Dancing into the future . . .

Wouldn't you agree that Greece, a country that has bequeathed so much to the western world, deserves all the support and appreciation we can muster?

Then please join with me in watching a moving and highly unusual Athenian celebration.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a heralding event than a celebration.
Let me explain.

Over the past few years, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has been creating a magnificent new Cultural Centre at Delta Falirou in Athens.  The Centre aims to open in 2016, and is the Foundation's gift to the Greek state.

Designed to provide a home for the Greek National Opera, the National Library of Greece and a large public park, the Centre, when complete, will be a new wonder of the modern world.

But Athenians haven't had to wait until 2016 to witness what the site can produce by way of talent and ingenuity.

On the 25th June last year, under the baton of its Conductor and Artistic Director, Myron Michailidis, the Greek National Opera Orchestra gathered on the foundations of its new home to perform at sundown.

The music chosen for the occasion was 'The Planets Suite' by Gustav Holtz.

As the music swelled out over the Athens roof-tops, and the sun slowly set, ten large construction cranes, conspicuously situated on a newly-created artificial hill, proved that their creative talents weren't limited to construction.  The played a starring, artistic role.

Moving with a stately grace, they slowly 'danced' to Renato Zanell's innovative choreography.

Dancing cranes, dipping and swaying to the music, both heralded and celebrated the new Athenian Centre which, in two years' time, would be standing where they were standing.

Click here to watch them, and see how they wrap the present crisis in a protective bubble of art and music.

Is Greece capable of dancing its way out of debt into a solvent and creative future?
Watch these cranes and you won't have a moment's doubt.

The wisdom of the heart

Where do our ideas come from . . . ?
From our heads . . . ?


Yes, that's what I used to think.  But I've been fascinated to learn that the heart has been grossly under-valued.
Considerably more than a mere pump, it appears that the heart has its own intricate brain and nervous system.  The brain in the head isn't paramount, it's the heart that holds the more powerful intelligence.

Where did I learn this?  From the work of an American scientific body known as The Institute of HeartMath.
After years of study, the Institute has established conclusively that there's a heart domain and a mind domain.  The heart, they've concluded, is an information-processing body, sending important information to the brain.

This means that there are two domains in our energy system, two domains which, if we are to maximise our potential, need to work together.

As a general rule, wouldn't you agree that we, in the western world, ascribe the brain superiority over the heart . . . opting to put our trust in study, knowledge and proven facts?  We're inclined too mistrust a heart-based or intuitive response.
How interesting that it should have been scientifically proved that, in reality, the heart is dominant.

All of this came to mind the other day as I watched a deeply-moving film entitled, 'Honesty'.

"Honesty," says the poet David Whyte, who wrote the script, "is reached through the doorway of grief and loss . . . "  His commentary on this theme conveys its own powerful message, and forms an eloquent background to a succession of poignant faces.


Each face looks directly into the camera and registers a level of distress, but none of them speak.

What made me think of HeartMath's discoveries was the way in which, despite knowing nothing of their individual stories, I found myself resonating, at an emotional level, with each silent face.

The reasoning brain in the head had little to offer this succession of strangers.  The heart, however, made instant contact.

In a moment I'll give you a link to the film, which was conceived by its director, Mark Pellington.  I hope you can watch it.

If you do, you'll find that the people you see will vary greatly.  Some will be of a different age-group to your own, some of the opposite sex or a different colour . . .  but I'm confident that you'll find that none of this distracts from an immediate sense of total understanding.

Have you eight minutes to spare?  Then please click here and share this very moving experience.

In our troubled, media-obssessed world, mightn't it be a good idea to cut back on words and spend more time in silent, heart-based understanding?

It's just an idea . . . and perhaps it's my cue to stop speaking!