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  • All
  • Talks 56
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  • Blog posts 38
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Blog posts
1 - 30 of 38 results

The magnitude of mindfulness: Fellows Friday with David Gurman

Artist David Gurman's installations use live data feeds from conflict zones to trigger lights, tolling bells, shadows and more, connecting us to the rhythms and intensity of far-away violence in real time. How did you start thinking about conflict in art? I was interested in resonance and wave patterns and energetic exchanges as early as 1...
Posted April 27, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/04/27/the-magnitude-of-mindfulness-fellows-friday-with-david-gurman

4 simple exercises to strengthen your attention and reduce distractibility

Our attention gets hijacked by everything from the stress in our lives to the ding of our phones. Neuroscientist Amishi Jha shows how we can cultivate the ability to focus on what really matters. “I think, therefore I am distracted.” If Descartes were writing today, this is what his famous aphorism might have become. We’re living in an age o...
Posted June 8, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/4-simple-exercises-to-strengthen-your-attention-and-reduce-distractibility

"Harmony & Discord": Roundup of TEDWomen, Session 5

Kiran Bedi's campaign to bring mindfulness to prisons was expressed in one amazing photo: 1,000 prisoners meditating in one room. Sheikha Al Mayassa (live via satellite from TEDxDoha) on cultural development in the Middle East: It must be done organically, from within the region. Naomi Klein: "Our underlying assu...
Posted December 10, 2010
https://blog.ted.com/2010/12/10/harmony-discord-roundup-of-tedwomen-session-5

A non-cheesy guide to gratefulness: What to read and watch

Gratefulness isn't always something that comes easily. Below, some reading and watching to get you into a thankful headspace. Watch: "Want to be happy? Be thankful." This TED Talk from David Steindl-Rast is the perfect Thanksgiving appetizer. In it, the Benedictine monk and interfaith scholar talks about what, exactly, it means to be gratefu...
Posted November 27, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/11/27/a-non-cheesy-guide-to-gratefulness-what-to-read-and-watch

Why aren't we asking the big questions? A Q&A with Ruby Wax

One in four people have some form of mental illness, and Ruby Wax wants to talk about it. Watch her TEDTalk, posted today and inspired by her show Losing It, to start the conversation. One project she didn't get to mention onstage at TEDGlobal: This winter, Wax started up the Black Dog Tribe, an online network for people with mental illness ...
Posted October 10, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/10/10/why-arent-we-asking-the-big-questions-a-qa-with-ruby-wax

New TED Book: Mind Amplifier

It’s a complaint we’ve all heard about the internet: all the cat videos and incessant celebrity gossip sites are making us, as a culture, stupider. However, digital community expert Howard Rheingold, doesn’t think that’s the case. In fact, he believes that both designing and using digital media can actually improve our intelligence. As Rheing...
Posted September 28, 2012
https://blog.ted.com/2012/09/28/new-ted-book-mind-amplifier

Pattie Maes develops a plant-robot hybrid and other news from the TED community

As the year comes to a close, the TED community is busy as ever. Below, a few highlights. Plant-robot hybrids are here. At the MIT Media Lab, researchers Pattie Maes and Harpreet Sareen have developed a new kind of “cybernetic lifeform”: a cyborg plant called Elowan that marries organic and digital technologies. Elowan’s robotic half track...
Posted December 21, 2018
https://blog.ted.com/2018/12/21/pattie-maes-develops-a-plant-robot-hybrid-and-other-news-from-the-ted-community

8 books to lift you out of darkness

When Shaka Senghor (Watch: Shaka Senghor: Why your worst deeds don’t define you) was nineteen, he shot and killed a man — and was sentenced to spend the second nineteen years of his life in jail. At first, Senghor sat in his cold cell and rationalized his worst deeds. “In the hood where I come from,” he says, “it’s better to be the shooter than ...
Posted September 8, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/8-books-to-lift-you-out-of-darkness

What if the coolest thing about a 21st-century school wasn’t technology?

  Sometimes technology isn’t the answer to every problem. Even at the TED conference. At TED2016, TED partnered with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to run a blue-sky workshop session on creating a new healthy school from scratch, imagining new solutions to problems that plague educators, students, schools, and the communities that ...
Posted June 16, 2016
https://blog.ted.com/2016/06/16/what-if-the-coolest-thing-about-a-21st-century-school-wasnt-technology

"Alexa, open TED Talks"

Today, we're excited to bring the world of TED Talks further into your home with the new TED Talks skill for Amazon Alexa! Available on devices with Amazon Alexa including the Echo and Echo Dot, TED fans can now listen to the latest ideas from the world's greatest thinkers by voice command. For existing Alexa users, enable the skill by s...
Posted March 29, 2017
https://blog.ted.com/2017/03/29/alexa-open-ted-talks

How to prepare for a good death

Wise words and solid advice from BJ Miller, who thinks deeply about the end of life as head of the Zen Hospice Project. Death is an uncomfortable topic. Although we’re well-acquainted with platitudes that remind us to seize the moment and live each day like it’s our last, few of us devote real time to envisioning the end of our lives -- or the ...
Posted October 22, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-prepare-for-a-good-death

Ideas into action: Highlights from our year-end newsletter, in partnership with Brightline Initiative

As this calendar year draws to a close, many of us are making resolutions about personal growth and change. It's a great time, too, for making changes in our working lives. Most of us spend a good portion of our days doing some kind of work -- learning or teaching, making or planning, following or leading -- and it's worth thinking deeply on how...
Posted December 31, 2018
https://blog.ted.com/2018/12/31/ideas-into-action-highlights-from-our-year-end-newsletter-in-partnership-with-brightline-initiative

Here's a question to consider: What if there's nothing wrong with you?

While asking this question won't change your life, it can help pause your inner critic and create space for possibility, says therapist Susan Henkels. This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here. Susan Henke...
Posted April 4, 2019
https://ideas.ted.com/heres-a-question-to-consider-what-if-theres-nothing-wrong-with-you

Quiet riot: A City 2.0 winner brings the “quiet revolution” to TEDGlobal 2013

In the noise of a city, peace and quiet can be hard to find. Australian composer and sound artist Jason Sweeney has a solution -- Stereopublic, a free smartphone app that lets users geo-locate and share their favorite tranquil city spaces. This week, in advance of TEDGlobal 2013, Stereopublic has launched a custom Edinburgh version of the ...
Posted June 7, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/06/07/quiet-riot-a-city-2-0-winner-brings-the-quiet-revolution-to-tedglobal-2013

Why grown-ups love coloring books too

Anyone who has appreciated a meditative mental drift while knitting or mowing a lawn knows that there is something calming about engaging in a familiar, low-impact activity that requires minimal thought and bestows a clear sense of progress. That goes at least some of the way toward explaining the immense appeal of adult coloring books, which no...
Posted March 9, 2016
https://ideas.ted.com/why-grown-ups-love-coloring-books-too

Mind going a million miles a minute? Slow down with this breathing exercise

When you’re anxious, one of the best things you can do is slow down and focus on your breath. But what can you do when you’re so anxious or worried that this doesn’t work or simply feels impossible to do? Below, I'll share a simple but effective trick that brings in more of your senses and helps cut through the anxiety so you can access more ...
Posted May 26, 2020
https://ideas.ted.com/mind-going-a-million-miles-a-minute-slow-down-with-this-breathing-exercise

4 scientific studies on how meditation can affect your heart, brain and creativity

Many people have tried to sell me on the idea of meditating. Sometimes I try it, and have an incredible, refreshing experience. But usually, as I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, while I know that I’m supposed to be letting all thoughts go, more and more fly through my mind. Soon I have a laundry-list of “to-dos” in my head … and then my...
Posted January 11, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/01/11/4-scientific-studies-on-how-meditation-can-affect-your-heart-brain-and-creativity

The Best Props at TED

TED2013, “The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered,” begins in just 20 days and we at the TED Blog are gearing up to bring you live reporting on each of the 70 speakers who’ll be ascending the stage, not to mention assorted news from the scene in Long Beach, California. One thing we hope to see more of at this amazing event: props. There’s some...
Posted February 4, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/02/04/the-best-props-at-ted

Meet the Fall 2016 class of TED Residents

On September 12, TED welcomed its latest class of the TED Residency program, an in-house incubator for breakthrough ideas. Residents spend four months in the TED office with fellow brilliant minds who are creatively taking on projects that are making significant changes in their communities, across many different fields   The new Resident...
Posted September 20, 2016
https://blog.ted.com/2016/09/20/meet-the-fall-2016-class-of-ted-residents

Which of these habits is keeping you from being a great communicator?

Yes, we all do these things, but they can suck the life from your conversations, says sound consultant Julian Treasure. Read this and strengthen your gift of gab. Over the years, I’ve identified a set of common emotional drivers that suck the power out of communication. I call them the four leeches. Most people -- me included! -- have most, or ...
Posted November 7, 2017
https://ideas.ted.com/which-of-these-habits-are-keeping-you-from-being-a-great-communicator

Caring for a loved one is hard work -- 6 ways you can fight burnout

Many people are caregivers for their sick parents, partners, friends or others, with an unfortunate consequence: They end up suffering. TED speakers share steps that caregivers can take to help maintain their own well-being. Today, people in every country are living longer than ever. Globally, there are an estimated 962 million individuals aged...
Posted June 20, 2019
https://ideas.ted.com/caring-for-a-loved-one-is-hard-work-6-ways-you-can-fight-burnout

Why your brain doesn't want you to lose weight: Sandra Aamodt at TEDGlobal 2013

Standing on the TED stage looking stunning in a blue dress, neuroscientist and author Sandra Aamodt  reveals that three and a half years ago on New Year's Eve, she made a decision: She gave worrying about her weight. Instead, she learned to eat mindfully -- and lost 10 pounds. For Aamodt, who had been dieting unsuccessfully for 30 years, thi...
Posted June 11, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/06/11/why-your-brain-doesnt-want-you-to-lose-weight-sandra-aamodt-at-tedglobal-2013

Machines will soon dominate the work force. Here's an unexpected way to prepare ... now

As we look ahead to a world with less work, or even no work, we can take control -- by using our hours with greater meaning and purpose, says business thinker Tim Leberecht. Many of us divide our days into 8 hours of work, 8 hours of leisure and 8 hours of sleep. But what will happen when a large number of jobs -- some studies say as much as 50...
Posted August 16, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/machines-will-soon-dominate-the-work-force-heres-an-unexpected-way-to-prepare-now

My Year of TED: How 54 talks changed a life

By Kylie Dunn What do you get when you cross a 39-year-old perfectionist with 54 TED Talks and far more honesty than any person probably needs to experience? You get my Year of TED. I’ve been inspired by TED Talks for years, and felt the urge to do something noteworthy and challenging to ring in my fortieth year on the planet. Inspira...
Posted March 27, 2013
https://blog.ted.com/2013/03/27/my-year-of-ted-how-54-talks-changed-a-life

Books worth reading, as recommended by Bill Gates, Susan Cain and more...

Find repose by exciting the mind. Some of the world's leading thinkers offer the books that inspired them and their work. Skim the list for your favorite speakers, or get nerdy on a topic you've always wanted to know more about. Below find 52 books, recommended by TED speakers. Creativity Creative Confidence, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley Cr...
Posted December 16, 2014
https://ideas.ted.com/books-worth-reading-this-holiday-recommended-by-bill-gates-susan-cain-and-more

How we turned our family's holiday gift exchange into a chance to really connect

The winter holidays are a time of giving, but too often that means nonstop spending, shopping and stress. Read how one family boldly reimagined their annual gift swap. Giving presents is a fun way to show people we care about them. But as many of us know, giving presents during the December holiday season can cost a lot of money and cause a lot...
Posted November 28, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/how-we-turned-our-familys-holiday-gift-exchange-into-a-chance-to-really-connect

Want to be happy? Slow down

In 1972, Matthieu Ricard had a promising career in biochemistry, trying to figure out the secrets of E. coli bacteria. A chance encounter with Buddhism led to an about turn, and Ricard has spent the past 40+ years living in the Himalayas, studying mindfulness and happiness. In this free-wheeling discussion at TED Global in October 2014, Ricard t...
Posted January 23, 2015
https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-be-happy-slow-down

Action and Impact: The talks of TED@PMI, day 2

At day two of TED@PMI, six speakers shared ideas about creating change, shifting perspectives and connecting across diverse communities. (Check out the day one recap as well.) The event: TED@PMI, a two-day virtual event showcasing project leaders who turn ideas into action and impact. Hosted by PMI President and Chief Executive Officer Su...
Posted September 29, 2020
https://blog.ted.com/2020/09/29/action-and-impact-the-talks-of-tedpmi-day-2

The world is an amazing place. So why aren’t we happier?

Anxiety could be the price that we have to pay for freedom, suggests psychologist Steven Pinker. When it comes to happiness, many people are underachievers. Americans are laggards among their first-world peers, and their happiness has stagnated in the era sometimes called the American Century. The Baby Boomers, despite growing up in peace and p...
Posted April 10, 2018
https://ideas.ted.com/the-world-is-an-amazing-place-so-why-arent-we-happier

Meet the Spring 2017 class of TED Residents

On March 6, TED welcomed its latest class to the TED Residency program. As an in-house incubator for breakthrough ideas, Residents spend four months in the TED office with other exceptional people from all over the map. Each has a project that promises to make a significant contribution to the world, across several different fields. The new R...
Posted March 14, 2017
https://blog.ted.com/2017/03/14/meet-the-spring-2017-class-of-ted-residents
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