I really love these drawings of Yaw Nan Than. The paintings and drawings are full of life and spirit. In addition I like the simplicity and directness. If you have a chance to visit Myanmar do visit him and his drawings!
All works of art is a result of the harmonious marriage of intellect and intuition!
Discover the joy of drawings!
A handmade quilt is a thing of beauty; not just for the technical skill that it so clearly requires, but also for the passion required by the quilter to produce such a beautiful result. In all ways, a quilt reflects the love and personality of its maker; and nowhere is that more evident than in the choice of quilting fabric.
“The more you do for someone else, the more God is going to bless you”
“If you try anything, if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you have already achieved something wonderful, before you even begin. Forget failure. If things don’t work out the way you want, hold your head up high and be proud. And try again. And again. And again!” ~ Sarah Dessen
I love this inspiring story about this 88 year old woman Lou Xiaoying who found and raised more than 30 abandoned chinese babies abandoned by their parents and left on the streets of eastern zhejiang province. The amazing thing is, this old woman made living by recycling rubbish and is currently suffering from kidney failure.
Lou Xiaoying’s husband has died 17 years ago, and currently keep four of the children, while the rest are passed to her family and friends who would take care of the children and help them start new lives. And do you know, her youngest son (now 7 years old), was found by Lou when she was already 82 years old!!!
Knowing that there is such a lovely being living in this world lifts your spirit, how can your life be as terrible or hard as hers!!
“I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives” ~ Lou
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
~ William W. Purkey
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
~ Leo Buscaglia
You don't have to have an expensive or professional set of brushes, oil paints or watercolors, or be schooled at the finest art drawing schools or institute to express your artistic soul.
I'm talking about art that comes from the very depths of your being and is not meant to be pleasing to anyone else but you.
There is a kind of artistic practice where you begin to gather things from your surrounding environment and rearrange them in a creative and artistic way. I did this for various kinds of freelance jobs that ive received. My bosses simply loved the way i helped to conceptualize or 'visualize' the 'ideas' they are thinking in their head and put them out in concrete forms (especially in posters and web projects)
There are no rules, just simply collect what you find interesting and then create something new. I realize this is what i have always liked doing. You do not necessary need to own qualifications or certificates to start making art or create something.
An easy way to experiment with this idea is to make a collage from magazine clippings. Take an hour and create a collage that truly reflects your passions in life. Incorporate favorite quotes and sayings that inspire you.
One author and artist who inspires me is boey. Check out his coffee cup art here!
It's awesome and I love line drawings!! When I look at his art, I thought about how I 'think' in daily life. It is not in words! It's in line, form, shapes and colors! That's why many of my friends find me eccentric.
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Barnard shaw
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.” – friedrich nietzsche
The Person Who Saved Many Jews during the Holocaust
German businessman Oskar Schindler became an unlikely hero when he saved hundreds of Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from death at the hands of the Nazis during World War II (1939–45). By employing them in his factory, Schindler protected them from the wrath of the Nazi Party and preserved generations of Jewish families.
Oskar Schindler was born in 1908 in the industrial city of Zwittau, Moravia, then a German province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now part of the Czech Republic. The region where Oskar grew up and attended a German-language school was also known as the Sudetenland. Oskar’s father, Hans Schindler, was a factory owner and his mother, Louisa Schindler, was a homemaker.
In June of 1942, the Nazis began relocating Krakow’s Jews to labor camps. Some of Schindler’s workers, including his office manager, were among the first group of people ordered to report to the train station. Schindler raced to the station and argued with an SS officer about how essential his workers were to the war effort. By dropping the names of some of his Nazi friends and making a couple of threats, he was finally able to rescue the workers and escort them safely back to his factory.
Shortly after Schindler’s fifty-fourth birthday in 1962, he was officially declared a “Righteous Gentile (non-Jew)” and invited to plant a tree on the Avenue of the Righteous leading up to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Museum, a memorial to the Holocaust, the name for the German liquidation of Jews during World War II.
Upon his death from heart and liver problems in 1974, he was granted his request to be buried in Israel. About five hundred Schindlerjuden attended his funeral and watched as his body was laid to rest in the Catholic cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Thanks to Oskar Schindler, more than six thousand Holocaust survivors and their descendants were alive in the 1990s to tell the remarkable story of “Schindler’s List.”
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/
Susan L. Taylor’s A Better Way of Living: Creating Balance, Meaning & Joy
“Ultimately, the only question that matters,” says Susan Taylor, ‘am I happy?’” This simple question helps to make the “how” of happiness and bringing balance to life simple and clear. Offering encouragement, valuable insights, and effective tools, Taylor leads attendees on a wonderful journey toward removing the walls of doubt and fear that keep many from living their best life possible.
In this inspiring keynote speech, Taylor addresses the central issues – our beliefs, behaviors, relationships and career challenges – that are critically important to maintaining equilibrium in today’s fast-paced, hectic world. This keynote speech demonstrates how choosing to put our personal values, needs and goals at the center of our lives creates an immediate shift toward greater health, happiness and productivity.
In the engaging style and heartfelt personal approach that have made Taylor one of America’s leading speakers, A Better Way of Living offers audiences the most precious gift in the world: a real and genuine way to believe in their own value and worth.
As the soul of Essence magazine for over three decades, Taylor was the driving force behind one of the most celebrated African American owned business success stories. A fourth generation entrepreneur, she flourished in her leadership role, building the brand and guiding it through a period of phenomenal growth to a readership of over 8 million.
During this time she penned the popular “In the Spirit” column and wrote the best-selling books, In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor, and Lessons in Living and Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives.
Now, as the Founder of National Cares Mentoring Movement, she shares her inspirational passion for empowering African Americans in a call to action to recruit mentors for at-risk youth. She continues to inspire hope and encourage us to reclaim our lives and create sustainable communities.
Genuine, energetic, and spiritual, Taylor’s passion is to help people realize their strengths and take charge of their lives. She brings her gift of inspiration to every audience – sharing with them her prescription for adopting the best practices, both personally and professionally, that will help them find fulfillment and success in life.
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/
Stephen William Hawking: Disabled, Succeeded and Awarded
Professor Stephen William Hawking was born on 8 January 1942 in Oxford, England, which is exactly 300 years after the death of Galileo. From a very early age Hawking showed the qualities of a scientist, he was always inquisitive. He liked to build models to see how things worked.
Hawking went to the High School for Girls (yes, the school was supposed to be for girls) at St. Albans at the age of 8. Later, he switched to St. Albans School by passing the eleven-plus examination. Hawking was a keen child, but he was not the brightest in his competitive A stream class. Some of his classmates did not believe he could do well, though they gave him the nickname of Einstein.
Hawking’s father who was a doctor, wanted him to study medicine at Oxford. However, he was more interested in Mathematics. It turned out that he studied Physics, as the University College did not provide degree studies in Mathematics. Hawking was awarded a first class honors degree in Natural Science after 3 years of studies, without doing much work, as he described in his auto-biography.
At the age of 20, Hawking went on to do research in Cosmology at Cambridge. This was also about the time when he was diagnosed with the incurable disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). He slowly lost control of his muscles and was told would die within a few years. At first, Hawking was shocked and upset. He could not find a reason for living before he met his wife Jane Wilde. Later the progress of his illness slowed down, and he finished his Ph.D.
He was known for his books and public appearances that made him an academic celebrity and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His contributions made him a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 he was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/
John Locke and his Philosophies on Governing Human with The Natural Law
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632, in Warington, a village in Somerset, England. In 1646 he went to Westminster school and in 1652 to Christ Church in Oxford. In 1659 he was elected to a senior studentship, and tutored at the college for a number of years. Still, contrary to the curriculum, he complained that he would rather be studying Descartes than Aristotle.
In 1666 he declined an offer of preferment, although he thought at one time of taking up clerical work. In 1668 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1674 he finally graduated as a bachelor of medicine. In 1675 he was appointed to a medical studentship at the college. He owned a home in Oxford until 1684, until his studentship was taken from him by royal mandate.
Locke’s mentor was Robert Boyle, the leader of the Oxford scientific group. Boyle’s mechanical philosophy saw the world as reducible to matter in motion. Locke learned about atomism and took the terms “primary and secondary qualities” from Boyle. Both Boyle and Locke, along with Newton, were members of the English Royal Society.
Locke became friends with Newton in 1688 after he had studied Newton’s Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis. It was Locke’s work with the Oxford scientists that gave him a critical perspective when reading Descartes. Locke admired Descartes as an alternative to the Aristotelianism dominant at Oxford. Descartes’ “way of ideas” was a major influence on Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
In his own time, he was famous for arguing that the divine right of kings is supported neither by scripture nor by the use of reason. In developing his theory of our duty to obey the state, he attacked the idea that might makes right: Starting from an initial state of nature with no government, police or private property, we humans could discover by careful reasoning that there are natural laws which suggest that we have natural rights to our own persons and to our own labor.
Eventually we could discover that we should create a social contract with others, and out of this contract emerges our political obligations and the institution of private property. This is how reasoning places limits on the proper use of power by government authorities.
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/
His Unending Devotion to Dalai Lama
Named one of Time magazine’s 25 Most Influential Americans, Robert Thurman is an internationally recognized scholar, translator and author, and the first Westerner to be ordained by the Dalai Lama as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In describing Thurman, Time magazine calls him “the Billy Graham of American Buddhism.” Or perhaps the St. Paul, a later-day, larger-than-life scholar-activist destined to convey the dharma, the precious teachings of Siddhartha, from Asia to America.”
Born in 1941, Thurman grew up in New York City participating in dramatic readings in his home alongside house guests like Laurence Olivier. A rebel from a young age, he left Phillips Exeter Academy his senior year to enlist with the then poetic idealist Fidel Castro. He was turned back at the border. Thurman entered Harvard University in 1959.
His Philosophical studies include:
One year later, Thurman’s left eye was destroyed in a freak accident with a tire iron — which became a turning point in his life. He dropped out of Harvard, left his wife and young child, and went on a “vision quest.”
Traveling as a pilgrim through Europe and the Middle East, he eventually reached India, where he was hired to teach English to exiled Tibetans. He remained there until he was called back to the United States to attend his father’s funeral.
Not far from home, in Freewood Acres, New Jersey, he met his root lama, a Mongolian monk, Geshe Ngawang Wangyal. Thurman began studying with the Geshe, who not only taught him the Tibetan language, but also took him to India to meet the Dalai Lama. In 1965, Thurman was formally ordained by the Dalai Lama.
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/
Christopher Reeve—the real struggles of Superman behind the scenes
Christopher Reeve was born September 25, 1952 in New York City. He had various stage and television roles before becoming the star of Superman and its sequels. In 1995 he became paralyzed from the neck down following a horse-riding accident. He founded the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation in 1998 to promote research on spinal cord injuries. He died of cardiac arrest in 2004.
Film and stage actor, director, born on September 25, 1952 in New York City, USA, he studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School in New York, and had various stage and television roles before becoming universally known as the star of Superman and its sequels (1978, 1980, 1983, 1987). Later films include Noises Off (1992) and Morning Glory (1994).
In May 1995 Reeve became paralyzed from the neck downwards and wheel-chair bound following a horse-riding accident. He also required a respirator to assist his breathing for the rest of his life. He became very involved in campaigns supporting handicapped children and paraplegics, and founded the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation in 1998 to promote research into spinal cord injuries, testifying before a Senate subcommittee in favor of federal funding for stem cell research.
Reeve continued to work after ongoing rehabilitation. He acted again in films, including a television production of Rear Window (1998) and directed two television films with health themes, In the Gloaming (1997) and The Brooke Ellison Story (2004). His autobiography Still Me appeared in 1998.
For most of his career, Christopher Reeve was known throughout the world as the movie version of Superman. However, after an equestrian accident in where he was left confined to a wheelchair, he became a household name once again as a crusader for research to cure spinal injuries. Like Fox, he became an advocate of stem cell research in hopes of finding a cure.
However, long before his accident Reeve had been an advocate for causes such as the Make a Wish Foundation and the Special Olympics. That advocacy continued with the creation of his namesake Foundation as well as the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. Reeve truly proved that no matter what he was a Superman.
Get the best iphone app for fitness and app for working out at http://www.DragonTortise.com This fitness app explores functional fitness and training at its best. Get more fitness tips and workout ideas from http://www.DragonTortise.com/workouts/
De-clutter your mind and de-stress with our Relaxation Music and meditation App, Binaural Beats App at http://www.WhatIsListening.com , read more inspiring stories at http://www.WhatIsListening.com/Blog/