{"id":69143,"date":"2019-10-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2019\/10\/03\/lessons-in-slowing-down-pico-iyer-vija-celmins-w-s-merwin\/"},"modified":"2019-10-24T15:54:30","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T19:54:30","slug":"lessons-in-slowing-down-pico-iyer-vija-celmins-w-s-merwin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/improvisedlife.com\/2019\/10\/03\/lessons-in-slowing-down-pico-iyer-vija-celmins-w-s-merwin\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons in Slowing Down (Pico Iyer, Vija Celmins, W.S. Merwin…)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past week or so, the same message arrived through a variety of sources: in an email sent by a friend, a poem stumbled upon on instagram, a notice of a museum exhibition.\u00a0 It said, “Look closely at ordinary things and in doing that, slow down, be more HERE.”<\/p>\n

It started with Pico Iyer’s tender essay, The Beauty of the Ordinary,<\/a> in the New York Times.\u00a0 He asks,<\/p>\n

How might we be enchanted by discovery\u2019s opposite \u2014 routine \u2014 and find in constancy a stimulation as rich as novelty provides?<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He looks to autumn for the answer,<\/p>\n

..we come to see that the season\u2019s special lesson is to cherish everything because it cannot last.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In our own life’s autumn, we are reminded of everything we must not take for granted.<\/p>\n

“Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory”<\/a> announced the artist’s retrospective at the Met Breuer in New York City.\u00a0 She is known for her deep focus of the quotidian: ocean waves, starry night, a shell, a space heater, a lamp, an envelope…\u00a0 Each painting invites: “Bring your nose close. Let it slow you down.”\u00a0 Like this painting of a shell:<\/p>\n

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Vija Celmins and Matthew Marks Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

…and a spiderweb, in charcoal, created through erasure…<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Vija Celmins, Collection of Renee and David McKee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On instagram, we found a sign by @mindpollutants.<\/a> Today’s luck included so many things, starting with…waking up.<\/p>\n

…at home.<\/p>\n

…with delicious coffee…<\/p>\n

…and went from there…to the astonishing Cooper Beech at Wave Hill…<\/p>\n

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Sally Schneider<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then came this sunlit W.S. Merwin poem,<\/a> full of gratitude for small big things…<\/p>\n

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A post shared by The Merwin Conservancy (@themerwinconservancy)<\/a> on