TED Community » Pamala Englert

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Being authentic, truth, knowing yourself, volunteerism, supporting great causes, believing nothing is impossible, never taking anything for granted, loving others, believing dreams really come true.

Talk to me about

Overcoming adversity, forgiveness, acceptance, paying it forward, kindness, authenticity, personal courage, inner strength, fear, striving to reach what you perceive as your own limitations.

People don't know that I'm good at

Singing. I typically sing while I am alone. I have often imagined myself shocking a group of people I know one day at an event at which I would sing my heart out.

My TED Story

I found myself captivated by the concept of TED after watching only a few videos on fascinating topics which challenged my thoughts and stimulated creative exploration. Since the late 1990's it became a mission of mine to both attend a TED Event and to organize a TEDx Event. As a person who has overcome a great deal of adversity, having survived unfathomable circumstances, I realize that I personally could never learn enough, or possibly be challenged enough to feel as I have reached any goal. My fascination with TED talks continues to feed my imagination, my intellect and my seemingly endless thirst for knowledge and desire to test my own beliefs and thoughts on diverse subjects. In "diving deeper," I am currently organizing TEDxSunRiver. I am determined that a single person will not leave without feeling challenged to the point of questioning their core beliiefs and values, enough that they will feel inspired from a place they hardly knew existed within themselves.

Comments

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  A comment on Theme: What Makes Us Happy?

  Oct 18 2011: I believe the "pursuit of happiness" is never-ending, that the very nature of that endless pursuit is what makes life so worth living. I also feel as happiness may only truly be defined by each individual, for its meaning is so vastly different for each person. I believe the definition of what makes us each happy evolves over time and can change with the wind. I believe we can each only truly define what it is which makes us happy, not others. I believe there is no such thing as "the secret" to happiness, that it never eludes us if we open our doors wide, willing to receive and accept anything which provides us with emotions and feelings which help us believe we are still in pursuit. I believe that it is more authentic to look in the mirror and say, "I feel happy in this moment," but not "I am in general, happy." I believe mostly that the day any of us say to ourselves, "I have reached the pinnacle of happiness," we allow the pursuit to fade and diminish and even disappear. Once we allow that to occur, there inevitably will come a day when we begin to take things for granted, things in life which already serve to provide us with those happy emotions and feelings we seek while we allow ourselves to remain in pursuit. While it is true that the simplest things, gestures or thoughts may contribute to our feelings of happiness, it is the collective gathering, pursuit and maintenance of those very same feelings which help us hold those things close enough that they may always be a part of our ever-evolving journeys. I genuinely wish for everybody an authentic journey, one which provides many moments of "happiness." I further wish for them to cherish the bottomless bag we all are given, the one which holds our happiest memories, our greatest treasures collected in our individual, but never-ending pursuit of happiness.