“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” — Edgar Degas
Ivan Hoo is one artist who will simply amaze you with his hyperrealistic drawings. You will not believe they are paintings as they seem insanely real.
Some of them which rock the internet include the cute dog who’s ready to kiss you, a coffee related accident, broken eggs, keys, cute cats, and a spilled soda.
What makes this Singaporean’s art unbelievable is that when you look at his drawings, it’s as if you’re looking at a collection of photos, instead of drawings.
It’s because he has this impressive attention to detail, which makes his drawings life like. Ivan uses a pencil to sketch these pieces of art.
Once they’re completed, he uses a range of pastel pencils to add color and breathe of life in them. He draws inspiration from still life and from the photographs Ivan took himself.
Ivan’s love for drawing started when he was a child. In his twenties, he decided to improve his knowledge in drawing techniques, particularly in realism, and work full time as an artist.
Ivan didn’t study art, which means what he is now is a product of his relentless passion and love for art.
He has the artist’s spirit that can’t stay still unless he gives it freedom through self expression.
With his unique contribution to the world, Ivan teaches us that whatever passion we have, as long as we pursue it, we can leave an imprint in the world that is truly ours.
And that there’s no reason why we can’t do the thing that we love doing.
Being self taught himself, Ivan inspires us that, at some point, we don’t need formal training to become the best in our craft.
If we only have passion and the will to polish that creative genius in us, then we can expand ourselves and bring to the world the gift that we alone carry.
Moreover, if we take a job that fuels our passion, we are well on our way to bringing to the world the best that we have.
Ivan Hoo’s Hyperrealistic Drawings:
“Art is my job, as well as my passion, and I feel lucky to be able to devote myself to drawing and painting.“
The last month we focused on being more organized. This is crucially important if you want to reach your goals.
This month we’ll invest energy in the technical aspect and that will create a system in your life that pushes you to be the best version of yourself and thrive.
We often underestimate the power of our environment and the things we surround ourselves with.
This month we’ll tweak all those things to make the environment serve in your favor and create system that gives you advantage.
We give too much attention of what we put in our bodies, but we rarely think what we consume with our mind. This month we’ll change the diet of your mind to be healthier.
3 Things To Do This October To Be The Best Self:
1. Surround yourself with people from higher social circles.
Just being around people who are more successful than you, or who have what you would like to have, will shift the thought pattern of your mind. The things that seemed hard and impossible for you to achieve will become easier and more normal as you see how these people think and behave. Just spending time with people from higher social circles will give you a better mental diet that will result in achieving more of your goals and in much faster time you thought possible. It will reveal new layers of you. One thing you should now about entering these circles is to introduce value. Give them something they don’t have but you do. You can always give them fun, positive energy and friendly support if you can’t think of anything else. Make sure to put your ego aside.
2. Start consuming books.
Start reading. Or start listening to audiobooks. Whatever your choice is, start consuming books with your mind. Instead of listening to the radio listen to an audiobook, or at least a podcast that feeds your mind with higher though patterns and paradigms for success. Books do not exist just to give you new information. One of the most undermined benefits of reading books is the mental awareness they provide and maintain for you. This mental sphere of success and positivity will help you see opportunities where you didn’t know to even look before.
3. Note every idea, opportunity and desire that comes up.
Have with you a notebook, or find a way to note random ideas as they show up during your day. We often think of brilliant ideas and we are ready to take action, but because we think we’ll remember these ideas we don’t write them down and we forget that we even thought of something brilliant. And this idea could have been your breakthrough, or at least a conversation starter. Write down ideas, opportunities, desires, or just interesting things you would like to remember. Do not overestimate the power to remember. We forget, accept this fact, and use tools in your benefit. The things you write down are your arsenal of things to do or talk about.
The past couple of months were intense, the energy was intense and there was a rapid waves of letting go and dealing with past wounds.
September started a new period of energy, one where we have new opportunities to grow and become the person we desire, without the old baggage.
It was a month of change and starting to face what we needed to face within us, to feel and let go of, so we can grab the opportunities that this new period presents.
This month is a month of new beginnings, a month when you can relax, sit back and let yourself be guided. It’s a month of birthing new identities and reconnecting with ourselves.
The big theme of this month is relationships and joy. It’s a month when you will have to think about how to introduce more joy into your life and create new, better relationships.
Here Is What Astrologists Say October Has In Store For Each Person:
In October we all graduate to new level of energy and with this graduation we have a chance to lay new foundation, approach our dreams, hopes, wishes with fresh perspective.
As we build up this new layer and see our lives from a new vantage point, our attention is going to turn to the relationships in our lives and who we surround ourselves with.
This is due to the fact that Venus, the planet of love, relationships, and all matters of the heart, turns retrograde on October 5th.
Venus retrograde is rare, so we will tend to notice the shift in energy when and as it happens.
Venus retrograde shines a light on our relationships and helps us to cleanse away any pains surrounding the heart.
During this time, we are encouraged to dig deep into our heart center in order to clear, open, and welcome a new understanding of love into our lives.
While this is the main theme of Venus Retrograde, from October to November 2018, we are also going to be encouraged to focus on the joy of connection.
In fact, digging a little deeper, this Venus retrograde is going to be highlighting where we are lacking joy in our lives.
While there are many ways to find joy, Venus is mainly focused on finding joy through connection.
During her time in retrograde, Venus is going to be highlighting the need for positive and loving connections in our lives.
She is going to be shining a light on the connections that are working and the connections that are no longer working.
Through the month of October, pay attention to how joyous you feel. What can you do to bring more joy into your life? Where can you build more joyful connections?
On October 8th there is also a fresh New Moon in the sign of Libra. This New Moon will feel open, expansive, and full of opportunity.
It is going to highlight this idea of a fresh start and will help all of us to look at our lives with new perspective.
This will be a wonderful New Moon especially for opening doors and going after new opportunities.
If you have been feeling like doors have been shutting all around you, this New Moon will bring the opening of a window.
After an intense Aries Full Moon at the end of September, this New Moon will really help to bring a lighter, fresher energy that will definitely be enjoyed.
October also brings a Full Moon on the 24th in the sign of Taurus. This continues the theme of building and assessing the relationships in our lives.
This Full Moon is going to also really encourage us to take the lessons of Venus retrograde to heart, and will help us to release any relationships that are no longer serving us.
Overall, October brings a chance to see our lives with a fresh new perspective. We are encouraged to work on our hearts and to open our eyes for more joy and connection.
We are going to be encouraged to build and create with others, but to also create security and stability when it comes to pursuing our own dreams and wishes.
October is one of those months where you can sit back and really allow yourself to be guided. It is a month of possibility, opportunity, and for opening your heart.
If there is an identity you have been thinking of shifting to this month is a perfect period for identity shifts, rebirth and becoming the best version of yourself.
“If every 8 year old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” — Dalai Lama
Schools can be a stressful place, both for teachers and students. Some children find sitting for long hours highly boring and gain urges to act out.
When there is a mix of boredom, extra energy and other children, things tend to get messy, and schools have established detention to filter out such behavior.
But what if there are smarter ways to deal with children who distress the school’s learning environment? There certainly are.
Teaching children to meditate in school can help them to stay more focused, to better concentrate, and be optimistic in dealing with others and themselves.
One school that finds success in incorporating meditation into its program is the Robert W. Coleman Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland.
This School Sends Kids To Meditation Instead Of Detention:
The school has the “Mindful Moment Room”, which is filled with purple floor pillows, yoga mats, essential oil scents, and is specifically designed to make kids comfortable.
They send children to this room if they act out or misbehave in class, and it helps kids face adversity. They learn here how to stay more mindful and calm.
One boy recalled that he was sent to the school’s meditation room by his teacher after having a conflict with a fellow pupil.
After doing deep breaths and taking some snacks, he said he was able to put himself back together and was ready to apologize to his class.
The Results:
In Baltimore, almost 75% of the residents live below the poverty line and children see crimes occurring in their neighborhoods.
From this viewpoint, one can only imagine how these kids could be rowdy when they are in school.
The nonprofit Holistic Life Foundation helps Coleman run the Mindful Moment Room in the schools.
According to its staff, they encourage children to talk about why they were sent there. Then, they sit down to do the breathing exercises, inhaling and exhaling deeply.
Even though the meditation room didn’t miraculously cure children of their struggles, it still contributes to their emotional control towards the learning environment and productivity.
Before the meditation room’s creation, the school had four suspensions. But after a year of having it, no suspensions had been recorded.
And the children who had disciplinary issues became rare. The children start and end their school day with a 15 minute guided meditation and it must do wonders to them.
With the success at Coleman’s, Andres Gonzales, the foundation’s co founder says they plan to bring the program far and wide.
They plan to open Mindful Moment Rooms in other schools with the hope of bringing the program nationwide.
How meditation influences children:
Researchers found that meditation does wonders in the brains of adults, especially in stress reduction. However, with children, the research is still in its early stages.
Tamar Mendelson, an associate professor at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and specializes in mental health, has seen the impacts of meditation in children.
She is working with the foundation and studying the Mindful Moment Room in Baltimore. According to Mendelson:
“These kids who are dealing with high stress situations a lot of time are coming into school on high alert. Their body’s alarm system is switched way on, so they may be primed for fight or flight and not able to sit calmly and pay attention. But giving these kids the chance to breathe deeply, to focus their attention on themselves rather than what’s going on externally, can be an effective way to combat the stress, improve attention, and usher in calm.”
Punishing children for behaving badly in school used to be a tradition that wasn’t so effective. Now it’s just an over aged method that desperately needs changing.
With the onset of meditation programs in school, the school not only encourages good behavior in children but also prepares them for a bright future ahead.
And this starts within themselves despite the kind of environment they grow up in or the challenges they face early in life.
“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” — Betty Friedan
Most of us associate aging with a decreased functionality and reduced quality of life. But for some people, old age is the time they live their life to the fullest.
Gone are the days when the brain processes are considered to decline as you age. Brain health experts found that some brain functions improve as you grow older.
As long as there is an absence of a disease, seniors are capable of learning new things and making sound decisions. So age is just a number and being old is a state of mind.
In view of this, it comes not as a surprise that the 69 year old Doña Geralda Barbosa has a fitness regime that not many youngsters are able to follow.
Here is how she works out the bar:
With the idea of aging looming before her, Doña Geralda braced herself hard so as not to be overtaken by the horrors of aging. In an interview with the local news, Doña said:
“What I want is to stand up and be independent and that’s my motivation. My concern is with this old age that is coming because I do not want anyone to have to carry me, I do not want to give work to anyone. I do three times a week because we have to rest.”
These words come not as a defense against the aging process but as an act of embracing the process with a great spirit and a deep conviction.
She is accepting the old age and everything old age brings but she refuses that aging can stop her from doing what she wants to do.
These are words that stem from a massive act of self love, realistic look on things and taking responsibility for your self.
Studies show that self perception could be a self fulfilling prophecy. People in their old age who look themselves as old and weak ultimately feel that way and become that way.
But those who feel positive are said to live 7.5 years longer than those who perceive aging negatively. It’s from this positive place that Doña Geralda choose to spend her days.
Doña Geralda started to be a fitness enthusiast at 63 years old for the mere reason of living her life not as an old woman but as a healthy independent woman.
So, she hits the gym and becomes an internet sensation that inspires both the young and old alike. Aside from hitting the gym, Doña Geralda is also into rock climbing.
You can check her Instagram posts or YouTube videos for the inspiring activities she does. And mind you, her Instagram followers hit the 2,000 mark and counting.
Doña Geralda is an epitome that age is just a number. As long as your mind stays positive, active, and enthusiastic, your body is sure to follow.
“Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul.” — Pythagoras
Being loved and adored by an animal is a true blessing. Seeing the animal charging in an attempt to rescue you, even if you don’t need rescuing, now that’s a divine privilege.
We are trying to help endangered animals. Many people try to shelter, feed, rescue and give love to animals. But imagine if some of these loving animals decides to save you back.
The baby elephant Kham Lha loves Darrick Thomson so much that she mistakenly perceived his call to her as a distressed cry.
While swimming in the river, Darrick called out Kham Lha as she grazed along the riverbank with some other elephants.
Thinking that Darrick was drowning, Kham Lha rushed out of her way and into the river trying to save her friend.
The baby elephant offered her trunk for Darrick to hold on to. The duo ended up cuddling each other, which is a beauty to behold.
The Friendship Between Darrick And Kham Lha:
Darrick is a co founder of the Save Elephants Foundation that is stationed in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
This foundation operates the Elephant Nature Park, which shelters Kham Lha and more than 70 other rescued elephants.
The mission of the Save Elephant Foundation is to love animals so that they will love us back. Darrick Thomson has certainly put that to heart, having Kham Lha love him back.
Darrick assisted in Kham Lha’s healing after her rescue in 2015. Since then he showed love and compassion to the cub and the animal grew with fondness of him.
In the other video, Darrick and Kham Lha are seen holding hands around the park, an activity they both love doing.
Even though they are different species, they are true friends. Just as Darrick saved Kham Lha, she will go out of her own way to save him any day, even though she is an animal.
How Animals And Humans Helped Each Other To Define Humanity:
Experts who tried to examine this bond theorized that our relationship with animals contributed to our evolution as species, and helped define our humanity.
The bond between man and animals have begun since time immemorial, though for different purposes.
Throughout human existence, animals have acted as protectors, companions, and workmates.
Animals have played their part in helping herd other animals in the field, fighting alongside humans in battles, and helping in rescue missions.
Some animals even comfort humans in times of trauma or an illness while others stand as loyal friends.
We see and hear many inspiring and unbelievable stories of ferocious animals who were rescued and developed close friendships with humans.
Each of these stories touches us in ways we can’t explain. We are shown a level of love, kindness and a humane spirit, beyond the one we are used to see every day.
We are reminded that love, friendship and courage are traits not found just among humans, but among all species that can behold them.
It’s funny how some animals can teach us about being humane and having humanity more than a lot of humans can.
So the spirit of humanity might not be something exclusive to humans, nor our special creation that only we have created.
Maybe the spirit of humanity is something we’ve discovered by interacting with animals throughout our evolution, and instead of fearing, choosing to love and help each other.
“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the reasons why a piece of art stands above the rest, apart from inner inspiration and inherent gift, is the technique that the artist uses.
Successful artists have talents that not all of us possess. When an artist knows how to hone his talents to make it more valuable than the others, then he’s hit the pot of gold.
One such artist is the glass sculptor Jack Storms. In the field of glass artwork, Storms isn’t the first to popularize it, but his contributions to this art are enormous.
As early as the Middle Ages, glass was used as decorative windows for cathedrals. But Jack approaches this artistic technique in a divine way.
He opens our awareness to how a piece of glass can capture and exude beauty beyond our imagination.
What Makes Jack’s Art Different:
What makes Jack Storms’ art different from other glass art geniuses is his method of glass sculpting.
According to Jack, he doesn’t use the traditional use of heat in glass artwork. Instead, he has a rare style of combining lead crystal and dichroic glass using a cold glass process.
He keeps grinding and polishing the glass until it fits his desired shape. This process may take more time, but for Jack, it doesn’t matter as long as the effects are brilliant.
One piece of art may take 8 to 18 weeks to complete from start to finish and may involve lots of labor, perfection, and tolerances being so tight.
But because Jack is in the pursuit of perfection, the process of polishing, administering the color, putting them all together, regrinding, and recutting is all worth it.
Another thing that makes Jack Storms’ glass art phenomenally different is his use of the Fibonacci ratio and Fibonacci sequence.
The Fibonacci sequence is found all around us, from our spiral galaxy to the sunflower seed heads, from the pine cones, to ancient architecture, and many others.
The Fibonacci sequence and is ultimately what connects us to Nature and what connects Nature to The Universe.
Because Jack’s art uses straight lines which are not present in Nature, he incorporates the Fibonacci sequence to make his art more natural, instead of mechanical or automated.
For Storms, the Fibonacci is the bridge between the collector and the artwork. However, Jack Storms is not the first artist who uses the Fibonacci sequence.
In fact, the art world considers Fibonacci sequence an important tool in art and which is also employed by other brilliant artists like Leonardo de Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael.
For Jack Storms, this is what inspired him to translate something from the ether, what’s in his thoughts, into something solid, something that he can see.
3 Valuable Lessons Jack’s Art Can Teach Us:
1. If you are passionate about something, take it seriously.
Jack shares us a valuable lesson that if someone wants their art to be the way they want it, then they should take the time perfecting it, without shortcuts.
He shares that he was scared to pursue his art career, but he realized that if an artist takes their work seriously than they will be successful.
2. Create your beauty within first, before you work on it outside.
Another valuable lesson that Jack teaches us is doing what it takes to perfect the colors and polishings inside the glass art.
Jack spends a lot of time perfecting the inner structure that will reflect the light. This is the essence of the beauty for each piece, the inner structure that reflects the light.
In real life, this concept parallels the wisdom of perfecting what’s inside ourselves first, before we try to perfect what’s outside.
Discovering our own structure of light. The beauty within that reflects color and light is what attracts people the most.
That’s a lesson that applies to ourselves too, our inner beauty is what attracts other people if we let it shine through. If we work on ourselves first, we will shine a beautiful light.
3. Do something for the sheer beauty of doing it.
What his art pieces means for him is determined by how it affects the person who is bringing it home. In short, the value of his art depends on how the person finds value in it.
Jack Storms proudly says he creates something out of the sheer beauty of it. May we all get inspiration from this, creating something for the sheer beauty of it.
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you see an old and dirty man sitting in front of you in a bar?
Most likely you would assume they are homeless, or at the very best, really poor. However, our appearances do not tell the whole story of who we are.
It’s and evolutionary advantage to judge things by appearance, for example if you see a predator in the wild it’s smarter to run than to try and get to know them better.
But we are not in the wilderness anymore. And when it comes to human beings, our appearance is as unique as each and every single one of us.
So being quick to judge is almost a disadvantage in the modern world we live in today. And it’s a mental tool that has two sharp ends.
The more harshly we judge others, the more harshly we judge ourselves. The little grumpy voice inside our heads just makes the world uglier. it’s not constructive in any way.
To prove just how wrong we might sometimes be to judge another person, Little Things shared this brilliant short video, and it’s something that can open anyone’s eyes.
Don’t Be So Quick To Judge Others:
The moral of this super cool video is that we shouldn’t judge others too quickly because we are, most likely, flawed in some other way we are not aware of.
Most of the time we perceive the world as if we are the perfect little snowflake that has done no wrong, and the whole world is there to get us.
But what we don’t understand is that we are all fighting a hard battle, every single day we are all battling our own monsters.
And instead of judging others and making the world harder than it already is, the best thing we can do is share the donut. Do a small act of kindness.
Hating the world and people around you will not help anyone. Love, no matter how small act of love you do, that’s what will save us all.
So the next time, instead of judging someone, look for ways you can be kind to them. Find a way you can make their day a little better.
Because if we start following this little change of kindness, someone, someday will make your day better too.
So stop judging, be kind, share the donut. It might not be your donut anyway. The best thing you can do is realize we are all in this together. Be kind.
