Feeling tired? Wiggle your toes | Elsa Tsang | TEDxGuildford
What if the key to restoring your energy wasn’t another coffee, but a small act of kindness or even just a gentle wiggle of your toes? In this warm and deeply personal talk, Elsa Tsang shares her philosophy for living with intention, presence and grace, even in the face of exhaustion. Drawing on her own life journey, surprising moments of clarity, and her unique AREA model, Elsa invites us to become blessings in the lives of others, not by doing more, but by being more.With touching stories and grounded insights, she reframes tiredness not as something to push through, but as a signal—an invitation to pause, reconnect with your body, and return to what really matters. This is a talk about the quiet power of presence, kindness, and choosing to show up with love even on the hardest days. If you want to change the world, you change people, and to change people, you start with what they believe.This principle has shaped every step of Dr Elsa's career, from frontline social work to university teaching, corporate development, and in the international charity sector.As a former professor of social work, Dr Elsa trained future leaders in how to support people with compassion while managing organisations with clarity and integrity, always asking, "How can we serve in a way that truly transforms lives?"Her doctoral research focused on gifted and talented education, exploring what helps human potential flourish. But it was through her journey, moving across countries, cultures, and leadership contexts, that her mission became personal: to build systems where people don’t just function, but expand.Today, Dr Elsa continues her work in the charity sector, helping individuals and teams grow with purpose, lead with depth, and make decisions that honour both people and progress.Her mission is to redefine human sustainability, not as maintaining the status quo, but as creating conditions where people thrive far beyond what they once believed possible. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
More from TED
- 14:38Superhuman Intelligence: Meet AI with Our Deepest Humanity | Srinija Srinivasan | TEDxPaloAltoSalonNOTE FROM TED: This talk only represents the speaker’s personal views and understanding of consciousness, divinity, and artificial intelligence, which some viewers may find objectionable. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdfSrinija Srinivasan explores how we can meet superhuman intelligence not with fear or rivalry, but with presence, values, and deep self-awareness. With clarity and curiosity, she invites us to reflect on the human qualities that no machine can replicate, and why nurturing them may be our greatest responsibility in the age of AI. Born in India and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, Srinija Srinivasan has followed a lifelong curiosity about consciousness, wondering from a young age what possibilities can arise from believing divinity is in ourselves and all around us. She studied artificial intelligence at Stanford and then worked at the Cyc Project, a large-scale AI effort to build an immense database of commonsense knowledge.In 1995, she joined Yahoo! as their fifth employee and self-titled Ontological Yahoo, where she continued over 15 years as Vice President, Editor-in-Chief. She simultaneously chaired the board of non-profit SFJAZZ, leading her to co-found Loove, a Brooklyn-based music venture exploring how commerce and technology can be guided by artistic values rather than letting our culture be led by market values.She has recently cofounded Jubilee College, a two-year school in Dunsmuir, CA where students will be equally rooted in physical work, rigorous liberal arts study, and contemplative practice.Srinija is a board member of the On Being Project and a former vice chair of Stanford University's Board of Trustees. She lives in Palo Alto, CA and Brooklyn, NY. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- 12:50Museums must give back what they stole — here’s why | Dorota Blumczynska | TEDxWinnipegWhat does it mean to hold stolen history? Museum CEO Dorota delivers a powerful call for accountability and transformation within the cultural sector. Drawing from her experience at the Manitoba Museum, she exposes the legacy of colonialism that still lives in museum vaults—through artifacts taken without consent, displayed without context, and separated from the communities they belong to.With clarity and conviction, Dorota urges institutions to go beyond symbolic gestures: to return sacred objects, share authority with Indigenous communities, and become true allies in truth and reconciliation. This talk invites us to reimagine museums not as neutral spaces, but as platforms for justice, healing, and co-creation. Dorota Blumczynska, CEO of the Manitoba Museum and Vice-President of the Canadian Museums Association, advocates for museums as spaces of truth, reconciliation, and social justice. She shares her vision for transforming museums to foster healing and understanding. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx