‘Poetry and friendship are the two greatest sources of sweetness,’ says an ancient Sanskrit proverb.”Īnd for Kelly McGonigal ( watch her TED Talk on making stress your friend), yoga and meditation help, but she has another strategy too. I also listen to boleros from Latin America and Western songs with good lyrics. “These songs take me back to the days of hopes and dreams and poetry. “Mostly Hindi and Odia songs from the days I was growing up in India,” he says. When I have my camera in my hand I slow way down and pay attention to small things.”įor Dilip Ratha ( watch his TED Talk which stole our hearts at TEDGlobal), it’s listening to music. I know that I’m moving so fast that I blow past extraordinary beauty everyday. It’s quiet and I’m completely unavailable,” she said. It’s exercise, meditation, and therapy in one. “One of the most important practices in my life is swimming. Walk a little, dream a little.”īrené Brown ( watch her TED Talk on the power of vulnerability) has a similar approach. “Water, pine trees, cliffs, meadows… doesn’t matter.
“I hike,” said our curator Chris Anderson. This got us curious: how do members of the TED community find time for stillness and reflection? Turns out that people had very different answers. To Iyer, it’s this time for quiet, inward, still reflection that snaps all of our experiences into focus. In his TED Book, The Art of Stillness, Pico Iyer posits a bold idea: that in our chaotic time, the greatest luxury is actually the ability to go nowhere and do nothing.
We all lead lives that move 1,000 miles per minute.