December 2022 - Inspiration & motivation in the everyday

The luck of having a big sister

I do not know whether there is a statistic of how many people in the world have a big sister. At Christmas time I hope there are many. Having a big sister is the greatest luck in the world.

1. Having a big sister means you have someone who cares and protects you for the rest of your life. One of the first things I remember as a little girl was my mum saying to my sister that she must look after me and not allow anyone to upset or hurt me. Big sisters grow up quickly, they mature early because they are responsible for caring and nurturing the annoying little sibling from a very young age. Do not get me wrong – they have their revenge later in life when a stranger looks at the two sisters and innocently asks “Excuse me, who is the oldest one?” and points to the younger one “Probably you!”. The big smile on my sister’s face was unforgettable.

2. You have someone who you trust implicitly. Your big sister knows everything about you – your strengths, your weaknesses, your eccentricities, fears and deep insecurities. She knows your triumphs and your failures, your secrets and your desires. You can tell her anything and you know that it is safe, it is secure and you can be who you are without any pretence or facades.

And you know that your trustworthy big sister has your best interest in her heart. She would strongly encourage you to read the most interesting book all night and pretend that you were asleep when your parents checked on you. Or she would lift your mood straightaway by insisting that divas usually live in Los Angelis, that prima donnas are in the La Scala or dramas are shot in Bollywood so why not skip the nonsense and come down to earth. In any case, a walk will help.

3. Lastly, my big sister is my role model. It is not surprising that she is a Capricorn zodiac sign – the sign of the mountain goat who never gives up and reaches the peak of the mountain where no-one has been before.

I was two years behind my sister at school and that was great for me. She was an excellent student and had a brilliant reputation. So I felt like a “nepo baby” – fully relying on the reputation of my celebrity sister. Until disaster struck. I will always remember my teacher of physics in secondary school who looked straight into my eyes and said – “ Nina, you have a long way to go to level up with your big sister”. I am still on the road.

Happy Birthday to my big beautiful and clever sister!

Avant-garde at Christmas

The Christmas Festive Season is the time when we indulge in long-standing traditions such as the Christmas tree, presents, Christmas cards, carols, families together around the Christmas table and turkey.

Christmas is also a wonderful magical time of superpower and irrationality.

That makes me wonder what a meeting of the magic of avant-garde art and the traditions of Christmas would look like.

The answer came in the form of an Interesting story by Ann Swanson published in the Washington Post.

Hallmark Cards is the oldest and the largest American company in the greeting cards production business. It was established by Joyce Hall in 1910. It is a family-own company and its headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri. Since 1940 the company have promoted the art of famous painters such as Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gaugen, V. Van Gough and Georgia O’Kaffee to the Americans through the greeting cards market.

In 1959 they approached Salvador Dali, the well known and popular surrealist painter. The deal was very lucrative for Dali – he was paid $15,000 in advance for the creation of 10 Christmas card designs without a deadline, subjects and he retained the copyright.

Eventually Dali produced 10 surrealist interpretations of the Christmas tree and the Holy Family. Hallmark cards company use only two of them – “The Nativity” and “Madonna and Child”. The greeting cards were not subjected to a great demand by the American public and Hallmark took the unsold cards off the shelves.

It seemed like an unhappy ending for modern art. No, no, do not forget – it is Christmas, the magical time,

The Christmas Fairy made everyone happy. The Hallmark greeting card company was awarded the National Medal of Art in 1985. The few hundred Christmas greeting cards by Dali that are still in existence today are a collector’s dream. At Christmas everyone wins.

I wonder which Dali Christmas card you would choose to send to your family, friends and neighbours. Please write your answer in the comments.

My favourite is: The Christmas tree

Ten minute miracle on a cold winter’s day

The cold winter has arrived – the sky is grey, darkness spreads early in the afternoon. If you need something to lift your mood I have a solution for you. I guarantee that this 10 min experience will brighten your day.

What you need to do is simple and free – open your Internet device, browse “Danzon 2 (Marquez) conducted by Dudamel” and watch and listen. It lasts less than 10 minutes and afterwards you will feel uplifting joy.

I speak from personal experience. Some years ago I heard this dynamic, elevating music and immediately wanted to know more about the music, the orchestra and the conductor.

Danzon 2 is a musical piece for an orchestra created by one of the most prominent living composers of our time, Arturo Marquez. He is Mexican and lives in Mexico City.

The orchestra, performing the music, was the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra until some years ago. Due to the growing age of the musicians it is no longer the Youth Orchestra but the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.

The Orchestra is a wonderful result of a very successful social project in Venezuela called El Sistema. The project was the brainchild of an economist, Jose Antonio Abreu and commenced in 1975. It involved 5 children and took place in a garage. The idea was that access to music could give children from poor, underprivileged communities a purpose in their life and keep them away from crime and drugs. If they like music and it inspires them they would naturally strive to improve their lives.

The Orchestra is enormously successful. Half a million children were involved in this immersive musical training over the years. They received instruments, training and academic support. Older children were mentors for the younger ones and professional teachers and musicians were engaged. The Orchestra toured around the world and worked with two outstanding conductors, Caludio Abbado and Simon Rattle.

The charismatic conductor of the Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, is also Venezuelan. He was born into a musical family and got involved in the Orchestra as a violinist. One day the professional conductor of the Orchestra was late and Gustavo, who was 12 at this time, impulsively took the baton and began conducting the Orchestra. Remarkably, when the professional conductor arrived he said “You are doing a good job here” and left Gustavo to continue conducting. The rest is history.

You may already have guessed that Gustavo was a kind of Wonderkid, a Venezuelan Mozart. Five months later he took the position of assistant conductor for the orchestra and the following year he had his own chamber orchestra. In 1999, at18 years of age, he became the Musical Director of the Orchestra. Nowadays he is also working with the Los Angelis Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera National de Paris.

If Danzon 2 helps you feel better I have another little miracle for you. Gustavo Dudamel and the Symphony Orchestra of Opera National de Paris are coming to the Barbican Centre, London on 22 April 2023. Tickets are still available.

See you there.

“Life is worthwhile if you just smile”

Recently I read an article by Ron Gutman published in Forbes some years ago. Ron discovered a simple, powerful and free way to improve his life and the lives of others. The revelation came to him when he was running. He noticed that smiling helped him to go through the pain and struggle of the run so he went on a quest to “uncover the untapped powers of the smile”

Some of his discoveries are amazing:

1. If you smile in your photographs you probably will live 7 years longer than the people who do not smile in their photographs.

2. Children smile around 400 times a day. 30% of adults smile around 20 times a day and less than 14% smile 5 times daily.

3. Smiling makes us feel good. It is not only because we feel happy that we smile – it is actually because we smile that we feel happy.

4. When you smile others smile back to you. Swedish researchers revealed that seeing another person’s smile suppresses the facial muscle controls compelling others to smile back. And smiling back makes them feel good.

5. A British study found that a smile stimulates the brain the same way as eating 2, 000 chocolate bars and having £16,000.

6. Smiling is a free therapy – it keeps you healthy, reduces the level of stress hormones, increases good mood hormones and lowers the blood pressure.