Ric Elias

I Love TED.

I know, my husband’s name is Ken. So who is TED? (And no, TED is not my contractor!) According to their website: TED a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

I love TED. On days when I feel like a vanilla wafer, I can jump on the site and give my bland, dull spirit a jolt of inspiration. It feeds my curiosity, broadens my horizons and allows me to have something to say when I’m called upon to be in the world and stand up straight.

You can watch their videos; attend their talks in your city or down load a podcast. I listened to 3 of them on the flight home Thursday night. One took courage. It was a talk by Ric Elias: 3 Things I Learned While My Plane Was Crashing. As we bumped through the storms ravaging the mid-west, what better time was there?

You can learn just about anything with TED – Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Global issues, etc. It’s all on TED.com. You don’t have to go anywhere, do anything, take any tests. All you have to do is sit back and absorb.

There’s a whole world out there. It’s easy to forget. TED lets you open up your world. Try it and watch how large it gets. And then, watch your heart follow.

How do you MindFULLY learn new things? Let us know!