the doubt given to them.
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    Rhea Dsouza

    • +4
    Aug 27 2011: To Change the Language from "Struggle" to "Grapple".
    To Choose to "Grow out" Instead of " Squeeze Out"
    To Decide "How " you are going to leave your world and your Children - Not WHAT
    Communicate your "Stand" and not where you are "Standing"
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    Rosa Cantarero

    • 0
    Aug 26 2011: Embracing otherness is embracing ourselves. We are all human beings; we should embrace other cultures, other values, other ideas, other races... and then, we would be able to know ourselves.

  • M S

    • 0
    Aug 25 2011: Lennon & McCartney said it best:

    Give the word a chance to say
    That the word is just the way
    It's the word I'm thinking of
    And the only word is love

  • Oliver Stevens

    • 0
    Aug 25 2011: Know thyself.

    Once you make this a goal and continue down the rabbit hole it will essentially cover everything from internal to external change. Know thyself!
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    Bill Harrison 10+

    • +4
    Aug 18 2011: "We see the world not as it is, but as we are." - Internet Talmud or Anais Nin

    And a similar idea -

    "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    And another similar idea:
    "We shall not cease from exploration; And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive at where we started; And know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot.

    If people read those quotes repeatedly and actually understood and internalized them, many unconscious discussions, political and otherwise, would be infused with additional self-awareness for all the parties involved.

    Or so I like to imagine :P
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      Colleen Steen 500+

      • +1
      Aug 29 2011: Good quotes Bill,
      We really DO reveal our true character to ourselves and others with our perceptions of the world. We see what we want to see, and project what we choose to project. I believe that if we are truly living life to the fullest, we are constantly exploring new and different information, and if people read these quotes repeatedly, actually understood and internalized them, many unconscious discussions would be infused with self-awareness, respect, kindness, compassion, and love for all parties:>) It is possible:>)
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    Dara Singh

    • +4
    Aug 18 2011: “Do all the good you can,
    By all the means you can,
    In all the ways you can,
    In all the places you can,
    At all the times you can,
    To all the people you can,
    As long as ever you can.”

  • Ann Lee 50+

    • 0
    TED Translator
    Aug 18 2011: You only have one chance at this life and you can't control or know when it will end. Therefore live it the way YOU want NOW. A lot of opportunities in life come only once.

    This is pretty cliche but once I really understood this, making choices was easier and my life was happier because I am living for both the future AND today.
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    Allan Macdougall 30+

    • 0
    Aug 16 2011: The planet is in our stewardship. We are not the owners. The only thing we own is ourselves.
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    Gisela McKay 30+

    • 0
    Aug 15 2011: I've enjoyed reading these. Someone should gather them and assemble them into an e-book or something (with the permission of the person who submitted it, of course).
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    Dara Singh

    • +1
    Aug 15 2011: Peace is the biggest meditation....Satisfaction is biggest happiness........Greediness or selfishness is the bigggest disease. ....and humbleness or modesty is the biggest religion...

  • Conrad Green

    • 0
    Aug 14 2011: Mine would be don't be so dependent on the words of others. Not saying the media is all bad or all scientists are wrong. But it seems that ppl are becoming lazy and depedent on others to find out the knowledge for them or that knowledge magically is transformed into a book and that the thought that created that book is just as magically as the creation of the pages and words that made the book possible. Never before has there been such a treasure trove of open source information available not only to a set number of ppl but to the whole world and ppl are not taking advantage of it but rather waiting for the news to be translated to them. They are not realizing and I find these horrendously shameful that ppl don't seem to understand how much information they put out amongst text , vids, post, comments and what have you.....along with the tech updates that are changing the world to rapidly for the news to report and even they were make a channel fixating on the mass info given within the past 4 years it would take a millenia or long to sift through 1% of said data. My advice is don't wait for the world to come to you but you go to the world. This planet was not civilized by sitting on our thumbs waiting for science to give us a hint. We had to look for them ourselves and find solutions to certain problems. But the solutions of yesterday's man has today's man stupid and tommorow's man will prolly be extinct. The human race must evolve or face to digress into primordial animalistic man with socialized internet linguistics in a post modern world.
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    kamal narola

    • 0
    Aug 14 2011: Trust no future however pleasant
    Let the dead past bury its dead
    Act Act in living present
    Heart within n GOD overhead...........lov dis gr8 lines by shakespeare.....
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    Gerry O'Connor

    • 0
    Aug 14 2011: the drive that makes us chase happiness, contentment and peace is a drive inside everyone (based on my experience of human beings) ........where does the happiness, contentment and peace lie ???

    i wouldn't like to teach where it is because i still lose it everyday and have to keep re-finding it ........so i'm not an expert on it .... .... maybe the existence of the drive is testament to the fact that there IS an answer that can be experienced and then the search can be abandoned and the experience can be enjoyed ....and maybe the need for us humans to search for the answer is one reason why the drive is so strong....

  • Fatimah Ghanim

    • +1
    Aug 14 2011: I like this quote: "Create like a God, Command Like a Kind, Work Like a Slave"
    This should be applied in both the business and personal world.
    =================================
    My personal contribution to this topic would be: Always have an open mind to learning. You learn every day. Keep learning. Keep the curiosity ongoing.

  • Lurtz .

    • +2
    Aug 14 2011: That there is no God.
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    Kate Blake 50+

    • +2
    Aug 14 2011: Effective communication skills, this would have to include points listed below such as patience and compassion.

    If we all communicated better our relationships, from personal, work and international, would be stronger, healthier and happier!

    There would be less argument, divorce and wars ... because we would listen to each other and understand better and compromise more ...

  • Michael T

    • +1
    Aug 14 2011: I would teach the world how to think positively. If everyone thought about how to improve, how to be better, how to simply stay upbeat and cheery no matter the odds. The resourcefulness that comes from it is boundless. Similar to the ted talks about Tony Robbins said about the difference between resource vs resourcefulness.
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    Borrah Campbell

    • +1
    Aug 14 2011: Patience is one of the most powerful tools in possession of the human race. Unfortunately, this is not something that can be taught, or even learned. It goes hand in hand with one's intelligence.

    Nevertheless, if it could be taught, and I could show it to the world, it would definitively be my choice. A world full of patient people would be a world without war, hunger, or poverty. This is because people would collectively stop and think before they acted... all over the world...
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    Mandilyn Cartwright 10+

    • +1
    Aug 13 2011: I would say one word: "compassion".
    It is the basis for our family's structure and rules and I find myself wondering why our culture doesn’t place more importance on this. Imagine what the world would be like if everyone put compassion first, before personal gain, status, time constraints, and ego.
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    Peter Brand

    • +6
    Aug 13 2011: Do not be so deluded as to imagine that other people are responsible for your emotional well-being.

    This means people/things can't *make* you happy; only you can. Nothing makes you sad; you decide to do that. Sadness and anger may be appropriate, just realize that it is your choice to feel that way. And you can change your choices.

    • edde moore

      • 0
      Aug 14 2011: hear,hear........but agreeing and practicing....are far apart in my experience

    • Angelina Alba

      • 0
      Aug 17 2011: I couldn't agree with you more. We have the power of deciding how we want to feel, I did not understand that till know. I had someone tell me that once and could not comprehend what it meant becuase I was so in my head. Thanks
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