The Art of Natural Dressage

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:10 am 
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Thanks to Rita who posted the wonderful 'classical music with shining eyes' video some days ago, I found the TED talks channel with a huge collection of amazing talks about all kinds of things. Since then I have been hooked and spent several hours watching talks this weekend.

I'd like to share some of my favourites with you. It would be great if other people could add their favourite talks to this topic, too.

I will probably edit more talks into this post over the next days, but for now I will start with one that I was completely flabbergasted by, because the speaker, Barry Schwartz, talks about exactly the same thing I have been thinking about for many years and that I always called the balance between freedom and safety (I think discussions about this came up here in the forum on several occasions, too), meaning that the more options you have the less safe and stable you feel, which often results in reduced happiness and even clinical depression and which I think is true for all areas of life, be it private life or political systems. Of course many people know about that, but until now I have not seen it expressed as clearly and nicely as Mr. Schwartz does it during the TED meeting. So here is the talk: The paradox of choice

Something that is completely different from the things I usually spend my (work) time with but what I found very inspirational is a talk by Ray Anderson, owner of a carpet company, who speaks about his company's approach to producing without harming the planet: The business logic of sustainability

And another one that I think is totally delightful: The story of a passionate life, where Ben Dunlap speaks about his student, mentor and friend Sandor Teszler, a Hungarian jew who had survived the Holocaust and started a new life in the US.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:39 am 

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Those TED talks are great - look out for the amazingly sexy Dan Ariely (a man who manages to be more attractive with half a face than lots with a whole one ;)).
Looking forward to the talks you mention, Romy.
Rita

PS: here's another interesting article which sheds more light on the state-of-society-and-happiness issue:

http://www.cognitionandculture.net/inde ... &Itemid=34

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:10 pm 
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Thank you for mentioning the Dan Ariely talks, Rita, they are really great! I will put them here too so that others can find them more easily.

Why we think it's OK to cheat and steal (sometimes)
Are we in control of our decisions?
Irrational economics - discussing how the amount of reward relates to the outcome of the work
What makes us feel good about our work?


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:50 pm 

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Thanks for the reminder, I was going to check this out, it looks so interesting I might forget about natural dressage for a while (although it really is connected. :yes: )


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:59 pm 
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Here is a wonderful talk by Chimamanda Adichie, a young writer from Nigeria who talks about the danger of a single story. Enjoy! :)


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:29 pm 
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oh thank you Romy -- I wish every resident of this tiny northern town could watch and listen to that wise woman speak. There seems to be a great battle between all the single stories living here and it is so sad. I do speak up but they think I'm weird. What's the saying? Unity in diversity?

Lovely words .....


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:09 am 

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Lots of wonderful thought-provoking speakers. What a treasure of information! Thanks Romy, I've bookmarked this one and will continue to watch lots more. :)


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:32 pm 
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Aimee Mullins has several talks in the TED channel, but this one I liked most: The opportunity of adversity

The most important aspect of this for me personally was not so much the focus on the way of dealing with your own adversity and becoming the best you can, but the role for ourselves when interacting with others: our power of empowering the people we are dealing with. Like Benjamin Zander said in his classical music talk when it comes to the role of the conductor in an orchestra: "He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful." This has become one of the most important issues in my life, the thing I see as my main task in this world, and probably the main reasons why I love AND so much. I am ever so thankful for all the inspiration. :smile:

More wonderful, emotional talks about living through adversity and growing from it:

Joel Burns: It gets better
Sherwin Nuland: My history of electroshock therapy


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:27 am 
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LOVE the TED talks!!!

Here's one that didn't originate at TED but they've picked it up --

J.K. Rowling speaking at Harvard's commencement in 2008 (I believe) on "the fringe benefits of failure."

Exquisite.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the ... ilure.html


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 11:09 pm 
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I wondered whether I should post this link or not, because it's nothing really new or surprising, just another version of the same old discussion about free will again that probably most of us have heard a hundred times already... but I just love that guy, so I'll post it anyway and if you find it boring, you simply needn't watch it completely. ;)

John Searle: Freedom and Neurobiology


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:03 am 
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In this talk Rupert Sheldrake presents his theory of the Extended Mind, provides lots of scientific evidence for telepathy in animals and humans and also discusses why it can be hard to get your point across despite having lots of evidence... when he told people about his constant struggle with judgemental sceptics in the end, I really was like that :ieks: several times. Enjoy! :)


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PostPosted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:00 am 

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I enjoyed the TED talks, I am sure I must have reached them on YouTube via someone here a month or so back?
Great thread Romy, now I need even more time to sit at my computer, no I really will put myself to bed and not watch or listen to anything else my tired brain will be required to process, however fascinating. xx

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:21 am 
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I found this talk when I first looked through the TED talks but did not post it until now, because I so can't stand Daniel Gilbert as a person (or as a speaker, apart from a small email conversation six years ago I don't know him personally). But I think the topic is so relevant - he speaks about the "psychological immune system" and its ability to synthesize happiness: Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?

Another talk about happiness: Nat Ware: Why we're unhappy -- the expectation gap


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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:04 pm 

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Quote:
But I think the topic is so relevant - he speaks about the "psychological immune system" and its ability to synthesize happiness: Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?

I listened to this last night, hadn't heard of this research before and found it quite fascinating. I was thinking about how this could be used to change the way people deal with their horses from using them to enjoying them. It might also provide the answer why people who have gone down the wrong path (made poor choices) have such a hard time to turn around and go the other direction. I guess what I'm trying to say is, are we sometimes happy in a situation when we shouldn't be.


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 7:13 pm 

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I just listened to this one, my favorite so far, Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist sharing her experience of a stroke that disabled the left side of her brain. It resolves questions I had about ki (chi) and why it seems to be so hard to explain what it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU

Birgit


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