Art By Tali Landsman

At the end of each year, you can read the published numbers and statistics about the poverty around the world. I read that last year, despite the fact that generous people, charitable organizations, and philanthropists around the world have donated almost a billion dollars to feed and support the poor, the numbers of poor people around the world did not decrease AT ALL. Which means that sending money or grain to help feed the poor- simply does NOT work. Even assuming that the donated money did filter through to the poor, despite corruption, it is still like feeding a person a meal for a day, versus teaching him how to fish, so he can feed HIMSELF every day. There are good programs around the world that empower poor people and teach them how to step out of poverty on their own. My partner and I donated to a program of "Micro-Loans", which offers small loans to poor people so they can start their own businesses. These poor uneducated women, with many kids, who could not get a...

Every morning, I sit in bed with my partner, and we start the day by talking about our dreams from the night before, any ideas that have popped into our heads and we wish to explore, and then we meditate before we eat breakfast and start the day. This morning, Jules was working on his iPad, when he turned to me and said: "Would you be interested in going to Tokyo for a short break? Just before we leave New Zealand to go back to the USA?" I nonchalantly said: "Sure..." (my voice sounded a bit unsure....) Jules punched something on his iPad screen and waited. I asked what was he doing... He said that he just placed a bid in an online auction for airline tickets. Two tickets from Auckland to Tokyo, for a real bargain price. I asked when does the auction closes, and he said: "we will know if we won in....... Twenty eight SECONDS...." Exactly twenty eight seconds later, we won the auction and.... I guess we are going to Tokyo.... I am very excited to go. I LOVE...

There is a lot of talk these days about how, through living in modern societies, we have lost the spirit of the community. Those who advocate this way of thinking look with romantic eyes upon the past, and remember how nice it was to live in tribes, where each person was allocated a communal chore, and the concept of individuality, and all the insecurity and loneliness that comes with it, simply did not exist. People spent their days fulfilling basic communal needs of feeding, clothing, and building shelters. I would like to suggest that what we are missing in modern day societies is only the SPIRIT of a community, not actually living in communities and needing to deal with the problems that come with that. We all need to think and act as if we were ONE people, one tribe on planet earth. One family, one race - the human race. We do not need to adopt communal living, or to live in a small community. Many people have mistaken this concept, and moved into small communities, or small villa...

These days I feel so pleasantly calm, content and happy. I asked myself why I am feeling this way...trying to identify the thoughts behind the feelings, so I can call upon them again should the need arise in the future. So I asked myself what is this state of mind that has caused me to feel so happy... The answer that came to me, was that somehow, I am no longer bothered by wants, craving or their opposites- by aversions. Every day, I do what I love, and I do not really care if people will buy my art. Of course I would be happy if they do, but I do not feel the same strong aching desire to have my art exhibited or collected. I live in two parts of the world that I adore, and I enjoy the nature and beauty that surround me in both places. I do not care to improve the bathroom or to renovate the kitchen, I am content with the aesthetics, beauty and functionality of my homes. I feel infinitely blessed to spend my days in a quiet and peaceful places, where my biggest concerns these days a...

Christmas is upon us now. It is a good time to look beyond the warmth of family and the comfort of good food, and to reflect upon the life of Jesus. It is a good time to examine some Universal Truth Principles, demonstrated through the stories told of His life. Jesus explained that he was our Brother. Yes, He said he was the Son of God, but he never claimed to be the ONLY son of God. He said again and again that we ALL share the Kingdom of God. He also demonstrated again and again, that the physical world is nothing but an illusion. He was able to multiply forms (fish and loaves of bread), to defy gravity (by walking on water) to heal all forms of terminal illness, and finally to rise from death. He demonstrated that the idea of LACK is a wrong concept, and that the REAL world, which he called "the Kingdom of God or of Heaven," is infinitely abundant and available to all of us. He spoke about the Kingdom of Heaven as being WITHIN US.... Not as a remote and distant place in so...

Every artist needs an amount of confidence in order to create work, to make a visual statement and to market our work. But it is well known that confidence is a very fragile thing, and it never sticks around for too long. Even among very successful people, confidence is a flighty thing that comes and goes. Worldly achievements and success do not seem to translate into self confidence. Many artists and many successful people are shy and lacking in confidence. In fact, at times it seems that only those with limited understanding are bursting with confidence.... Most of us artists seem to lack confidence. I remember once hearing an interview with Barbara Streisand, who said that many years ago when she had just become famous, she sang in a live concert and forgot the words to three of her songs, because she experienced tremendous stage-fright. She said that she did not sing again in front of a live audience after that experience for 25 years... Until they invented Tele-Prompters. (the boa...

In recent days, I am devoting much time to work. Both in the studio and around the property. I work in the studio every day, which is the best way to spend rainy days. I put on Mozart on my iPod and lose myself in the art that I am creating. The other day I saw a movie based on the life of Mozart's sister. She and Wolfgang Amadeus used to be child protégés. They lived a nomadic life, constantly moving in search for work. Their father and mother took them all over Europe to play for the aristocracy. It was NOT a good time to be a woman.... She was a great singer, a wonderful keyboard player, an excellent violin player and a talented composer in her own right, but she was not allowed to learn music composition at any school, since she was a woman. It was the same for art. Women were not allowed to study art at universities at those times. Because she only had talent, but no title or money, her marriage prospects were very poor. She finally died poor, blind and her life's work was...

When we arrived in the Far North of New Zealand, the first house that we bought was a humble house made of posts and beams with crumbling adobe walls. Still, it sat on top of a charming hill, right in front of the Hokianga Harbor. The views were breathtaking and the grounds were very lush. Everything we planted multiplied a hundred times and spread wildly across the garden. Gardening was more a matter of trimming and controlling plants from over growing, than a matter of carefully cultivating plants. Inside the house, there was very little that was worth keeping. We gutted the house completely with the intention of replacing the kitchen, the bathroom, all of the appliances, installing a new roof, a pellet-fired stove, all new electricity and plumbing, new floors, lighting, and much more. The gutted house looked like a major construction site and it was impossible to live in it. There was no electricity, no water hook-up, no toilet, no shower and no kitchen. There was dust and debris e...

At this time of the year, when the illusion of time brings us nearer to yet another end of a calendar year, many people tend to make New Year resolutions, and they vow to start fresh and to put more efforts into making their dreams come true, improving aspects of their lives and relationships, personal resolutions to improve their diet, health, careers, etc. I would like to take a moment to reflect out loud on a good tool that can help in our growth. Instead of leaving behind all of our failures and vowing to leave them in the past, I would like to suggest that it is VERY beneficial to reflect on what we regret. One of the reasons that people do not really change, is because they leave the past behind too fast, and move into the future with the exact mindset that created all of the misery in their lives. By moving ahead without reflection on their failings, they are not really moving forwards at all..... And they are bound to repeat the same mistakes again, in other forms and with new ...

I started reflecting on this subject when we placed our house in Kohukohu for sale. The house is a tree house, built into a fertile steep hill, done in a Japanese design. We fell in love with the unique design of it, and were totally charmed with the property. The fact that we had to walk up and down a steep hill or climb steps, did not deter us for one moment, because we believe that in order to stay young and fit, you have to constantly put your body to work, and to challenge it daily. It is important not to just do it by visits to the gym, but by doing so in the course of daily life. In our many travels to Asia, we climbed many hundreds of steps to visit Buddhist and Shinto temples built high on the mountains. They built those sanctuaries on top of high mountains, because the vibrations of remote places are higher and finer, and also in order to encourage visitors to climb there as a spiritual pilgrimage, and not as curious passing tourists. The local elderly villagers living in tho...

I forgot how quiet and how nice it feels To be living in a beach town right in front of the water. The harbor changes its color by the hour.... By the day... It shifts from silvers to blues to grays to greens... The days are warm and are scented with late oranges, Flowering trees and early green peaches. The days are gentle, unhurried and the nights are balmy. Our property is filled with the song of birds and wildflowers. We are cleaning spider webs from the eaves of our lovely house And bit by bit we are releasing the house from the grip of winter. A winter that we spent away, Enjoying the summer in other parts of the world. We start each day with a quiet meditation Then we enjoy breakfast on the deck overlooking the harbor. We then decide on the tasks for the day Painting in the studio will have to wait until the property is shining again. Summer is in the air, and the veggie market offer tasty vegetables which are young, juicy and alive, radiating the summer sun. I feel peaceful her...

I see them sitting at a large table at the lovely grill restaurant, On the edge of the ski slopes In Beaver Creek, Colorado, And I think to myself that the little boy may not know it yet.... But it is like he's won the jackpot or the lotto... He is a little Cambodian boy, Maybe just three or four years young, Adopted by this very wealthy couple. His father is handsome, tall with a beautiful head of grey hair And his new mother looks like an aged angel, She is still skinny, very pretty and very caring. In Cambodia, this little orphan Would have been just one year away From child labor, to help to provide for his family. Maybe he would have to learn how to fish, Or how to catch and skin slithery eels That his brothers caught by the muddy river... His Cambodian mother, If she were alive and if she had kept him, Might have been too busy with raising his siblings And spreading her love and attention very thin... Between her seven kids... But this little Cambodian boy knows no other fami...