TED Community » Maaher Sayeed

About Me

My experiences thought me 3 simple but profound things about life.

1) Your share of curve balls: Life will throw you your share of curve balls all the time. But it is in your choice and reaction that you can either get hit by it smack on your face, miss it or lean into it and whack the hell out of it. There is no escape from these curve balls. Every single person, rich or poor, successful or struggling, young or old, regardless of their social status, economic conditions, age, gender or education, will face their share of adversities in life. Everyone faces their sorrows, pains, heart breaks, ill health, hurdles, challenges, obstacles and failures. There is absolutely no escape from it. You are not special in any way when it comes to complex life obstacles. Every successful person from the Presidents to Scientist or Celebrities has faced them, well the Prophets of our great religions weren’t spared either. But how we choose to react to them, tackle them, solve them, dodge them or break them lies absolutely in our choice and reaction. Perhaps this is the only good thing we can do with them. Or we can insult our own intelligence, skills, learning, experiences, support and love from others, and choose to curl up and die leaving behind a grand tale of failure, defeat, and inaction. Either way, be prepared for those curve balls coming your way.

2) Do not waste your time: Life is too short to waste your time on insensible living. Our life wasted on holding prejudices, hate, egoistic living, sense of self entitlement, vanity, dwelling in self sympathy, narcissism, arrogance, and above all deliberate ignorance of facts and realities soon brings you to a time and situation in your life where you feel you have done absolutely nothing worthwhile. I realized what I wanted to do in my life the day I began to write a letter on what I wish my loved ones and the world to remember me as “If I die today”. You begin to think about your purpose and accomplishments and what they mean to you in relation to your interactions with others. You soon realize that you find your happiness in several small greater things in life. You will then be inspired to pick up that phone and make peace with those who have hurt, and with those who hurt you, express your love to everyone that you can, bring even the smallest moments of happiness to your loved ones, spend more time with those who mean more to you and perhaps leave behind a few stories that people shall feel inspired with and remember you by.

3) Realize your blessings: You will be pleasantly surprised to learn that you have more blessings than life challenges when you begin to count them. Like me, many people look at life by measuring their share of challenges and unlucky events. And when you adopt this point of view about life, you only get consumed by such continuous and relentless negative events. You also invariable begin to attract such negative events in your life by your behaviours and choices. The only way out of this is to reach out and look for the several ropes of blessings that are dangling right beside you in your darkness, grad hold of them firmly, and pull yourself out of your rut. These ropes of blessings are of two kinds. a) – The natural sources that you have been blessed with. i.e. your family, siblings, parents, home, and the care, support, love, courage, and comfort they offer. b) – the ropes of blessings that you yourself weave for times like these . i.e. your good deeds in life, the friends you choose, your education, your efforts on self development, intellect, experiences, character etc.

Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant. ~Horace. Now I share my expereinces and inspire others on overcoming life challenges and moving forward! Read my story on my blog: http://despicablewonderfulyou.wordpress.com/the-unluckiest-blessed-person/

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More About Me

I'm passionate about

Learning and sharing new inspirational ideas. I believe our lives are too short and we need to do all we can to learn and leave behind a few inspirational lessons for the next generation.

An idea worth spreading

Patience and perseverance is key to any progress. We instinctively demonstrate these qualities in certain things in life but fail to in many. For instance, when we play a video game, we patiently go from one level to another with great patience in manoeuvring ourselves through a complex obstacle race. When we fail, we start over again with a renewed vigor and a different strategy, and we do it over and over again until we finish one level and move ahead to another. And this time it is the same battle but with a much more complex and difficult set of challenges that needs a lot more strategizing and patience. We accept the fact the challenges will only get tougher as we head towards the finish. Nights after nights, hours after hours, we fail and get up and persevere. We at times strategize with other players, develop cheats, strategies and eventually finish the task. If only we can take this very approach to life and every thing we wish to accomplish in our lives. READ MY BLOG-my story

Talk to me about

Overcoming life obstacles, problem solving, behavioural science, religion, cultures, charity, blogging, service to humanity, motivation, inspirational writing, public speaking, people development.

People don't know that I'm good at

Solving puzzles. Broke Rubiks world record for his puzzle the Rubiks clock. Art, paintings, writing, blogging, cooking, travel, Inspirational Writing.

My TED Story

I have one for TED. It is yet to be experienced and shared. My idea that is worth sharing awaits its opportunity at TED.

Comments

  • TEDCred score: +11.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • A reply on Conversation: Do basic core educational systems enable global understanding and cooperation?

    Feb 19 2013: Mitch, I cant agree with you more on "indoctrination" on how and what young eager minds are being fed and it being a form of violence. This is where the problem lies in obvious light and yet being systematically avoided from being addressed. Hatred and disrespect is being fed in such minds from the basic stages in several countries where individuals grow up blinded by carefully doctored bias which hinders progress and true development. yet they eventually end up facing the reality of global interaction and dinter dependencies.

    I guess that is where your "Yes - if education... becomes a Necessity.
  • A reply on Conversation: Do basic core educational systems enable global understanding and cooperation?

    Feb 18 2013: Bob, as usual your input and responses are of interest to me to say the least. You said it absolutely right, education is an extention of the government. So is the media and mass communication models available. They are controlled if not owned by the government in many ways as it has always been.

    But the world of today and the world of tomorrow cannot be confined by the age old paradigms and biased education. The youths of today are not really being prepared with a midset to acknowledge, value, interact and effectively use the global talent pool which seems to be the most effecient way to develop the world of tomorrow.

    As individuals, we may chose to extend our interests and strive to learn these ways ourselves. But in the countries you have mentioned and many others the people are confined by the biased systems and media which limits the broader prespective needed for the future.

    Much appreciated as always Bob! Your friend...
  • +1

    A comment on Conversation: Is there any way to prevent religious debates from turning into a big fight?

    Feb 18 2013: When it comes to religion, people use often use emotion, beliefs, and ego, as opposed to objectivity, reason, facts and humility.

    You as if there is a way to prevent ....

    Yes, religious debates must first be set among reasonable people. Unreasonable people will always find an unreasonable point to argue. Next, there should be set rules as in any debate such as, respect, agree to disagree, use facts, stay within objective and reason and tollerance.

    Reason and reasonable people is key! People who do not have the ability to stay within reasonable parameters and be respectful towards others opinion although they may not agree should never be considered for any discussion or debates because it defys the objective.
  • +2

    A comment on Conversation: What are the challenges that gifted and creative individuals face at present?

    Feb 18 2013: I think the biggest challenge is the fear of criticism. Every creator fears his or her critic. Educating individuals to understand that criticism and opposition is an essential process that refines their creation is imperative to enable people to develop the courage to create.
  • A comment on Conversation: What's a degree worth?

    Feb 3 2013: The expereince and lessons learned during the process of getting a Degree benefits the mind set, thinking process and character which helps develop an educated mind and personality that is required to succeed and progress.

    There are many who get a degree and may learn the subject but yet do not conduct themselves as an educated person. ie. Do not have a well developed and mature understanding and demeanor.

    And every firm looks for typical candidate that fits the specific culture and required behaviour pattern. ie. some may need a degree holder but require the candidate to do as they are told and not to use thier education and own initiative. Some companies seek the educated mind from the degree holder.

    So, it depends on the individuals aptidue and atitude towards learning, attaining a degree and developing skill sets, and it depends on the hiring company and what kind of candidate they are seeking. A college or University Degree is lot more than just getting a certificate.
  • +7

    A comment on Conversation: If you could warn your past self about anything only using two words, what would you say?

    Feb 3 2013: Shut Up!
  • +1

    A reply on Conversation: What if nothing comes from our devotion, effort, faith and work?

    Feb 3 2013: I havent heard it from him myself. Hence I can neither confirm or deny. But it is commonly attributed to him...hence...
  • A reply on Conversation: How can we think about the future without having a bad feeling?

    Jan 30 2013: I thought I may not have to explain. But .. I meant Do the good of past generations such as hope for the best etc...

    But do not blindly follow others by not knwoing what is right from wrong....hence learn and take action...
  • +1

    A comment on Conversation: How can we think about the future without having a bad feeling?

    Jan 29 2013: Do just as your past generations did. Hope for the best, ask yourself what you can do to make the future better and have the courage to do it.

    The present of today was an unknown future yesterday but people who stopped asking questions, stopped following others, and took the lead in learning and doing something about it made the future great.
  • A comment on Conversation: Can Money Buy Happiness?

    Jan 29 2013: Yes it can in some ways. But clean money that you have worked hard to earn, save and invest in your happiness.
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