Art Is Magical: Creativity At Cantor Art Museum Stanford University

Looking at art makes us a happier human being. Yes, art is magical. Studies show that looking at art stimulates, among other things, the motor cortex, the part of your brain that controls your body's movements. When you look at art you don't just see it with your eyes or feel it with your brain, you also feel it with your whole body. Quite literally. Every fiber of your being – your senses, your intellect, your emotions, every part of your physical corpus – responds to works of art. But that's not all. Art wakes you up to three profoundly important realities.

One, the reality of the world.

Two, the reality of other people

Three, the reality of yourself.

Andy Warhol once said, "You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you." The world around us is spectacular. And not just the big things, the oceans and the sunsets and the Eiffel Tower and whatnot. If you let yourself, you can see just as much wonder in the little stuff. Tuning into the magnificence of reality, both natural and human made, can increase your daily happiness quotient as seen here on our date at Cantor Art Museum in Palo Alto. My wife attended Stanford many moons ago and brought me here today for a truly everything-all-at-once feeling.