Look into your heart

February 21, 2012

This week’s Ted Talk is about reviving the Golden Rule and features Karen Armstrong, who as been described as a “provocative, original thinker on the role of religion in the modern world. The video is less than 10 minutes long and, I hope, will encourage you to look beyond traditional religious differences to find common ground from which a path to a better world  and global peace can be found.

Armstrong encourages us to “Look into your own heart and discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstances whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.”

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The Brain in Love

February 13, 2012

For this Valentine’s edition of Ted Talk Time, I’ve selected a 16 minute talk by Anthropologist Helen Fisher who studies the brain in love. Love is present is all societies, according to Fisher. In fact, anthropologists have studied 170 societies and never found one that didn’t have it.

She goes on to quote Plato,who said, “The god of love lives in the state of need. Like hunger and thirst, it’s almost impossible to stamp out.”

Thank god for that …

Because having strong, loving relationships are an important part of a good life.

So don’t wait until Valentine’s Day or another special occasion to let your loved ones know how special they are.

It’s the day-to-day stuff that matters.

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Why “Why?” may be one of the most important questions

February 11, 2012

When I was young, I constantly peppered my parents with questions. You might say I was–and still am–a “bottomless pit of curiosity.” My mother once said that exact phrase to me when I was about 8. I remember it well because she said it with such exasperation and fatigue. I think I had asked “Why?” [...]

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How are you choosing to respond to your life’s circumstances?

February 6, 2012

Today’s edition of Ted Talk Time is a 8:30 video  featuring Matt Weinstein, founder of Playfair,  who lost his life savings in the Bernie Madoff scandal. In addition to seeing  some great photos from Weinstein’s trip to Antarctica, you’ll hear some insightful quotes from Epictetus, a Greek sage and stoic philosopher (those of you who have [...]

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If a dragonfly can cross an ocean, think what you can do…

January 31, 2012

Nature is amazing to me. That’s part of the reason I live in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I want to experience nature “up close and personal.” So, for this edition of Ted Talk Time, I’ve chosen a  16:38 video from Charles Anderson, a marine biologist based in the [...]

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Is your open-mindedness holding you back?

January 27, 2012

I was driving home Tuesday from the “big city” of Asheville, NC (I live in the mountains near the TN border and the closest town to me, about 12 miles away, has less than 350 residents) and was listening to one of my favorite NPR programs, Talk of the Nation. Host Neal Conan was interviewing [...]

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Wise people fashion themselves…at least according to The Buddha

January 24, 2012

This week’s edition of Ted Talk Time deals with the concept of self. In this 12 minute video (click here to view), Julian Baggini, author of  The Ego Trick:  In Search of the Self  (this is not an affiliate link), challenges the common perception of self, which is that each of us has a fixed, core [...]

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Listen Consciously to Live Fully

January 17, 2012

It’s time for another edition of Ted Talk Time. This week’s video is less than 8 mintes long and features Julian Treasure, a sound consultant. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I advocate conscious living  by making conscious choices about how you want to live. Here’s another example of how conscious [...]

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Wise Words from Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 16, 2012

“Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Soceity’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflect on our soul when we look the other way.”   Martin Luther King, Jr. Do you stand up for what’s right or do you hope someone [...]

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The Power of the Pause

January 12, 2012

Stop. Look. Listen. My parents drilled that phrase into my brain–but, inspite of their best efforts, the message didn’t always get through. Like the time I was hit by a car. I was 3. My parents spent a lot of time telling me “no, ” too. But that’s another story … The accident was all [...]

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