Our Story
and ,Some years ago, a small group of friends recognized our need to slow down. Like many people, we felt overwhelmed by the speed of life and found little room for reflection. So we created a space where we could talk about an important question we all shared: How are we going to be in the world? We found a rhythm for exploring books, poems, films, and music that helped us open our own life stories with one another. Good food and drink was always involved. Our conversations revolved around three basic questions:
What struck you?
What does this story say to your life story?
What do our stories say about how to be in the world?
Our encounters evolved into this global movement we call Nexus – an international relational network, made up of many small circles of local friends, who meet in person to open life together through the arts. We also host special events – encounters with books, poetry, concerts, films, TV shows, and nature, where people get a taste of the Nexus experience. You can create your own Nexus circle with friends where you live! We can help you. You don’t need to be an artist, or an expert on art – just someone curious to journey together with others through inspiring stories.
Today, Nexus exists in more than fifteen countries in Europe, North America, The Middle East and Asia. On this site you will find articles inspired by encounters with books, films, music, poems and life events. Each article serves as a stimulus, either for a conversation with others or your own personal consideration. Some invite you to participate in a first-hand encounter with a specific creative work (watch a film, listen to a song, read a poem, study a flower, etc). We hope you find these resources helpful. Our contribution is to share generous ways of being together that people can practice with their friends.
We also provide coaching and resources to local groups such as book and film clubs that may or may not be formally related to the Nexus organisation. We help people create local events in their own contexts. Please feel free to Contact Us, read more About Us and explore our online Resources. We also host a podcast, Opening Life, which you can find below, or on your preferred streaming platform.
Image by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
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Podcast
We’re excited to invite you to our podcast Opening Life! Follow us on Facebook & Instagram for updates and info. All episodes can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or check out the latest episode below:
Our Five Key Words
Space
Our lives are crowded, both inside ourselves and in the world. We all need space to listen, reflect and speak, without fear of judgement.
Story
Like a mirror, stories provide reflections of our human experience from different perspectives. Stories can be told not only with words, but also with sounds, images and movements.
Conversation
Life-opening conversations happen when each person is invited to show up as they are. Wisdom can emerge from listening to many voices, each one irreplaceable in its particularity.
Connection
Human beings long for connection to ourselves, to one another, and to our sources of life. We flourish when we stay connected and flow.
Practice
Life asks us to grow inner and relational habits that form us as individuals and communities. We need the help of one another’s experience and encouragement to pull it off.
More on Key Words
Our Story
Some years ago, a small group of friends recognized our need to slow down. Like many people, we felt overwhelmed by the speed of life and found little room for reflection. So we created a space where we could talk about an important question we all shared: How are we going to be in the world? We found a rhythm for exploring books, poems, films, and music that helped us open our own life stories with one another. Good food and drink was always involved. Our conversations revolved around three basic questions:
What struck you?
What does this story say to your life story?
What do our stories say about how to be in the world?
Our encounters evolved into this global movement we call Nexus – an international relational network, made up of many small circles of local friends, who meet in person to open life together through the arts. We also host special events – encounters with books, poetry, concerts, films, TV shows, and nature, where people get a taste of the Nexus experience. You can create your own Nexus circle with friends where you live! We can help you. You don’t need to be an artist, or an expert on art – just someone curious to journey together with others through inspiring stories.
Today, Nexus exists in more than fifteen countries in Europe, North America, The Middle East and Asia. On this site you will find articles inspired by encounters with books, films, music, poems and life events. Each article serves as a stimulus, either for a conversation with others or your own personal consideration. Some invite you to participate in a first-hand encounter with a specific creative work (watch a film, listen to a song, read a poem, study a flower, etc). We hope you find these resources helpful. Our contribution is to share generous ways of being together that people can practice with their friends.
We also provide coaching and resources to local groups such as book and film clubs that may or may not be formally related to the Nexus organisation. We help people create local events in their own contexts. Please feel free to Contact Us, read more About Us and explore our online Resources. We also host a podcast, Opening Life, which you can find below, or on your preferred streaming platform.
Image by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
🇨🇳 中文简体 🇩🇪 Deutsch 🇪🇸 Español 🇫🇷 Français 🇮🇹 Italiano 🇭🇺 Magyarul
Podcast
We’re excited to invite you to our podcast Opening Life! Follow us on Facebook & Instagram for updates and info. All episodes can be streamed on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or check out the latest episode below:
Our Five Key Words
Space
Our lives are crowded, both inside ourselves and in the world. We all need space to listen, reflect and speak, without fear of judgement.
Story
Like a mirror, stories provide reflections of human experience from different perspectives. Stories can be told not only with words, but also with sounds, images and movements.
Conversation
Life-opening conversations happen when each person is invited to show up as they are. Wisdom can emerge from listening to many voices, each one irreplaceable in its particularity.
Connection
Human beings long for connection to ourselves, to one another, and to our sources of life. We flourish when we stay connected and flow.
Practice
Life asks us to grow inner and relational habits that form us as individuals and communities. We need the help of one another’s experience and encouragement to pull it off.
More on Key Words
Recent Posts
Listening to Stories from Around the Globe
Learning to engage with stories through film has been a major field of precious discovery for me in the past decades. It has given me more than one life. It has offered me a rich palette of human and cultural colors in life’s diverse experiences and challenges. I have been allowed to share in the challenges, the joys and the griefs people have experienced in a multitude of cultural situations, some very similar to my own, many very different to mine. It has helped me to understand better my own perceptions, emotions, strengths and weaknesses. I am sure that it has enhanced my empathy, to understand better how the same experience can impact people in very different ways.
Exercises in Imagination
The word that stays with me after the closure of our local Gothenburg film festival is imagination. I am once more impressed by the potential of film to stir and exercise the imagination. I have been allowed to think thoughts and explore emotions that I would not have done without the films I’ve watched. The ability to see beyond our currently experienced reality towards new possibilities is so important for our emotional well-being. It energizes, reduces stress and enhances empathy.
My Best Films of 2025 – from Rinus
From 2019 onward I have shared with you my list of the best films of the past year. My list contains the films that I truly care about and have communicated something to me that I continue to carry with me. They have the potential to prompt valuable discussions aligned with our Nexus key ideas. Of course, this list is limited to the ones I managed to see throughout the year. Some of the films I’ve written about during 2025. In my short introductions to each film, I’ve used parts of those longer presentations that you will find in the film section.
A Courageous Voice – Jafar Panahi
Last week the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was handed a one-year prison sentence, and a travel ban in Iran. He was at that moment in New York to receive prizes for his latest film It Was Just an Accident. He commented that he planned to return. Twice before he has spent time in prison. It was conversations with other political prisoners, telling him about violence and brutality in the prisons of the regime, that inspired him to shoot this film.