030: there is an interesting word that appears frequently in ancient hebrew poetry and songwriting. the word is 'selah'. many question the true meaning of this word, but many scholars believe that 'selah' can be rightly interpreted as 'stop and think'. 'selah' was inserted multiple times in songs. it would be used as an interlude to allow the listener to think about the words they just heard as the music continues to play.

'selah' moments are almost non-existent in our modern culture. but we need to bring 'selah' moments back. we need to slow down. reflect. comprehend. understand. 

when you come across food for thought, chew a bit slower; you take in more nutrients that way.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance 

029: love is scarier than fear. light is more intimidating than darkness. righteousness causes more anarchy than evil. the real controversy in our culture is when someone dares to love, rather than to invoke terror.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

028: "and still, here i am, standing in the force of 10,000 winds. i’m surprised my greatness hasn’t scorched the first 8 rows in this packed auditorium."

...i don't know who i thought i was when i wrote that... but i meant every word. ha!

happy 5th birthday to my first self published book 'ultra: the hypeness project'. something i wrote as a joke on my blackberry over the course of a week ended up changing my whole world. because of this book, i'll forever be an advocate for spontaneous creativity.

[written on december 4th 2015]

read ultra here.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance 

027: media moguls used to be a rarity. now we all have control over the media in some way. understand that if you have an instagram/ snapchat/ facebook/ twitter account, you own four media companies. 

whether it's a memoir or a selfie, you control the messages that come out of your social media channels. are you brightening someone's day, or are we just as bad as the news corporations that pump fear into the masses by the things we share?

never before in history have we had the freedom to express ourselves on such a global scale. let's use this freedom to add value to those who see our media on a daily basis.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

026: a newspaper headline read this morning 'kill or be killed'. 

our world is in fear. mainstream media is only feeding that fear. sad news today. sad news tomorrow. each news report may seem bearable to manage but remember, one plus one equals two. if you eat a plate of fear every single day, you'll be a weapon of destruction by 2017. 

i'm not saying boycott the news, i'm just saying limit the amount of news you expose yourself to on a daily basis. it's never a pretty sight to see a person who has overdosed on fear.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

025: whoever has a control on language has a control on culture. there's probably a boy or girl under a nightlight in their bedroom right now; scribbling down the ideas that will eventually be considered public opinion. that's not far fetched. our current world is the result of ideas written by men who died hundreds of years ago. 

the world belongs to those who have an idea, and distribute it as far and wide as possible. language is power.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

024: when i was younger i had this youthful arrogance about being strong enough to be my own pillar of support. i knew how to encourage myself. as i get older i began to realise the importance of having a father around. i began to see the importance of family. i began to see the importance of having loving friends. i'm not saying i lack any of those things. i'm just saying i now realise the importance of having them. no one is self sufficient. we need older ones who can teach us. we need younger ones we can teach. above creativity, above career, our purpose on earth is to make meaningful connections with fellow human beings. it's all a vain game without it.

it took me 23 years and 6 months to understand that...

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

023: start creating. you might as well. take a leap. you might as well. pour your heart. you might as well. speak the truth. you might as well. die enormous. you might as well. love much. you might as well. worry less. you might as well. give it your all. you might as well. 

there's nothing to lose. you might as well.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

022: what an athlete does outside the track is as important as what they do in training. when music is being played, the spaces in between the notes are as important as the notes themselves.

it's impossible to create quality work all day. i've heard even the best writers only write for 2-3 hours a day before they begin babbling. even though you cannot create all day, note that everything you do before and after your creation time is just as important as the act of creation itself. if you are what you eat, have quality conversations, read quality books, listen to quality music, meet quality people in your spare time.

the white spaces in your life is just as important as the art you make.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance

021: one of the things that annoys me as an artist is when i show someone a piece i made, and in response they would praise the tools, as if the tools created the art all by itself. if i show a photo, they'll say "i need to get that camera". if i show an illustration, they'll praise the pen. 

yes, the tools helped make the final product, but there was a creative mind behind the design.

i wonder if this is how god feels when we gasp at the universe, and then spend all our lives taking about the atoms.

Andre Anderson - Freedom & Balance