Monday 18 October 2010

It Is What Lies In The Heart That Really Matters.

I mentioned that I visited a little village that sits in the very heart of Edinburgh the capital of Scotland. Let me tell you just a bit more about this. For most visitors to Edinburgh its main street is its centre. Princess Street has on one side the castle towering above the city. Also on that side is at street level its beautiful gardens with its art galleries built in classical style. For many this is the heart of Edinburgh. If this was in fact the case Edinburgh would be pretty much like many other cities.

But not far off this main street lies a little cobble street that leads down into a little village that has been there since Edinburgh was just in its infancy. It is possible to walk through the village and all the way to the sea following the river of Leith never ever more than a few hundred yards from all the buzz of city life.

It is little wonder I love this city, because it has a beating heart at its centre.

I heard the other day that the heart is more akin to the brain that we ever knew before. Well scientifically maybe that is true but we all knew the importance of the heart. "Countenance is a press conference that your face calls to give the state of union of your inner heart." In other words the face merely reflects the inner you.

On being asked how he won a race a famous runner said, “Easy I just threw my heart into it and my body followed.”

I remember when I was fairly young I went with a friend to stay with her grandmother. Her grandmother lived directly under the Forth Rail Bridge. Trains roll over this bridge day and night. The first time I heard it in her home I almost had a heart attack, she on the other hand never seemed to notice. She said she had hardened her heart to the sound and now she did not notice at all.

The same hardening process can occur when friends speak to us and we don not respond. Eventually we stop hearing them all together. I have a silent vow I make frequently that I will never ever ignore the voice of another and especially not that of my friends.

So if I do not comment on your blog as often as I would like please trust and believe me it is not because I do not want to it is often just simply that I am responding to another voice but I still hold yours dear in my mind.



It is not the face or the words but what lies in the heart that makes us what we are. Tend to the heart and the rest will come easily.



This is the way of the Tao.



Today I will put two pictures on here of the heart of Edinburgh and one on my other blog. I hope you agree that not many cities have a beating heart like this.

This blog is linked to my other. The Beating Heart Of A City

6 comments:

  1. Good Morning Ralph, today will be a great day!
    Edinburgh is indeed beautiful. We used to realize that waterways and greenery were important to city life, that feeding the spirit and tending the heart were essential to a complete life.

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  2. When I think of the fact that we can survive and live without many parts of the body... but once the heart has gone we cease to breath. We cannot live without that breath. We must have heart to live. I have always known that and so I put my heart into everything.. love, life, all ...

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  3. yes, i have my bridge in san diego also
    my pilgrimages of the heart take me there
    i love the place you showed us, ralph!

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  4. Hello Ralph, a very good post. I have visited Edinburgh two times...once I also walked on that street. I felt when I was there that I had been there before. It felt like a simply magical place.

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  5. My heart soars on the waves of the wind. It rises to greates heights in the sand dunes and on the ocean shore.
    But it never attains its breadth and breathlessness without someone to share and love.

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  6. I had been to Edinburgh and had a memorable time, one of the best trips I had in my life... but still I was itching to come back to home at Bangalore and no matter where I go and enjoy, my Bangalore seems like heaven, because my heart is set there.So anything else in life becomes best for us when we set our heart in it:-)

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