Sometimes we make wrong deductions.
We might think, well, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre of Paris is such a famous artwork for its exquisit craftsmanship. The composition is immensely unique.

It does not only depict a stunning woman with a whimsical smile, it is said to be painted in the golden ratio of divine proportions. The foreground, middleground and background are perfectly balanced.

The colours of the painting are soothing to the eye. The image provoces the sensation of elegance and finest artistry. It is made in the sfumato technique to create a 3D illusion on a 2D canvas and gives the viewer the impression of looking into a window of perfection.

 

It’s painter, Leonardo da Vinci, is one oft the key figures of western cultural history which gives the painting an additional edge. And of course given that painting such a thing takes some time, he had to be quite inventive to make the young lady smile for so long…

So we might think, it’s the magic of the painting and the enchanting dance Leonardo did with his brushes here, that entice us so much with “La Gioconda”, how the French call her.
We might think, the colored canvas is famous for it’s intrinsic esthetical value.

 

Well, thats not how our world works.

The Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911 and was missing for a full year before it could be put back on it’s original location in France where Leonardo himself brought it. The culprit was an Italian patriot who thought that the most awesome painting of the most awesome artist should reside in the most awesome country – his country! – in Italy.

Now, the interesting thing is, that it was featured up and down in the – at that time – brandnew media of mass press and colour printing. New technical advancements made it possible to bring something to everybody and his brother. There was no internet, not even radio broadcasting. It was a world where it took people on horses to carry messages forward.

 

Everything new needs icons to make it popular.
In all media, the news storys need to be negative, that’s always the case. Even in sports where you have one winner and hundreds of losers. What type of story would bring people to this new medium and make them want to buy it?
At that time the media was hungry for stories that would sell – and it still is to this day.

It turned out that La Gioconda was the perfect match for what the media was up to. A negative story (the image was stolen), but intriguing enough to be on everyones mind.
Mona Lisa was one of the first great media stars, given she was painted in 1495. Her image went viral and is still one of the top 3 artworks in the world.

So next time you beat yourself up for not being as famous as her, don’t worry. You just have not found the right media outlet to feature you… (whimsical smile)

With so much love,
Anselma

What are young entrepreneurs at Stanford University – striving to build world spanning mega tech corporations – taught at their first course?
What are they told to be the basis of ALL success in the world?

Are they led to impress people with their nitty-gritty high-end business know-how?
Are they taught to dominate the market with the latest AI strategic tech marketing?
Are they told to search for the cheapest producer in China and further support slave labor?

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The greatest things in life are not things.
We all know that.
They can not be bought, not even be stolen.
They come to us when we don’t expect them.
And when we want to catch and conserve them, they shy away from us.

In Donizettis L’elisir d’amore, Nemorino wants to win the love of Adina, who ignores him, by purchasing a love potion. Nice try. At the end, they a couple. But not because of this drink (which turned out to be a bottle of regular red wine anyways).

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Recently, in an illustrated art book I came across a beautiful painting by Lawrence Alma-Tadema named “Pandora’s Box” depicting a lovely redheaded woman with flowers in her hair. She holds a greyish jar in her hands, watching it intently. The jar looks to be from dark marble, on its lid a sphinx is guarding the content.

The story told by Hesiod reads that Prometheus, who stole the fire from Mount Olympus to bring it to the humans of Earth had a brother, Epimetheus. Interestingly enough, the two brothers do have telling names, describing the ways we can move through the world. Prometheus means foresight, where as Epimetheus means hindsight.

They embody our tendencies of planning ahead and following a vision on the one hand and concluding and reflecting how things worked out on the other. Both are necessary, both are invaluable to human life.

 

In the story, Epimetheus was given a pithos, a greek jar made of clay, that contained all the things, humans don’t want to experience: death, sickness, troubles of all sorts and – take note – hope.

Out of curiosity, Pandora, Epimetheus wife, one day inspected the jar and opened the lid. Though she hastily tried to close it again, all the evil inside could escape and since that time, humans of Earth are plagued, having to cope with their existance all the time.

When it turned out that humanity would almost perish being confronted with all this evil, she let out hope as well to help them carry on.
It turned out, that hope was stronger than all the evils together. It would always prevail.

 

What an astounding story. It speaks about our ability to recover, to carry on, to triumph over misfortune and hardship. We can turn around almost we are determined to change into something useful and of value. Or, to use a Buddhist expression, we are able to turn poison into medicine.

I also like that the much-quoted box is actually a round pot of clay. Not rectangular, not an Ikea-style cardbaord box. So many things in reality are quite different upon close inspection than we might think. There is always stuff to examine, to ponder, to verify, very epimethian – so to speak.

So where do you need more hope to win over something uncomfortable or hindering?
Where did some evil weaken a part of your precious soul – waiting to be transformed into something of value, enriching your life again?

And don’t forget, next time you see a box:
Leave it alone, don’t touch it OR
open it twice immediately!

Much love,
Anselma

Back in the day, Adam was strolling around in the Garden of Eden. He just had been created and now stood on his feet, not quite knowing what to do with himself (ok, that’s my idea of it, I admit).

God was quite happy with him, but he thought, well, something is missing here! What could that be? He called Adam and said: “Hey Adam, I think you need a job. So go out and do something useful. Tend the garden. Make it beautiful and lush, prune the trees, collect dry grass and make sure the flowers have enough water.”

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The holiday season is approaching and we all
– have a chance to freak out in the pre-Christmas rush or
– to make the conscious choice to savor the yearly chaos and imperfections.

Imagine a time where your home is beautifully decorated with candles, sparkling lights and festive red ribbons, pillows and mistletoes. On the table there are nuts, fresh oranges and some fir branches, fruity and fragrant.

You planned some stuff, some things are working out, others (lots of!) just aren’t.
Still, you feel content, you lean back and take a long and calm look at things.

You probably notice something interesting.
It’s not about outer things. It’s not about what’s apparent.
It’s about kindness and the ability to say yes to life.

 

Here are some ideas how we bring some inner glow to all the sparkle, the presents, opulent meals, lucky (and sometimes clumsy) moments in the splendid gatherings with friends and family:

Full attention
Listen with your heart. This does not work when your mobile lies on the table. Electronic devices do not belong to any kind of face to face social interaction or party. Leave this stuff in the drawer. No technology, that’s important! It divides your attention.

Approval
Notice all the good things people tell you and confirm how much they are doing right. Life is difficult. We all give our best. Praise all the constructive ideas and personal accomplishments. It makes a difference!

Admiration
Say what you love. Nice dress, you look great! What a beautiful cake – how much effort it took you to make it for us! I like what you just said – you are so strong-willed!
– We are used to thinking these things but we are not used to say them out loud.

Greatfulness
Nothing is granted. We are all borrowing.
The cosy home, the furniture – we are lending what is given to us. The amazing people in our life – we are invited to enjoy their company, nothing more. Even our body ist just a loan. Some day we will have to give it back.

Have a wonderful December,
with so much love,
Anselma

p.s. Need some Christmas Tunes? For TWO and for THREE players, in beautiful arrangements. You are welcome! Thanks for choosing to play out of original sheet music books like ours, not from xerox-copies that destroy the publishing world and the livelihood of composers.

Problems are part of life. We don’t like them. We avoid them. We run from them.
We want a life without them.
But still, they are there. And as soon as we solve one, a new one is on the horizon.

Music is such a magnificent playground to learn about life for every hindrance you can think of sooner or later will march into your practicing room. You will be tired, frustrated, exhausted, impatient, angry on the composer / conductor / yourself / god (pick one or all of them!), disctracted, lost and hopeless. Old friends on your path as a musician. Stop giggling!?

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Living means being with people.
A beautiful social setting equals life quality.

We tend to forget that.
We think, it’s about things. Or goods. Or to-do lists.
No. It’s about people.

Pondering this I understand that we do have to found our life in some very simple, but universal basics.

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Today I have a little story for you. A true story.
Once there was a woman named Anselma, who was a very regular person, wife and friend.
She loved music.
And she loved people.

She did not like that in our society there was strife, disagreement and a destructive competition. She experienced that all of these were non-existent when people came together to make beautiful art, to play music together.
All the differences in personal attitudes seemed to be of no interest when humans gave their best to create audible harmony on the highest level.

So she dedicated her life to exactly this wondrous thing: music. On the highest level that was possible for her.

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We are always practicing something. All the time for we are beings of habits.
Habits are the most crucial forming element for our character.
We can speak all day long about this, that and the other.
But nothing speaks louder than what we do – especially what we do when no one is watching.

Stats Inc. did a study about reliability of baseball players. It turned out, when the game comes into the critical phase and the pressure is rising, the players drop 13% in their overall batting average.

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