Globetrotter December 2016 (2nd edition of 2016/2017) by Globetrotter Magazine

globetrotter December 2016

Magazine made by students of The Hague University

Martin Vybostok Designer

Bianka Urbanovská Editor & designer

Victoria Cara Posch

Irina Strugaru

Bo Weterings

Bella Franco

Isabelle Brooking

Katie Thurson

Kackar Ozkaya Maeve Dunigan

Marta Artigas Ivanka de Nijs Danaé Ramírez Arjona

Marjolein Kramer

Isabeau Morin

Ester van der Plas

Emily van den Heuvel

Damjan Stefanov

Marlene Weismann Mariana Espírito Santo

Alina Vint

Jet van der Kolk

Eleonora Dimitrova

Special thanks: Nicki van Campenhout - Chief editor

Editor’s note The mind is a very powerful tool. A tool so powerful, that it was often forbidden to use it by kings and rulers – a picture not unheard of even nowadays. And yet, many of us do not realise its full potential, be it due to cultural stereotypes, social pressure, laziness or any other reason. Our mind is like a universe – indescribable, infinite and untouchable. Not even the most artistic language can describe its functioning nor explain its existence. In this edition of Globetrotter we tried to grasp some interpretations of the mind. You will discover ways how to unchain your mind from everyday stress, how to understand your dreams, and even see how our minds can be played with. Maybe you just want to know how you can train your brain, or how to relax it? No worries, just read on. On behalf of the whole Globetrotter team I hope you will enjoy reading the following pages at least as much as we enjoyed making them :)

Power of the mind - Yogi life

Welcome to augmented reality

Donald Trump and his four pillars of influence

Super moist carrot cake

Rolo stuffed blondie

When no oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s listening

If you wonder

Cultural fair 2016 The tastiest event of the year

Dreams and their hidden meanings

Mens sana in corpore sano

Is this real?

I used to have Twitter

The sight of the stars makes me dream

THE PRACTICE Health comes in many forms- mental, physical, and emotional. More and more, as a society are we realizing the fact that they are all interconnected. Only when we are emotionally, physically, and mentally healthy, are we truly balanced.

Power of the mind A form of exercise that has recognized the link between these three is Yoga. It is estimated that yoga was first developed between the 5th and 6th century BCE. So, to say that there has been ample time to evaluate the connection between body and spirit would be a bit of an understatement. The word that is used to describe the ultimate goal of Yoga is the word Moksha, meaning liberation. The interpretation of the word varies, and how “liberation” applies to one self can vary profoundly. Today there are numerous schools of Yoga, all of which have different guiding principles and applications of yoga. However, over the past three decades Yoga has undergone a serious transformation in regards to reputation - once the practice of “hippies” and the “farmers market” crowd. Yoga has achieved something rather spectacular. In its broad reach it has managed to welcome people of all walks of life. From the soccer moms sporting the 200$ pair of leggings who view it a competition in flexibility and strength to a beginner dad, using it as a way to recover from knee surgery.

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Speaking from personal experience Yoga has a tremendous power to slowly influence your way of thinking. I first started Yoga as a way to complete my physical education credits in high school and have since evolved to what I consider to be a relatively serious practitioner. It started simply as a means to an end and ended up being the thing that has saved me. It has saved me from the stress of exams and personal stress. It has also allowed me to have a much healthier perspective on my body and my health, be it mental, or emotional.

Isabelle Brooking Mariana Espirito Santo The magic of Yoga is rather what happens when you step off the mat. The mantras, and the physical and mental flexibility that miraculously accompany you throughout the day. Yoga is about your breath. The power of a breath is

The path starts with setting your mind to it, and making a compromise with yourself that you will deliver.

something that is quite undervalued in today's society. The ability to take a moment and reflect or breathe is something that we rarely have time for these days.

You can start by the so-called “superfoods” that have high levels of vitamins and minerals and can also be a source of antioxidants. Some examples are açaí and dark chocolate, which are things you can eat that taste nice and help boost your mood and relieve stress, or goji berries and chia seeds for those Instagram worthy meals that boost your immune system.

Yoga can be seen as a school of thought, and thus with Yoga one learns. Yoga teaches its practitioners the power of empathy, to view the person next to you on the mat as an equal. It allows you to learn through this microcosm of sequences and sun salutations that we all go through the same things. We all have those poses that challenges us, and the poses that come naturally to us. It’s actually quite a beautiful analogy for the complexity of life, served up to you in a short 90-minute class filled with sweat and athletic apparel.

For Yogis, food is the creator of “prana” (life force) that sustains our bodies and brings us vitality and health. This way, foods that grow in harmony with nature or that are ripened and grown naturally are encouraged. The easiest way to improve your diet is to start eating more fresh produce, like vegetables and fruit, and it is also in line with the “yogic diet”. Another thing they believe is preparing the food with love and positive intentions, which helps improve your state of mind.

- Yogi life

THE Food

In combination with this practice you need to have a balanced diet as well, to keep your body clean. What you eat is also considered to be food for your soul, and can influence your mood and mental health. Research has shown that it can play a role in the development of depression, ADHD, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. A change in eating habits is something that has been in discussion recently, since more and more discoveries are made about the effect some foods have in our bodies, and the benefits of others. This isn’t always easy, as there are a lot of temptations of sugary or fast foods.

When you are eating, take your time and enjoy your food, because eating fast can make you uncomfortable (like heartburn and indigestion) and eat more, whilst you don’t appreciate the flavor. If you define a plan to start following a healthier lifestyle, a mindful approach can help keep on track and not give up after little time. Stay positive and remember the fact that the changes that come with a better diet aren’t immediate, so they may take a while to show. Start enjoying your food more, maybe cooking at home and for friends, who may later on follow a similar path as yours, and then you will be able to share different recipes and dishes so you don’t get bored.

Welcome to

augmented reality By KaĂ§kar Ă&#x2013;zkaya and Katie Thurson

The capabilities of the human mind are arguably the most valuable asset that mankind has. Whilst the human body gives us input through senses, such as sight and hearing, the human mind is able to interpret this information. After all, what use does vision have without being able to react to objects around us? Considering the great asset that vision is to us, expanding the possibilities of sight would be a very welcome improvement. Glasses have made it possible for the less fortunate to be able to see just as well, and cameras have given us the ability to save sightings. Now, cameras and glasses might be taken as granted, but for many people it is not enough. With the recent massive technological advances, there are more possibilities than ever to expand our vision.

Computer displays are an earlier example of such an improvement, and they make it possible to see far more than ever thought. But this is not an integrated addition to our vision, as we have to look at a specific object. So, the next step would be to integrate displays of some kind into our vision – Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality makes it

That is where Augmented Reality comes in. This concept might not be very familiar to many, but it’s a solution combining the flexibility of Virtual Reality with the ‘realness’ of natural vision. Google Glass is an early example of Augmented Reality, although not much information has been made available since the beta version which was not publicly available. Google Glass is a pair of glasses with a prism (acting as a display) that would provide an overlay to your sight. For example, you could see directions when navigating. This made it relatively natural as it (usually) did not obstruct your view, and allowed you to add to your vision. Google glass

possible to have spatial awareness combined with the ability to create visual objects. Virtual Reality is essentially a display that covers the entirety of your vision, and projects images depending on your orientation. However, this still does not provide a fully integrated addition, as it replaces your vision, rather than adds to it.

Another, more recent, example would be Pokémon Go, which utilized your phone’s camera to display virtual monsters on your screen, although this solution still means that you have to look at your mobile phone to see the result. That brings us to the final example and, in my eyes, the most promising one: Microsoft’s Hololens , which is a similar concept to Google Glass in that it allows you to add overlays to your vision. However, whilst Google Glass

used voice commands, the Hololens allows you to basically use the space around you as a touchscreen, giving you seemingly far more capabilities. Fortunately the quest for expanded vision does not end here, but we will have to be patient to reap the benefits.

Augmented reality in the Netherlands Currently, the Netherlands is the global center for virtual reality innovation, with Amsterdam being awarded the title of “European Capital of Innovation” by the European Commission in 2016. Virtual reality has been defined as "...a realistic and immersive simulation of a threedimensional environment, created using interactive software and hardware, and experienced or controlled by movement of the body or as an "immersive, interactive experience generated by a computer", by Pimentel and Texeira, who were cited in The systemic and empirical approach to literature and culture as theory and application. Virtual reality remains a new concept, as some researchers and innovators use virtual reality (‘VR’) as a method for jump-starting their careers after university, while other innovators are committed to the field, attending various VR conferences and networking events held across the Netherlands and the European Union. Amsterdam is also a home to the world’s only virtual reality cinema, located 10 minutes away from

Amsterdam Centraal station. Patrons choose from several different mediated experiences, depending on their likes and dislikes. Each VR experience lasts approximately 30 minutes, which may seem short, although the VR cinema owners remark on their website that most customers feel like 30 minutes is the perfect amount of time. For clients with concerns regarding nausea, the VR cinema admonishes that virtual reality has evolved quite a bit since its inception and their visitors no longer exhibit symptoms after a VR experience controlled at their cinema. Globally, the virtual reality market is expanding rapidly to include not only entertainment but also sporting event coverage, therapy and urban design. Virtual reality technology also has the potential to aid non-profit aid organizations such as UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund as VR has been developed for/by both the previously mentioned organizations to elucidate the need for their assistance, such as a 360 degree view of the conflict in a Syrian neighborhood, or a visual platform for sponsors to interact with an endangered animal in the virtual wild.

Marlene Weismann Jet van der Kolk Bo Weterings

What maybe not all could have imagined, happened. Donald Trump, represented as an American business man, announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in June 2015. At first sight, this candidacy and Trump’s personality were seen as a joke. ‘’Make America Great Again’’ was considered funny to hear of someone who wanted to build a great wall on the southern border and make Mexico pay for it. That kind of statements made by Donald Trump were examined by citizens, politicians and media commentators all around the world as something ridiculous but funny and impossible to happen, like the possibility of Trump being elected as President of the United States of America.

In fact, this unexpected success of Trump and the consequent election as the 45th President of the United States of America can be described by phenomena such as populism, the importance of the media and Donald Trump’s characterization as ways to influence people. The new President of the USA has been characterized by some people as a populist. The modern era of populism in the United States of America began half a century ago. We all know Donald Trump for his firm statements, bold ideas and notable appearance. But how come that he and his campaign became such a media circus? This has everything to do with the increased use of social media. Needless to say, the media are an essential aspect of every democracy, because it enables voters to engage in the political process in order to make the right decision. Before, voters only had several media-options to turn to, such as the newspaper, television and radio. These sources pretty much provided the same information; however, this is not the case anymore. These days, voters have access to all kinds of sources, such as Facebook, Twitter, online articles and other social media that provide them with a wide range of opinions. Trump made very good use of these tools and as a result several newspapers claim ‘the media created the new president’. A great quality of Trump is that he keeps you entertained at all times, especially by striking bold statements, such as the desire to keep immigrants out of the country. He not only does this by creating tweets, but also with his performances during live debates on television. This generates a lot of discussion and attention among voters and influences their point of view. On the other hand, Trump has been overwhelmed by negative attention, but in his case every bit of attention is profitable for his notoriety and campaign. In the end, the power of liking, sharing and following is a larger than we would have ever expected and it contributed to a remarkable outcome of the US elections.

The presidential election process in the U.S. is something very special and truly not like any other election: it’s fascinating, impressive and divides the whole country. This fact has hardly

been truer than this year. Nobody could know that Donald Trump will gain such big popularity like he has now and will give us a valuable lesson in influencing people with effective communication. He has captured the imaginations of voters with a shared common communication strategy: the four pillars of influence. These four steps might be quite helpful for anyone trying to influence others:

Authenticity beats brilliance. Most of the politicians act like all the other politicians do and that’s one of the reasons why they get lost in the crowd. Donald Trump stands for outrages and ridiculous comments. Compared to other politicians he definitely gets the most points for directness and authenticity. If you want people to trust you, they have to know you first.

Passion beats content. It’s pretty clear that when Donald Trump enters the stage and starts speaking to the audience, he shows that he truly cares about what he is speaking and that he is standing up for it - and that moves people. Donald Trump is showing his feelings without reservation and that is very important because people connect with feelings.

Talking about what people actually care about beats telling them what they should care about. Mr. Trump is aware of the frustration of the people. They have lost faith in the government and politicians. So it’s really important to understand what matters most to the people to bring them on your side.

Fighting against something specific beats fighting for something vague. If you want to bring the people’s attention on your side you have to stand out. You have to make clear what you are fighting against.

By Marta Artigas

SUPERCMOIST arrot Cak

Carrot cake - the best way to eat veggies! Honestly, it only has 1 cup of carrots hidden in flour, sugar, eggs, oil, cinnamon... I mean, nothing is healthy in that cake but I like thinking that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m eating veggies.

the buttercream - 220g cream cheese, softened - 1/2 cup butter, softened - 2 cups powdered sugar

the cake - 1 cup brown sugar - 1/4 cup olive oil (I used olive oil but vegetable oil will work too) - 1/4 cup greek yogurt - 3 large eggs - 2 cups all-purpose flour - 1 teaspoon baking soda - 2 teaspoon cinnamon - 1 cup very finely grated carrots

Instructions Preheat the oven to 180ÂşC and spray a 23cm pan. Mix brown sugar with oil until creamy on medium speed. Then add yogurt. Add the eggs, one at a time, beat them well. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and cinnamon and add to the wet ingredients slowly. Mix well all the ingredients. Add the carrots and mix with a spatula. Pour into the pan. Bake for about 25 min or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool while making the buttercream. Mix together butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and keep mixing until creamy.

Rolo stuffed blondie Blondie, the blonde cousin of brownie filled with Rolos candy.

Ingredients - 1 and half cups of brown sugar - 1/2 cup butter - 2 eggs - 1 and half cups of flour - 1 teaspoon baking powder - About 25 Rolos

Instructions Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking pan with foil paper and baking spray. In a bowl, mix the eggs, lightly beaten, sugar and butter. Add flour and baking powder until blended. Put half of the mixture into the baking form and bake for about 10 min. After 10 minutes, take it out and place the rolos on the form and add the rest of the mixture. Bake for about 20 more minutes or until golden. Let the blondies cool completely and eat!

Make sure they aren’t too close to the edges because the caramel will melt!

I usually don’t let brownies cool, but this seriously needs to be cool. They are very soft and will break easily. I recommend serving them in a plate with a fork/spoon... and ice cream!

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here were you on the evening of November 23? If you don’t remember, that’s probably because you were missing out on one of the best cultural events of the year! The Cultural Fair, organized by the Exchange Students Social Activities Committee, has been a regular event at THUAS for over two decades. For the past 20 years, this event has exchange students prepare and share typical meals from their home country with other students – and for the past 20 years, this event has always been a succulent success. “The event was originally created to bring exchange students to meet Dutch students, but it has since evolved into a celebration of diversity” explained Eveke de Lauw, ESCM faculty member.

That night, the usual chill relaxed atmosphere of the Hebos Café turned into an energetic, crowded and tasty multi-cultural experience. As the participant countries filled their tables with traditional goodies and decorated their stands with cultural paraphernalia, we could feel the energy levels in the room rising.

By Izzy Morin & Alina Vinț While making our way through the stands (and the enthusiastic crowd) we gathered precious information regarding the preparation of the dishes, some background of its tradition and how easy it was for the participants to find the necessary ingredients. While we were lucky enough to sample most of the food, some dishes were so popular that they quickly disappeared. A 14-course event According to faculty members of ESCM, this event always has a high turnout rate – and this year was no exception. Students from 14 different countries prepared dishes and presentations about their home country, and over 200 students attended the event.

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Spicing things up… While the primary goal of this event is to bring together different cultures, a healthy dose of competition goes a long the way to encourage participation. During the course of the event, students had a chance to visit every stand and were then encouraged to vote for the country they thought had the tastiest food and the prettiest stand. At the end of the fair, the votes were counted and the winners were announced…

Best Food 1st place: France 2nd place: Curaçao and Aruba 3rd place: South Korea

Best STAND 1st place: Brazil 2nd place: Curaçao and Aruba 3rd place: France

Food wasn’t the only thing on the menu…

In addition to preparing food, participants were encouraged to perform short presentations on a culture-related aspect of their home countries. This part of the event was a great way for students to share traditions with each other in a fun and informal manner. Curaçao and Aruba’s presentation explained the significance of their national flags; the French proudly sang their national anthem; Mexico demonstrated how to make guacamole; the Spanish showed everyone the steps to the Macarena; South Korea gave a quick overview of their culture including food and fashion; and the Vietnamese explained the steps in making a spring roll. To sum up, the entire atmosphere and the plenitude of flavours, cultures and the good mood made this event a totally successful one.

Did you know that we spend 6 years of our lives dreaming? And have you ever wondered why we actually dream? Well, we certainly have and therefore done our research. So, come on and dive with us into the fascinating world of dreams and learn some interesting facts.

Dreams

are basically stories our minds create when we sleep. They can be joyful and entertaining but also strange and even disturbing. Sometimes dreams can feel so real that we wake up the next morning and are totally confused. Fact is we all dream, every night - usually during the REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. In this phase our most vivid and realistic dreams occur because the brain activity rises to a high level. Even if people sometimes say that they didn’t’ dream, they certainly did - they just don’t remember. It is however impossible to snore and dream at the same time because snoring only occurs in nonREM sleep. But why do we dream? Well, a lot of scientists are convinced that dreams are essential for our mental and physical health. They help us process certain events and solve problems that cause us concerns and trouble. Dreams are practically our body’s natural response to stress, anxiety and fear. Now let’s explore the historical background of dreams. In Ancient times dreams were considered a way of telling the divinity’s will among men or as an alternative world in which to explore the spiritual side to know a person’s fortune. Aristotle was the first who formulated the psychological phenomenon of dreaming and the various sleep phases. Despite that before Medieval Ages, dreams were given symbolic interpretations it was in this epoch that the first dictionaries of dreams came to life to in order to provide people with explanations.

The investigations of an Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, around 1899, with his book “The interpretations of dreams” gave a new perspective towards this cognitive process. He believed that dreaming is a window into our subconscious in which a person reveals their unconscious desires, fears, thoughts and motivations. Some of the latest research on this topic combines studying

brain activity and dream content to understand the nature of dreaming, although there is a lot to do in the field. As previously explained, it has been suggested that elements of certain dreams can be seen as something that might bother a person in their “waking life”. It is, in fact, really interesting to look at the hidden meanings behind some of the most common dream themes, as they can reveal many things about a person.

Falling

Do you sometimes experience falling from great heights in a dream? According to some researchers falling means insecurity about something, losing control about a certain situation, anxiety or failure. The person who pushes you is likely someone who is involved in this situation. Did you fall because you lost balance? That means that you need some stability in your life. Solid ground? More confidence? The location and witnesses might give hints.

Being chased

Being chased in a dream is usually your unconsciousness telling you that you are avoiding or running away from a certain person or situation. The chaser most likely represents someone you have problems with. The chaser might also be a vague silhouette or even yourself. Those kinds of dreams are a metaphor for something you hate about yourself such as overlooked bad qualities or habits.

Losing teeth

Dreams about falling or crumbling teeth are, as weird as it may sound, among the most commonly dreamt dreams. Falling teeth have multiple interpretations. One of them is communication issues like the inability to speak up or express opinions. This might also be interpreted as a feeling of powerlessness, or a feeling that your voice is not heard. Finally, losing teeth might mean a fear of embarrassment. Being afraid of making a fool of yourself in a particular situation.

Being naked in public

Dreaming of full body exposure in public symbolizes vulnerability. You feel uncomfortable with showing yourself and your â&#x20AC;&#x153;shortcomingsâ&#x20AC;? to those who are around in your dream. Those dreams most likely root in a lack of confidence. People with social anxiety are very prone to experience these kinds of dreams. In addition, people experiencing naked dreams might have fear of living up to certain peer expectations or high personal goals.

Having a baby

Although possible, dreaming of being pregnant does not necessarily indicate pregnancy. Dreaming about pregnancy is something about 70% of women have experienced in their life. It might represent either big or small growth or development of an aspect of your personal life. This can also be linked to creativity, and wanting to create something. Dreaming about pregnancy can also indicate a fear of responsibilities, such as having a baby.

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Elite athletes are often envied by millions. After all, what can be better than doing something you have likely been passionate about your entire life? Combined with oftentimes massive wages and fame, millions of children (and some slightly delusional adults) dream about having this life every day.

Mens sana in corpore sano

What is often overlooked though is the psychological aspect of competing at the highest level. In most sports, athletes only compete until around the age of 40 at most. But what happens after that? The mental shift from competing, training and being in the state of mind of an elite-calibre competitor has proved and will continue to prove to be massive challenge in the world of sports. Often in the major sports such as football, where many footballers thrive on being famous, not being as relevant has meant a downward spiral for many players alike.

By Damjan Stefanov & Irina Strugaru

Just take a look at Diego Maradona, considered the best player of all time by plenty around the world. After his career, he suffered from a cocaine addiction spanning multiple decades, nearly costing him his life after an overdose in 2004. Another thing worth looking into is the differences between major sports. In particular, the differences in the way sports are set up in Europe and

in North-America. When it comes to football, teams all play each other twice a season and whoever comes out on top wins it all, and whoever comes out at the bottom of the table faces relegation to a lower league. In the major North-American sports, this is not the case. American Football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey all work with a play-off system, split between geographical conferences and divisions. This means a season in the NHL (the National Hockey League) can be particularly gruelling. Teams play 82 games a season, and if qualified for the play-offs, to win the Stanley Cup, a team still needs to go through four rounds of best-of-seven matchups. This all means a player who has won the Stanley Cup, has gone through at least 98 games of hockey in the span of nearly nine months. It is worth mentioning that the feat of only 98 games has never been done. So how does this affect a players psyche? The answer is difficult, as it is down to the individual, but of course playing 82 games will more often mean the mind is not fully ready to compete night in night out. Whereas football players have a few days to prepare, a hockey player often faces back-to-back games. These differences make sports diverse both on and off the playing field.

What about us, (non)ordinary people ? Everybody knows that exercising your body makes your mind healthier, more focused to tasks at hand. But some forget that the brain is a wonderful mechanism that can be workedout as well. It might sound strange but these exercises make us smarter or sharper. Giving your brain exercises, not to mention new experiences, will keep it healthier. Combining physical senses- vision, smell, touch, taste and hearing- with emotional â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;senseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; stimulates connections between different brain areas, causes nerve cells to produce natural brain nutriments that dramatically help memory, and prevents the effect of aging and making the cells stronger. The good part is that each one of us can do it during our morning routine or our down time. Firstly, one can try unusual activities out of the routine life style. In the morning try brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand as it might expand the submissive part of the brain. While showering, attempt taking it with your eyes closed, using just your senses. This will keep your brain alert to the messages your body sends to it. Furthermore, you can keep inhaling your favorite smell for a week. Keep it in your room during the night, then open it and inhale when you wake up, when you bathe, dress and when you go back to bed in the evening. Moving on, at a stoplight play with spare change not to pass time but to try and determine each detail by feel. Our minds are very visual and changing

this will increase activation in cortical areas that process tactile information and will lead to stronger synapses. Next, try making more social connections during the day. Being the social organisms that we are, scientific research has proven that social deprivation holds severe negative effects on our cognitive abilities. Talk to the people around you, text more, call your mother, vent to your friends and engage in conversations with strangers. To combine this activity, try reading a book differently, with a friend, relative, a partner. When reading aloud or when we listen to reading, we use very different brain circuits than when we read silently. This will ignite discussions while spending time together. Finally, it is not just about everyday activities that we can do to sharpen our minds. Sometimes we can just read, take a book, any book, newspaper, article or editorial. It does not matter what - we just have to read as much as we can. Also stay curious, the more you stay curious, the greater the stamina of your concentration and furthermore the stronger your brain. On a final note, exercises for you mind can come from your phone as well. An app called Elevate is a brain training program designed to improve focus, speaking abilities, processing speed, memory, math skills, and more. Every person is provided with a personalized training program that adjusts over time to maximize results.

Is this Real?

BECOME a master of your emotions

magine you are having a nightmare in which you are chased by a terrifying creature that tries to capture you. You are running towards a cliff and all of a sudden you decide to jump. You would wake up from the nightmare, most probably scared, right? This might be partly because your body responded to the imaginable jump, which surprisingly seemed so real. But why is this actually happening? It is because your subconscious mind cannot make a distinction between actions that are real, and actions that are unreal.

present, pressing and sometimes painful force in our lives. We are driven day by day by our emotions. We take chances because we’re excited for new prospects. We cry because we’ve been hurt and we make sacrifices because we love. Without a doubt, our emotions dictate our thoughts, intentions and actions with superior authority to our rational minds. But when we act on our emotions too quickly, or we act on the wrong kinds of emotions, we often make decisions that we later lament.

Your subconscious mind is responsible for plenty of emotions that you experience. In the abovementioned example this might be fear, anxiety, or even confusion because few seconds ago you made a decision to jump from a cliff, and now, all of a sudden you are in your bed with your heart pounding.

Our feelings can alter between dangerous extremes. As with many other aspects of life, emotions are best used with a sense of moderation and logical perspective. This is not to say that we should stop ourselves from falling in love or jumping for joy after great news. These are truly the finest things in life. It is negative emotions that must be handled with extreme care.

Emotions are the most

By Danaé Ramírez Arjona, Marjolein Kramer, Eleonora Dimitrova

Don’t react right away. Reacting immediately to emotional triggers can be an immense mistake. It is guaranteed that you’ll say or do something you’ll later regret. Before refuting the trigger with your emotional argument, take a deep breath and stabilize the overwhelming impulse. Continue to breathe deeply for five minutes, feeling as your muscles relax and your heart rate returns to normal. As you become calmer, affirm to yourself that this is only temporary. Ask for divine guidance. Faith is our saving grace in our darkest moments. No matter your creed, developing a healthy relationship with the divine world will help you surmount your obstacles more easily. This is because when you believe in a higher force, you also believe in the power of divine intervention to show you what you must do, teach you why something is happening or even save you from a certain unwanted situation. When burdened with emotion, close your eyes, envision a positive solution to your problem, and ask the universe to illuminate the best path forward. Find a healthy outlet. Now that you’ve managed your emotion, you’ll need to release it in a healthy way. Emotions should never be bottled up. Call or go see someone you trust and recount to them what happened. Hearing an opinion other than your own broadens your awareness.

Keep a journal and transfer your emotions from your inner self onto the paper. Many people find it helpful to engage in aggressive exercises, such as kickboxing or martial arts to discharge their feelings. Others meditate and chant to return to a tranquil state of being. Perform whatever activity is best-suited to you in order to liberate your being from pent-up sentiments. See the bigger picture. Every happening in our lives, whether good or bad, serves a higher purpose. Wisdom means being able to see past the moment and discern the greater meaning of any given situation. You may not understand it in the beginning, but as time goes by, you’ll begin to see the pieces falling into perfect order. Even in the midst of an emotionally upsetting moment trust that there exists an ultimate purpose, which you will come to comprehend soon. Replace your thoughts. Negative emotions bind us to recurring negative thoughts, creating cycles of downright negative patterns. Whenever you are confronted with an emotion which is making you feel or think something bad, force it out of your mind and replace it with a different thought. Imagine the ideal resolution to your problem playing out, think about someone who makes you happy or remember an event that makes you smile.

Forgive your emotional triggers. Your emotional triggers may be your best friend, your family members, yourself or all of the above. You may feel a sudden wave of anger when your friend “does that thing” she always does, or a stab of self-loathing when you remember something you could have done differently. But when you forgive, you detach. You detach from the resentment, the jealousy or the fury lingering within you. You allow people to be who they are without the need for escalating emotions. As you forgive, you will find yourself disassociating from the harsh feelings attached to your being. As a constant reminder of our ardent nature, emotions surge through us at every second of the day. But we often take wrong actions when wrong feelings filter through our mind without restraint. To avoid the burn of acting out during an emotional upsurge, take a few simple steps to calm your heightened spirit and quiet your uneasy mind. Once the moment passes (in hindsight), you’ll be grateful you were able to be the master of your emotions.

media have a huge impact on people’s mind. Everyone has some kind of a social network nowadays - Facebook, Instagram, twitter or snapchat… and we all share our best pictures and smiley faces there. Famous people are also on social media, with millions of followers from all over the world gossiping about their perfect lives, bodies, cars, houses, and even food.

just a number or a size: we are all the movies we watch, the books we read, our hobbies, the music we listen to, the people we are surrounded by… that’s who we really are. We need to accept and love ourselves the way we are, not trying to look like somebody else. People will love you because of who they are when you are with them, not because you are a size 34, 38 or 42.

I used to have social media too. I absolutely loved it. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I did it all. Social and without media made me feel less alone, like I was a part of something. Posting all your thoughts and My friends photos and sharing thought everything you did. With every retweet I I was crazy. felt better about myself.

Even if you don’t want realizing it you put into your mind a perfect lifestyle that is accepted by society as the ‘’right’’ way to live, behave and look. As a woman, I feel like I Deleting need to be very skinny, have a thigh gap, However, when I social perfect skin and long didn’t get a like, I shinny hair because felt bad; more than media??? that’s what is on social bad, actually. As if How can media and that is what your followers, your ads sell us. This creates friends, didn’t like you you live a lot of health and anymore. Or that that without it? mental issues to a lot particular photo was of women of all ages ugly and that it needed social media pressure is to be more beautiful. I one of the causes of anorexia, bulimia also felt embarrassed and insecure. and low self-confidence. Are they laughing? Do they think it’s funny that I barely get twenty likes, What we don’t realize is that absolutely while they have at least sixty? What nobody has a perfect life or a perfect would they think about me? body. All the images we see have been retouched, influencers take more I got scared about not getting enough than hundred pictures before finding likes and I began to hate that feeling. the one they like the most and look This insecure ongoing feeling that I better. But besides this, what we need wasn’t good enough or I didn’t belong to understand is that every single - and that is ridiculous, but it is what person is different: weight is just a happens to you. Something you can’t number and looks absolutely different ignore. I hated to feel like that, and I on every single person. A skinny body began to wonder about social media and a pretty face might be nice, but why it was actually a good thing; you are more than that. People aren’t because, what if it isn’t? Seeing all the

By Marta Artigas & Ester van der Plas

I used to have Twitter...

Social

happy pictures and all the cool stuff other people did, and I, I was wondering why my life wasn’t that much fun as theirs. I quit social media. If my friends wanted to talk to me, to tell me about their day or sharing this beautiful photo, they would still do it but in real life. Not over social media. My friends thought I was crazy. Deleting social media??? How can you live without it? But it was actually pretty easy. At least a lot easier than I thought it would be. It saved me lots of time and lots of insecurities. It made me feel free, as if I didn’t have to pretend anymore. After a few months a made a new Facebook ac-

count. Not because I wanted to go back to social media but because for students, lots of activities are posted on Facebook. Lots of pictures from parties are on Facebook. If you join a club, they have this Facebook page with all the information. So now my Facebook page is blank, only with my name and the community pages I follow, and I don’t do anything more than that. I don’t regret it at all. And the conclusion? Just learn to live happy with yourself just the way you are ;)

By Maeve Dunigan & Emily van den Heuvel

The mind is a very powerful tool. It makes you who you are. Every individual takes a different life path, which is set by its characteristics and goals in life. It is the power of the mind that makes every one of us come to different achievements in our lifetime. Three such individuals with incredible minds are an astronomer Gerard Kuiper, philosopher Benedict Spinoza and a famous painter Vincent van Gogh.

Gerard Kuiper Ever heard of the Kuiper belt? It’s a diskshaped formation of many different icy bodies in the universe. This important stellar structure gets its name from famous scientist and astronomer Gerard Kuiper, who was born in North Holland in the village of Harenkarspel. Kuiper worked in astronomy throughout his entire life and made many advanced discoveries in the field. He is responsible for discovering both Uranus

Benedict de Spinoza The European enlightenment during the 17th and 18th century would re-shape the way Europeans thought about God, humanity and nature itself. One of the key figures during the enlightenment was Benedict de Spinoza, who was born in 1632 in Amsterdam. Spinoza was critical of many aspects of the Bible and thought that it did not give a clear depiction of the self in relation to the universe. “Ethics,” a philosophical treatise penned by Spinoza himself, would become one of the greatest attempts in explaining the philosophical method of Euclid. Spinoza died at the age of 44 from what historians believe to have been lung illness. He is buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague.

and Neptune’s satellite. Kuiper also helped with an Air Force’s plan with the mission of detonating a nuclear warhead on the moon. Though he studied at Leiden University in 1924, he eventually moved to the United States where he became a professor and researcher at the University of Chicago. It was there that he was a dissertation advisor to Carl Sagan, another famous astronomer.

Vincent van Gogh One of the most famous Dutch painters of modernism was Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh with his work had an enormous impact on expressionism, fauvism and early abstraction of the twentieth century. Although he is now seen as one of the most important painters of the modern art stream, the recognition for his work came rather late. During his lifetime Vincent sold merely one painting, namely the ‘Red Vineyard.’ Vincent started painting at the age of 27 and made 900 paintings in barely ten years. At the beginning of his career Vincent painted especially in ash and earth tones - a similar way his Dutch colleagues were doing. With the move to France, Vincent came for the first time in contact with another type of painting - impressionism. This modern art stream inspired van Gogh to start painting in a similar way: clearer, lighter and looser. From this moment on Vincent started to create his own style, a style that is typified for its strong contours, cut-offs, contrasting colors, and short brushstrokes. During his life Vincent was misunderstood, as a consequence of the mental illness he was suffering from. It was after his death, at the age of 37, when Vincent finally got the recognition he deserved. He was a genius in his field and has been inspiring people already for centuries.

Globetrotter - December 2016 Design - Martin Vybostok, Cover page - Bianka Urbanovska Magazine made by students of The Hague University of Applied Sciences