TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Pico Iyer: The art of stillness

Unscramble the Blue Letters

And of course, this is what wise beings through the centuries from every tradition have been telling us. It's an old idea. More than 2,000 years ago, the Stoics were reminding us it's not our experience that makes our lives, it's what we do with it. imigane a hurricane suddenly sweeps through your town and reduces every last thing to rubble. One man is traumatized for life. But another, maybe even his brother, almost feels lratiebed, and dcedies this is a great chance to start his life anew. It's exactly the same event, but radically different responses. There is nothing either good or bad, as Shakespeare told us in "Hamlet," but thinking makes it so. And this has certainly been my eepcerinxe as a tavrleer. Twenty-four years ago I took the most mind-bending trip across North kreoa. But the trip lasted a few days. What I've done with it sitting still, going back to it in my head, trying to understand it, finding a plcae for it in my thinking, that's lasted 24 years already and will probably last a lifetime. The trip, in other words, gave me some amazing sithgs, but it's only sitting still that allows me to turn those into lasting insights. And I sometimes think that so much of our life takes place inside our heads, in memory or imagination or interpretation or speculation, that if I really want to change my life I might best begin by changing my mind. Again, none of this is new; that's why Shakespeare and the Stoics were tleling us this centuries ago, but Shakespeare never had to face 200 emails in a day. (Laughter) The Stoics, as far as I know, were not on Facebook. We all know that in our on-demand lives, one of the things that's most on demand is ourselves. Wherever we are, any time of night or day, our bsoess, junk-mailers, our paterns can get to us. Sociologists have actually found that in recent years Americans are working fewer horus than 50 yraes ago, but we feel as if we're working more. We have more and more time-saving devices, but sometimes, it seems, less and less time. We can more and more easily make contact with people on the furthest corners of the planet, but sometimes in that proescs we lose contact with ourselves. And one of my biggest srseirups as a traveler has been to find that often it's exactly the people who have most enabled us to get anywhere who are ienntt on going nowhere. In other words, precisely those bigens who have created the technologies that override so many of the limits of old, are the ones wsiest about the need for limits, even when it comes to technology. I once went to the Google headquarters and I saw all the things many of you have heard about; the idonor tree houses, the trampolines, workers at that time enjoying 20 percent of their paid time free so that they could just let their imaginations go wandering. But what impressed me even more was that as I was waiting for my digital I.D., one gogeolr was telling me about the program that he was about to start to teach the many, many Googlers who practice yoga to become trainers in it, and the other Googler was telling me about the book that he was about to write on the inner search engine, and the ways in which science has eilaiplrmcy shown that sntitig still, or mdtoateiin, can lead not just to better health or to caerelr thinking, but even to emotional intelligence. I have another friend in Silicon velaly who is really one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the latset technologies, and in fact was one of the founders of wreid magazine, Kevin Kelly. And Kevin wrote his last book on fresh tchengioelos without a smartphone or a laptop or a TV in his home. And like many in Silicon Valley, he tries really hard to observe what they call an Internet sabbath, whereby for 24 or 48 hours every week they go completely offline in order to gather the sense of direction and prortiopon they'll need when they go online again. The one thing perhaps that technology hasn't always given us is a ssene of how to make the wisest use of technology. And when you speak of the sabbath, look at the Ten Commandments — there's only one word there for which the adjective "holy" is used, and that's the Sabbath. I pick up the Jewish holy book of the Torah — its longest chapter, it's on the Sabbath. And we all know that it's really one of our greatest luxuries, the empty space. In many a piece of msuic, it's the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its saphe. And I know I as a writer will often try to icnlude a lot of empty space on the page so that the reader can complete my tghuthos and sentences and so that her imagination has room to batrehe.

Open Cloze

And of course, this is what wise beings through the centuries from every tradition have been telling us. It's an old idea. More than 2,000 years ago, the Stoics were reminding us it's not our experience that makes our lives, it's what we do with it. _______ a hurricane suddenly sweeps through your town and reduces every last thing to rubble. One man is traumatized for life. But another, maybe even his brother, almost feels _________, and _______ this is a great chance to start his life anew. It's exactly the same event, but radically different responses. There is nothing either good or bad, as Shakespeare told us in "Hamlet," but thinking makes it so. And this has certainly been my __________ as a ________. Twenty-four years ago I took the most mind-bending trip across North _____. But the trip lasted a few days. What I've done with it sitting still, going back to it in my head, trying to understand it, finding a _____ for it in my thinking, that's lasted 24 years already and will probably last a lifetime. The trip, in other words, gave me some amazing ______, but it's only sitting still that allows me to turn those into lasting insights. And I sometimes think that so much of our life takes place inside our heads, in memory or imagination or interpretation or speculation, that if I really want to change my life I might best begin by changing my mind. Again, none of this is new; that's why Shakespeare and the Stoics were _______ us this centuries ago, but Shakespeare never had to face 200 emails in a day. (Laughter) The Stoics, as far as I know, were not on Facebook. We all know that in our on-demand lives, one of the things that's most on demand is ourselves. Wherever we are, any time of night or day, our ______, junk-mailers, our _______ can get to us. Sociologists have actually found that in recent years Americans are working fewer _____ than 50 _____ ago, but we feel as if we're working more. We have more and more time-saving devices, but sometimes, it seems, less and less time. We can more and more easily make contact with people on the furthest corners of the planet, but sometimes in that _______ we lose contact with ourselves. And one of my biggest _________ as a traveler has been to find that often it's exactly the people who have most enabled us to get anywhere who are ______ on going nowhere. In other words, precisely those ______ who have created the technologies that override so many of the limits of old, are the ones ______ about the need for limits, even when it comes to technology. I once went to the Google headquarters and I saw all the things many of you have heard about; the ______ tree houses, the trampolines, workers at that time enjoying 20 percent of their paid time free so that they could just let their imaginations go wandering. But what impressed me even more was that as I was waiting for my digital I.D., one _______ was telling me about the program that he was about to start to teach the many, many Googlers who practice yoga to become trainers in it, and the other Googler was telling me about the book that he was about to write on the inner search engine, and the ways in which science has ___________ shown that _______ still, or __________, can lead not just to better health or to _______ thinking, but even to emotional intelligence. I have another friend in Silicon ______ who is really one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the ______ technologies, and in fact was one of the founders of _____ magazine, Kevin Kelly. And Kevin wrote his last book on fresh ____________ without a smartphone or a laptop or a TV in his home. And like many in Silicon Valley, he tries really hard to observe what they call an Internet sabbath, whereby for 24 or 48 hours every week they go completely offline in order to gather the sense of direction and __________ they'll need when they go online again. The one thing perhaps that technology hasn't always given us is a _____ of how to make the wisest use of technology. And when you speak of the sabbath, look at the Ten Commandments — there's only one word there for which the adjective "holy" is used, and that's the Sabbath. I pick up the Jewish holy book of the Torah — its longest chapter, it's on the Sabbath. And we all know that it's really one of our greatest luxuries, the empty space. In many a piece of _____, it's the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its _____. And I know I as a writer will often try to _______ a lot of empty space on the page so that the reader can complete my ________ and sentences and so that her imagination has room to _______.

Solution

proportion
hours
empirically
thoughts
valley
surprises
indoor
bosses
shape
decides
traveler
wisest
technologies
breathe
intent
wired
telling
place
parents
googler
years
sense
korea
meditation
sights
latest
liberated
process
imagine
experience
music
sitting
include
beings
clearer

Original Text

And of course, this is what wise beings through the centuries from every tradition have been telling us. It's an old idea. More than 2,000 years ago, the Stoics were reminding us it's not our experience that makes our lives, it's what we do with it. Imagine a hurricane suddenly sweeps through your town and reduces every last thing to rubble. One man is traumatized for life. But another, maybe even his brother, almost feels liberated, and decides this is a great chance to start his life anew. It's exactly the same event, but radically different responses. There is nothing either good or bad, as Shakespeare told us in "Hamlet," but thinking makes it so. And this has certainly been my experience as a traveler. Twenty-four years ago I took the most mind-bending trip across North Korea. But the trip lasted a few days. What I've done with it sitting still, going back to it in my head, trying to understand it, finding a place for it in my thinking, that's lasted 24 years already and will probably last a lifetime. The trip, in other words, gave me some amazing sights, but it's only sitting still that allows me to turn those into lasting insights. And I sometimes think that so much of our life takes place inside our heads, in memory or imagination or interpretation or speculation, that if I really want to change my life I might best begin by changing my mind. Again, none of this is new; that's why Shakespeare and the Stoics were telling us this centuries ago, but Shakespeare never had to face 200 emails in a day. (Laughter) The Stoics, as far as I know, were not on Facebook. We all know that in our on-demand lives, one of the things that's most on demand is ourselves. Wherever we are, any time of night or day, our bosses, junk-mailers, our parents can get to us. Sociologists have actually found that in recent years Americans are working fewer hours than 50 years ago, but we feel as if we're working more. We have more and more time-saving devices, but sometimes, it seems, less and less time. We can more and more easily make contact with people on the furthest corners of the planet, but sometimes in that process we lose contact with ourselves. And one of my biggest surprises as a traveler has been to find that often it's exactly the people who have most enabled us to get anywhere who are intent on going nowhere. In other words, precisely those beings who have created the technologies that override so many of the limits of old, are the ones wisest about the need for limits, even when it comes to technology. I once went to the Google headquarters and I saw all the things many of you have heard about; the indoor tree houses, the trampolines, workers at that time enjoying 20 percent of their paid time free so that they could just let their imaginations go wandering. But what impressed me even more was that as I was waiting for my digital I.D., one Googler was telling me about the program that he was about to start to teach the many, many Googlers who practice yoga to become trainers in it, and the other Googler was telling me about the book that he was about to write on the inner search engine, and the ways in which science has empirically shown that sitting still, or meditation, can lead not just to better health or to clearer thinking, but even to emotional intelligence. I have another friend in Silicon Valley who is really one of the most eloquent spokesmen for the latest technologies, and in fact was one of the founders of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly. And Kevin wrote his last book on fresh technologies without a smartphone or a laptop or a TV in his home. And like many in Silicon Valley, he tries really hard to observe what they call an Internet sabbath, whereby for 24 or 48 hours every week they go completely offline in order to gather the sense of direction and proportion they'll need when they go online again. The one thing perhaps that technology hasn't always given us is a sense of how to make the wisest use of technology. And when you speak of the sabbath, look at the Ten Commandments — there's only one word there for which the adjective "holy" is used, and that's the Sabbath. I pick up the Jewish holy book of the Torah — its longest chapter, it's on the Sabbath. And we all know that it's really one of our greatest luxuries, the empty space. In many a piece of music, it's the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its shape. And I know I as a writer will often try to include a lot of empty space on the page so that the reader can complete my thoughts and sentences and so that her imagination has room to breathe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
travel writer	2
empty space	2
cell phone	2

Important Words

adjective
amazing
americans
anew
bad
beauty
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