What Is The Power of the Heart?
A collection of stories by and from you
One of the most intimate aspects of the project “The Power of the Heart” has been for me the involvement of my dearest friends, JO and Phil, who both welcomed me in their Tangier guest house back in 2016, when I was totally lost, broken, hopeless, and burned out. Meeting them has been a pivotal moment for me. Their welcome, their love, their friendship and their non-judgmental affection not only allowed me to emotionally heal and to find a renewed purpose for my life, but also inspired me the courage to follow my creative instinct and to believe in myself once more, to stand into the lights, all of which led me to sharing “Windows in the Sky” (that has been mostly written on the terrace of their hotel looking at the ocean) and everything that followed… I owe them the joyful and fulfilling essence of what became a rejuvenated season of my life. And that’s why, to me, they incarnate the real nature of what it means to love.
– Alex Henry Foster
The power of the heart for me is when someone simply decides to go against their own nature, to violently stop from going in one direction, and to make a stand by walking against all currents. It’s a constant state of mind where someone decides to be rooted in something above and beyond what we know and understand.
Selfishness and self-consciousness are both deeply rooted in our human nature. Those 6 inches, that very short distance between the heart and the mind, are the two road maps leading our decision-making, our capability and desire to be, to welcome, to let go, and the measure by which we choose to love, to pursue greatness, friendship, freedom, and peace!
The power of the heart is only limited by the fences we personally decide to erect, limiting ourselves to what we reason and rationalize.
– Jeff (The Long Shadows)
The power of the heart… It’s been said that the purest heart is that of a child; one that believes without fear, one that trusts the best is ahead, one that loves without deep thinking, one that receives everything beautiful freely without shame, one that isn’t even aware of the concept of heart…
Simplicity, integrity, sincerity, candidness, spontaneity, love… I long to live all these powerful strengths so natural for a child and yet so far from my adult state of mind. Going back to the child’s heart isn’t easy as I have been taught to pretend rather than to be… But I did also receive so much love from my close friends that I do have the possibility and desire to rewire my brain, my heart, to go back to the source, to reset to “factory settings”!
You should have seen me sing some parts in our version of the song “The Power of the Heart”, as I totally let go of what I thought was the “proper” way to sing to simply let out my most spontaneous voice, no filter, no thinking, just the moment, the music and me. As soon as I realized what I just did, I laughed like… a child.
– Miss Isabel (The Long Shadows)
For me, the power of the heart is the profound gift of selfless love. With our hearts, we have the power to free people through forgiveness, to change their lives with a single touch, to empower their dreams with our words, to change someone’s self-destructive path. To make someone feel like they matter is the greatest treasure we have.
– Ben (The Long Shadows)
When I think about the heart, the first thing that comes to my mind is this verse in the Bible, Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”. It’s so powerful for me to consider that the source of life lies in the heart of people. I’ve witnessed a love that healed the most wounded hearts, a love that seeds hope in the most desperate hearts, a love that gave shelter to the broken ones… All this love reminds me to have faith no matter how lost in my own darkness I can be sometimes… When you get out of your own shelter, your heart has the power to spread light in the darkest places in people’s life.
– Sef (The Long Shadows)
In 2018 my father passed away, and 18 months later my mother also passed away, three days prior to our first European tour as Alex Henry Foster & The Long Shadows. I was a mess, it was too much at once, but because of the way my bandmates and the family at HTR took care of me while I was in that state, I can say that this was the power coming from their heart. The context was surreal; performing an album such as ‘’Windows in the Sky’’ every night and seeing how Alex made his way through the loss of his father was inspiring. It was witnessing the power of his heart.
During that tour, I had an emotional shutdown, my mouth was shut, through the mixed emotions and the pain, but my bandmates and you guys lit my heart. The power of the heart was also to see some of you on tour last summer, choosing to come to the shows despite what you were going through… Thanks for the talks we had. I could not end without adding that forgiving or being forgiven when it doesn’t seem to make any sense, when it goes beyond logic, is the most beautiful demonstration of a power that can only come from the heart. While hatred or guilt can create the thickest of darkness, true forgiveness from the heart unleashes life.
– Moose (The Long Shadows)
“For me now, the power of the heart is bravery. The bravery to put all the children in the car and drive them 2,000 km to nowhere, hiding them from the horror of cruelty and potential danger. The power of the heart is also when grandparents hug their grandchildren not having confidence that they will see them again and stay in their home to meet the unknown. The power of the heart is a man who sees his family off, giving them safety, and stays at his home with full readiness to take up arms and not retreat. And the power of the heart is to keep love and passion in the heart after six months of separation. It is to meet relatives at home with flowers and festive balls and not to be influenced by current life and everything that has changed us.” – Alla
It’s all true… “The force who is the source”. During the darkest hours of grief, sadness, confusion on how or what was to be of life itself anymore, then like a puff of a magic cloud, I now understand that magic cloud being a gift from the divine, I was connected with another story that woke me and inspired me to ride again. The colors came so instantly, a mix of vibrancy, with sadness, with happiness all came along with dreams that kept me walking towards the light. Thus we have this artwork. It’s a painting that helped me being again and because it has so much love behind its story, I hope all 75 posters go to those friends who are truly inspired by Alex, as I was. Always – JJ
Thank you Yoshi for showing us the power of the heart!
Since music is one of his passions, he started asking bands all around to offer something, even if little, to create an auction. So I obviously said yes when he asked us to participate! We then decided to give the test pressing of my album Windows in the Sky and a copy of our limited-edition LP “All the Violence in the World”.
It’s always an honor for us to share the vision of a man of heart, a man who brings a little spark of joy and hope to those in need. A true demonstration of what the power of the heart is. Thank you brother.
The true power of the heart resides in my dear friend Kenny Shangrila who welcomed Jeff and I in his tiny tattoo studio during a typhoon in 2019. We spent the night in the company of his late girlfriend who tragically took her life and his tattoo-artist mentor Jimmy Wong. They are the ones who tattooed the word “NOW” on Jeff’s and my wrist, and still today, whenever I catch a glimpse of the word on my wrist, I am reminded of how powerful “now” can be, but also of how strong the heart is… Kenny, Jimmy, thank you. Nong Wong, may you rest in peace.
