Ok! Let’s begin with a confession. I am addicted to YouTube. I spend a couple of hours on YouTube every day, mostly watching auditions of singing or talent-based reality shows, or I watch mom bloggers (or vloggers, in YT slang). It’s my way of decompressing. Now, most days, I go through the videos guilt-free, but often I talk myself out of it. While YouTube indeed is a great source of entertainment, I find it lacking in content that is educational. Enter TED Talk.
Now, for those of you who have never seen a TED video, here’s the deal: TED is an annual conference where influencers from various fields share their experiences, learnings, and visions. Given the popularity of the original conference, nowadays, several local bodies and institutions are hosting their own scaled-down version. This helps open the doors to more influencers, achievers, and visionaries and makes the content more local. While I have never attended one of these conferences in person, I consume their content by the kilo!
So today, I wanted to share five TED Talks that I absolutely adore. The theme of these talks vary widely but the common thread is “inspirational” and “perspective-changing.” I hope you will enjoy these talks as much as I do.
Now listen, before I begin, let me warn you this is a long post. Not long because of the length of the post but because the five videos I am listing for you will take you approximately 1 hour to watch. I recommend you set aside some time. But worry not! Remember I mentioned Pocket in one of my earlier post on organization apps? You can save this post to Pocket and watch it later at a time and place of your choice. Alternatively, you can pin the images to your Pinterest boards and revisit whenever you want. Do give it a try!
Okay, let’s begin!
5 TED Talks Worth Their Weight in Gold
Disclaimer: All synopses are from the TED website.
TED Talk #1: Louie Schwartzberg
Duration: 9:39 minutes
Synopsis
Nature’s beauty can be fleeting — but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day.
Direct Link
TED Talk #2: Isabel Allende
How To Live Passionately, No Matter Your Age
Duration: 8:16 minutes
Synopsis
Author Isabel Allende is 71. Yes, she has a few wrinkles—but she has incredible perspective too. In this candid talk, meant for viewers of all ages, she talks about her fears as she gets older and shares how she plans to keep on living passionately.
Direct Link
TED Talk #3: Elizabeth Gilbert
Success, Failure, and the Drive to Keep Creating
Duration: 7:14 minutes
Synopsis
Elizabeth Gilbert was once an “unpublished diner waitress,” devastated by rejection letters. And yet, in the wake of the success of ‘Eat, Pray, Love,’ she found herself identifying strongly with her former self. With beautiful insight, Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failure and offers a simple — though hard — way to carry on, regardless of outcomes.
Direct Link
TED Talk #4: Nancy Etcoff
Happiness and Why We Want It
Duration: 14:14 minutes
Synopsis
Cognitive researcher Nancy Etcoff looks at happiness — the ways we try to achieve and increase it, the way it’s untethered to our real circumstances, and its surprising effect on our bodies.
Direct Link
TED Talk #5: Gary Greenberg
The Beautiful Nano Details of Our World
Duration: 11:58 minutes
Synopsis
When photographed under a 3D microscope, grains of sand appear like colorful pieces of candy and the stamens in a flower become like fantastical spires at an amusement park. Gary Greenberg reveals the thrilling details of the micro world.
Direct Link
Did you manage to get through the list?
No? Well, here’s what you can do!
Save the pin to your Pinterest board.
So tell me, friends, do you watch TED Talks? What are some of your favorite Talks?
Feeling reflective? What better time than to be grateful for your life’s journey so far?
