TED Community » Lee Wilkinson

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Life and the pursuit of peace through understanding, acceptance and learning. Communicating what is important and listening to what others have to say. Writing, singing and Acting. Being a good lover.

An idea worth spreading

No matter who we are or what we do in life we will have an impact on someone else every day. This may be directly or indirectly but it will happen. It is not logical that we should be perfect every second of every day but the core of our being will be more obvious to others than it is to our self in many cases. If that core is strong and driven by integrity even on our bad days we will still have a bright light. I believe it is that light which is at the core of who we are that can be the thing that could bring inspiration to someone else. If we chose to live in a Universe where we are all connected by one energy and we say that we can access that energy for the greater good then we too will benefit. If we believe that we live on a planet with so many other strangers then likely as not our life will be one of struggle and loneliness where the only thing that matters is getting by. Surely the best way to have a positive impact on the Universe is to think well of ourselves and others?

Talk to me about

How to make the world a better place and how do we move forward from where we are?

People don't know that I'm good at

Pizza making. As a long time part of the Pizza industry I made in whole or in part over half a million Pizzas, and I still like Pizza.

My TED Story

A friend of mine posted the Jill Bolte talk on Facebook and my life has never been the same.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +24.60 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +2

  A comment on Talk: Ken Robinson: How to escape education's death valley

  May 11 2013: In truth I have had few heroes in my life. Those people who have inspired and excited me. But I can count Ken Robinson as one of those people. His humour and skill in communicating so passionately the topic that is obviously so important to him has inspired me ever since the first one I saw several years ago. Education is important to us all but it is easy to feel that we are on the outside looking in with no control over the outcome. I feel much more connected when I listen to Ken Robinson. Great job!

• A reply on Conversation: Is all morality about human rights?

  Nov 19 2012: All of this is true and I believe passionately that we should treat each other iwth dignity and compasion, however many people bandy about the term 'Rights' as though they believe they should be given them by others and that I feel is where the process breaks down.

• A comment on Conversation: Debate: Having children should be regulated or licensed

  Nov 11 2012: "Too often those who should not have children do have them, often leaving the child ill prepared and in many cases a burden upon society. Should there not be some psychological evaluation people should take before they are deemed capable of performing the responsibilities required of a parent?" If there was chances are great that it would bring the population down to zero in a very short time.

• A comment on Conversation: Is all morality about human rights?

  Nov 11 2012: There are no such thing as inherent human rights. If two people are born at the same time and one has the right, which one has the responsibility to give it to the other?

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 27 2012: Edward, I don't usually get into the yahoo style of rhetoric but I find it rather presumptuous of you to assume that I nor any of us are quite as ethereal as you. Like many people who frequent the annals of TED I have spent much of my life attempting to understand my fellow traveler and, while I have come across many such people they still remain in the minority. So I ask again why is it that so many of us have a difficult time promoting ourselves when the need arises?

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 25 2012: Another point Richard (Incidentally I think you have a very good point) but you are selling yourself right now in that you have taken the time to express your opinion. My assumption is that you have participated actively in this discussion in order to be heard (and rightly so) call it what yo will but you are selling us on the idea that we should read your point of view.

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 25 2012: I suppose the problem with that is that it needs to be sold in the first place in order to be in a position to speak for it's self. Take an actor for instance, it's no good acting if there is no audience to see your work and in order for that to happen some selling needs to be done. In fact in order for one to be able to act (Usually) we need to audition and sell to the director that we are the one for the role. That done we can then allow our work to speak for it's self. This I believe is transferable to any subject.

• A reply on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 25 2012: I think you have taken the interpretation too literally Richard, I realise that we all perceive things differently but however we look at it we sell our selves every day we must of course chose a dialogue that suits our sense of right. Can we do better? Of course that's why I started this thread, My hope for everyone is to have the best life they possibly can however that may take some salesmanship in order to get some of that life.

• A comment on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 25 2012: I had a unique lesson on this. When I was 38 I decided to go back to education and study to become an actor. In the process one of my teachers who I admired and trusted gave the class a piece of wisdom, he said "In this business you need to know who you are." Now while I consider that I am like most people and I do some discovering everyday I did take that on board. I became very comfortable with who I am because I had to in order to intelligently audition for roles which fell into my personality and attributes. For instance I am 5' 6", no good auditioning for the tall dark handsome leading man role, but I got a lot of work over the years auditioning for roles which would allow me to utilize my body type. I do wonder that many people who interview do so out of their realm of ability or character. Just because one owns a record collection it does make us a sound engineer. The point of all of this is that maybe the first step is to marry up our desires with our talents and then apply for the job which highlights both strengths. I think people are always more confident when they are comfortable.
• +1

  A comment on Conversation: Why do we sell ourselves so badly?

  Jan 23 2012: While I am inspired by the passion within the responses from all of you I think the pedantic manor in which we are approaching the idea of 'Selling' The word was used of course to describe the way in which we represent ourselves when promoting our qualifications in order to secure something we want in life. Now we can argue this fact all we like but we do it all day every day in many different ways. The issue I have found however is that for many, when faced with an opportunity that we have created for ourselves we then fail at the most basic level to communicate our strengths and personality. What is so terrible about allowing ourselves that moment when we step up t the plate and shine through? After all. isn't that the idea of an interview? Otherwise why did we ask for the interview in the first place? The other issue is that so much of securing a position we want and are qualified for it the team dynamic. People are interviewing as much to see if they want to work with us for the dynamic sake as much as for the qualifications we hold.