“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.” Pablo Coelho
“Once is a mistake. Twice is an idea. Three times is style.” Miles Davis
At least, I think it was Miles who said that. Maybe it was someone else, maybe it was no one else, at the very least I hope it wasn’t someone rotten since I am naming the weekly series by it. With any luck, I’ll have my stones together to have this go out on Fridays and it will be worthy enough of your time to add to your stack of every other newsletter arriving to your inbox on Friday.
Miles is in the headphones this morning. Everything froze last night. Happy late Solstice to those who celebrate. After an exhausting trip to Manhattan, most of the last week I have been nesting indoors nursing the wife’s rhinovirus and whatever mystery injury I have inflicted upon my leg. Likely, it was from the 20K step days wandering around Manhattan and succumbing to the Museum Shuffle – which I am coining here and now. You know what it is: the slow, half-step mosey taken while wandering a place with so much to look at. No momentum, lots of turning on the heel, lots of pausing and time on your feet. I did this through five floors of MoMA, taking the time to pass by An-My Le’s exhibit twice through (photo above).
I wish it wasn’t the case. I wish there wasn’t the shuffle or the inherent stress of needing to see all of the museum in a few hours to get the most out of your $30 ticket. In every other room was a bench positioned in front of a grand work of art and I kept thinking back to the idea of Spending an Hour with One Work of Art.
The process is simple. I spend a few minutes at the start introducing the blend of meditation and contemplation skills that participants will need, using the breath as the anchor for attention and the means to bring it back when it begins to wander. I prepare them for the distractions they will inevitably have to deal with—external sounds and movement, busy thoughts, physical discomfort.
Then, we launch into alternating periods of open-eye contemplation of the painting on the wall in front of us, and closed-eye internalization of what it is we’ve seen.
The question comes down to, as it usually does, how much distraction can you manage? What is $30 worth to you? What else did you want to see out of this massive, massive city in a day? Yes, I am that kind of guy who is invigorated by travel and inspired by the pure density and detritus of a place like New York City. But when you travel in company there is that feeling of someone else’s time to consider. You split the difference; you do the Shuffle.