We were lucky to catch up with Dave Aquilante recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dave, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I was a natural artist right from the womb. I was able to draw accurately portraits of people and animals flawlessly. I thrived in art classes in grade school, middle school and high school. I went on to graduate from Columbus College of Art and Design where I majored in illustration and design. After college I took several jobs as a freelance artist.
During this time my love for art began to wane as the dream of being an artist didn’t pay the bills and monthy rent, nor did it pay my student loan bill.
I realized that the dream job was not sustainable as I wished it to be.
I relied on my other skills, that of cooking and became a chef which sustained me and my growing family.
Then on December 20,2017 I had a massive stroke, disabling my ability to see, hear, write or spell, or do even the simplest math. Along with these cognitive deficits I also lost my ability to move my right limbs, both right leg and foot and right arm and hand were unresponsive.
As a result, I spent countless hours retraining myself on how to walk at first, then focusing on moving my right hand, arm and fingers. This took over a year of physical and occupational therapy to recover my mobility.
While I was physically attempting to gain strength and mobility, I simultaneously went through two years of speech therapy where I was taught how to read lips and how to speak again. And 6 years later I am still reteaching myself how to spell and read among other cognitive tasks necessary to navigate this ever-changing world.
During my recover from the stroke I began to use art as a therapy as a means to put myself back together, to make myself useful, to give meaning to my life once again.
What started out as a therapy blossomed into a need for survival, then into a love once again, and finally into a business, one which I adore and have deep affection for, for art not only helps me recover from the stroke, but it gives me a reason to live and thrive in this world.
Although I still struggle with certain cognitive issues my ability to draw and paint has given me a new lease on life.
By wanting to learn more about painting techniques I encouraged myself to learn how to read again, by learning how to read again encouraged myself to understand and assimilate and store information in my brain, by storing information in my brain I encouraged myself to recall that information, and that is essentially what recovery from a stroke is all about, to rewire a once broken brain into a useful reliable tool for navigating a means of bring income to myself all the while sharing my god given talents to the world.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I spent 6 years in a Buddhist Monastery before I had my stroke mastering mindfullness meditation, and I employed mindfulness meditation on a daily basis during my recovery from the stroke. What I learned in the years in the monastery saved my life and allowed me to strive where other may have quit during some of the doubtful and difficult times in recovery.
As you may see we are what we think. In the beginning after my stroke my neurologist told me I was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.
The teachings I learned in the monastery taught me to question everything. If I believed the dr’s I would still be in a wheelchair. Now every day I walk 2-3 miles in freedom.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Waking up in the hospital I realized I could not see through my right eye, nor could I talk. I trained my brain to focus on making my eye focus and see with sheer will.
At first I saw nothing but blackness.
Opthamologists agreed that my sight coming back after such a severe stroke was doubtful, at the best we could hope for is blurry vision.
When I got home I attached a tennis ball to a string and hung it from the ceiling fan and watched it for hours every day. I did this to strengthen the muscles behind my eye until I got my vision back.
Now I am able to see, drive, write, read, and yes draw and paint with ease.
There are times where I need to rest my eye as long hours in the studio fatigues them, especially my right eye, but I can’t complain.
No is not an answer.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Anxiety is thinking about the future too much. Depression is dwelling in the past.
Only in the present moment is where life exists.
The present moment is where home is.
Humans create stories out of imaginings that have nothing to do with reality, or Truth.
We are like fish that get caught by hooks in the stream of life. And we can’t release ourselves from those hooks. Our perceptions are our hooks. If we cling to our perceptions we lose our freedom, our ability to grow and become our best versions of ourselves.

I offer you all one question: “Where is your freedom?”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daveaquilante.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daveaquilante
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/daveaquilante