Seeking Calm
TAoN No. 203: Pockets of serenity, looking as rest — and February's Savor of the Month theme.
Normally, my Savor of the Month theme announcements get their own (Supporter) post. But today’s topic strikes me as such a good Savor theme that I’m incorporating it into the main (free to all) newsletter. The topic is calm.
I’ll explain Savor of the Month to uninitiated below.
But first: calm.
I’ve been thinking about calm a lot because, you know, current events. So I was intrigued by this article in Psyche on “finding pockets of serenity.” The author, Zsanett Ritli, focuses on calming antidotes to the overload and chaos of urban life — and specifically on art and architecture designed to function as such antidotes. The familiar strategy of escaping to nature is legit, Ritli acknowledges, but is not always practical. And in any case, why shouldn’t such pockets exist everywhere?
Ritli explores works by several artists and designers, beginning with a visit to a gallery installation by light-and-space artist Doug Wheeler.
“[The] installation begins with two large ‘portals’ that visitors step through into a large room without corners, objects or shadows. .... I watched the light shifting in slow gradients: dusky lavender turned into pearled white and then into a soft, horizon-like blue. ... Gradually, I noticed my breathing changing, and I felt a sense of stillness arrive as if it had been waiting for me behind a door. It seemed the room itself had quietly lowered the volume of my nervous system.”
Describing works of “engineered stillness” by James Turrell and other artists and designers, Ritli maintains that in some of their projects, “the act of looking can become a kind of rest.” This echoes the calming effects of the natural:
“The environmental psychologists Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan use the term ‘soft fascination’ to describe the gentle, low-effort attention that sometimes emerges when people spend time in natural environments. Staring at the movement of waves on the sea, or of leaves rustling in the wind, for example, can help us recover from fatigue by allowing us to stay focused with little cognitive effort.”
That said, these artists aren’t exactly trying to re-create nature. But their efforts to craft works that inspire “soft fascination” prove that stillness can be made — or found — in surprising places. Ritli acknowledges the pockets of calm we discover, often by chance: “a sunlit corner in a high-rise office, an empty subway platform just before the morning rush, a quiet courtyard where the hum of traffic fades into distant birdsong.”
I’m really interested in those discoveries. For me, there’s a spot in Crescent Park here in New Orleans where I always stop when a bike ride takes me along that route: a former wharf that was definitely engineered for commerce rather than calmness, but is now most striking for its peaceful view of the Mississippi. “We can learn how to locate calm in a place not designed for calm,” Ritli writes.
Agreed. And in fact I’ll bet you’ve done it. If not, what better time than now? Honor the places of calm you’ve discovered — and look for new ones, wherever you are.
SAVOR OF THE MONTH (14): CALM
This brings us to Savor of the Month. For the uninitiated:
In a Supporter post at the start of every month I announce one specific thing or theme to look out for, pay attention to, appreciate. The idea is to convert something everyday and taken for granted into something we might, yes, savor.
And every month I create a corresponding chat thread where you can share what you are noticing around that theme, or enjoy what others have noticed. You can post pictures, drawings, written observations, whatever works for you. Or just browse!
Themes so far:
Treasure (results here) * Winter (results here) * Mysteries (results here) * Outliers (results here) * Ornamentation (results here) * Everyday Artists (results here) * Reflections (results here) * Contrast (results here) * The Temporary (results here; related audio essay here) * Wind (results here) * Circles (results here) * Small Flowers (results here) * Shadows (results here)
For February, the subject is CALM. As is often the case, that’s a little ambiguous, giving you room to interpret the prompt. But as you move through the month, attend to moments of calm, pockets of serenity, tranquility engineered or simply discovered — from places you return to often, to moments that simply arise. As always pictures are great but drawings, prose, poetry, or anything else is welcome.
The thread is open, right here.
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—> ALSO: Registration is open for a Zoom workshop on turning moments into haiku, led by writer/photographer/traveler Lisa Germany. More here.
Thank you!
IN OTHER NEWS
You’re welcome filip jaśkiewicz and colleagues. ;)
Take an alternate route, and more ideas for finding inspiration offline. (Thanks Livia!)
Albrecht Dürer’s Pillow Studies (1493): “Completed in his early twenties, the work seems to slip between the waking world and the stuff of dreams.” Public Domain Review, via.
Very good essay on Pluribus and AI.
List of lists of lists on Wikipedia. Via BB.
Cat art. Nuff said.
One last note on the Small Idea post. “I’m a fan of seeing the world in the company of little ones,” Rebecca H. writes, sending along the pic below. “This is actually a little guy I noticed while out on a walk in Brooklyn in the Covid Days. I’m not sure if he always resided there or was just visiting the 410 sign but he brought me such joy.” Us too, Rebecca. Thank you!
OKAY THAT’S IT!
As always, I value your feedback (suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, constructive insults directed at me, not at anyone else, etc.), as well as your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers: consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.
—> Or just click the heart symbol. That always makes my day.
And thanks for reading …
rw
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Ahhh. Your words are serendipitous, as I was thinking how to calm my nervous system in this world. I so appreciate the concept of looking for pockets of calmness in daylight, art and buildings… as I make my way to a Ruth Asawa show in NYC it feels so perfect. Thank you.
I love the idea of a museum space whose purpose is to encourage calm and a sense of safety. While I think most people find calm in nature, I personally find a deep sense of calm in built environments. I lived in Cambridge, MA for a summer in the 80s and the architecture and treed streets provided me with a deep sense of comfort and joy. To me the architecture represented a well oiled community that just worked well. I’ve tried forest bathing but to me it’s a foreign place where I can’t imagine living. The first and only time I visited Thoreau’s Walden Pond, I was deeply disappointed. But the neighborhood where Emerson’s concord house still stands was like visiting a holy land.