A day that starts out rotten often stays that way, as irritations and stresses just breed more of the same. But taking a few minutes to step back and listen to someone offer a new perspective can turn a bad day around.

Here’s our list of five of the most thought-provoking TED talks that give you, as the conference’s motto goes, “ideas worth sharing.”

Sean Anchor - The Happy Secret to Better Work

In this hugely popular talk that begins with a quirky story about a baby sister and a unicorn, corporate trainer and author Sean Anchor looks at the power of positive thinking as the key to happiness.

He argues that many of us are focused on success as a means of achieving happiness, but we don’t realize we have it backwards. The key to success is a mindset of happiness, and Anchor argues that even if we are inherently pessimists, we can train ourselves to see our world more positively.

If you could use a mindset reset, this engaging and often hilarious talk is sure to get you thinking.

12 mins 20 sec

Louie Schwartzberg. Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

With busy lives and work, it’s so easy to miss nature’s truly incredible beauty happening all around us. In this short talk, cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg offers us stunning time-lapse photography of flowers blooming, vines climbing, clouds dancing, and compels us to take a moment to witness it, and to be grateful that we have the eyes to see it.

“This day, right now, has unique weather -- maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. That formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same as it is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that,” Schwartzberg says.

After watching this talk, take a moment to step outside and see if you can’t look at the natural world with opened eyes.

9 minutes 27 sec

Brene Brown - The power of vulnerability

In this talk, social work researcher Brene Brown looks at why those of us who are most resilient to life’s troubles are also, ironically, those who are the most willing to be vulnerable, to take chances in life knowing that we could be hurt.

By describing her own nervous breakdown and her struggle with letting go of control, Brown presents us the insights she discovered both personally and as a researcher and offers us ideas of how we can open ourselves up to the possibility of short-term pain for longer-term gain.

While Brown’s talk is a long one and perhaps not as flashy as some, it’s tinged with plenty of self-deprecating humour and hits its stride about 14 minutes in, when all her ideas coalesce.

20 minutes

Michael Norton - How to buy happiness

Michael Norton, who teaches at Harvard Business School, has a unique idea about how to achieve happiness: buy it.

They say money can’t buy happiness, but Norton argues that’s only true if you spend the money on yourself. Buy something for someone else and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.

It’s a simple idea and perhaps one we’ve heard before, but Norton does such a good job of backing up his theory with research and stats, you’d be hard pressed to finish this talk without wanting to go do something nice for someone when you’re done.

10 minutes 55 sec

Andy Puddicombe: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes

When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? That’s what mindfulness meditation expert Andy Puddicome asks in this talk about the benefits of just slowing down, sitting still and letting your mind go completely blank for 10 minutes a day.

Puddicombe takes less than 10 minutes himself to explain why our frazzled minds are so prone to forgetfulness and distraction and how taking a few minutes a day to acknowledge our own thoughts can give us a new perspective.

9 minutes 8 sec