A Week of Mindful Attention in NYC
In October, I spent a week in New York City. I’ve wanted to go for a long time. I see clients who live there, but I had never spent real time in the city myself. A friend offered to host me at her place in Bed-Stuy, which made a whole week in the city possible. I was grateful for her generosity.
One thing I noticed during my week was how much less I looked at my phone. I still needed it for practical things, especially the Citymapper app to navigate the subway. But I found myself scrolling much less than I do at home. Instead, I was taking in what was around me. Without planning to, I started doing something I often suggest to clients: paying attention to the five senses on purpose.
People often hear about the five senses as a way to calm down when anxious. I think they can be even more useful as a daily practice. Noticing what you see, hear, smell, taste, and feel, and returning to that noticing throughout the day, is a form of mindfulness meditation. Practicing this mindful attention during neutral or pleasant times makes it easier to remember to use it when we are highly anxious. It also offers a way to push back against all the media built to capture and hold our eyeballs.
While I was in New York, I attended an Attention Lab at the Strother School of Radical Attention in Brooklyn. This was a workshop that combined shared practices with discussion about what attention is and why it is worth protecting. Our theme was "Home," which I thought was funny since I was so far from home. I was very aware that I was the oldest person there, but the space was lovely, the group was welcoming, and the conversation went comfortably beyond small talk.
Cards from the Attention Lab at the Strother School of Radical Attention. Sunset in Brooklyn just before the Attention Lab.
Sight: Looking Closely at Art
Seeing visual art was a big reason for wanting to spend time in New York. I visited the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1 in Queens, the Guggenheim, and galleries in Chelsea. I especially enjoyed the immersive installations. At PS1, James Turrell's Meeting invited me to sit and look up at the sky. It was a gorgeous day with just one tiny white cloud, and the others sitting on the wooden benches with me looked calm and contemplative. At the Brooklyn Museum, I walked around Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party a few times. With each pass I would notice another detail in the textiles under each place setting.
James Turrell, Meeting, at MoMA PS1. The Saint Bridget place setting from The Dinner Party. Richard Pitts, Pegasus, from the exhibition Pitts Presence at NoHo M55 Gallery, Chelsea.
At the Guggenheim, Taryn Simon's work took me back, a little jarringly, to events from my early adulthood. It reminded me that whether we are scrolling or being more purposeful with our attention, we may unexpectedly encounter reminders of a challenging past. It is natural to want to avoid reminders of traumatic experiences, but Simon's work is the opposite. It embraces painful and complicated events. I may write more about this exhibition in another post.
The Guggenheim Museum. Inside the Guggenheim rotunda. Taryn Simon's exhibition at the Guggenheim.
Sound: Listening to the City
Sound was part of the whole week. There was the honking, the trains, and the steady noise of a very densely populated place. One of the things I loved hearing most was all the different languages!
I also went to New York with the intention of seeing live music. Early in the trip, I went to see Medium Build at Webster Hall in the East Village. Lately I've been into very earnest songwriting. I absolutely love how music conveys emotions.
Medium Build at Webster Hall, October 9. On stage at Webster Hall.
A matinee of Hadestown on Broadway might have been the most relaxing thing I did all week. The theater is the best kind of escape. Then I went and did it all again that night with my friend, this time at Buena Vista Social Club. The theater may be the last place where most of us really do stay away from our phones for a few hours.
The Hadestown program from the Broadway matinee. Sarah and me at the theater.
At SculptureCenter in Long Island City, Queens, I was unsure about the sound sculpture at first. It turned out to be one of the more interesting art installations I experienced.
Two sound works from Cevdet Erek's Americas at SculptureCenter in Queens.
Touch and the Body: Walking and Body Awareness
I'm thinking about touch a little more broadly here. It includes not only what touches the skin, but also the experience of feeling and noticing the body: its movement, its position in space, and its pace.
I walked constantly in New York, and it felt different from walking at home. At home, a walk is how I settle down and get away from my desk. In New York, walking was invigorating. The city is flat! I could keep going and going. I was walking to get somewhere, not just to take a break. People there walk with a destination and a pace, and I picked mine up. Timing the crosswalks almost felt like a game. I’m used to more strolling and smiling at strangers, but I liked the New York way. It fit.
My favorite mile and a half was on the High Line. It was a beautiful day and I could feel the temperature change as I moved back and forth from sun into shade.
The High Line, moving between sun and shade. A sculpture by Patricia Ayres along the High Line.
The train added another kind of body awareness. Standing in train cars as they swayed and stopped, I became aware of how my body kept adjusting. That sense of where the body is in space is called proprioception. Most of us rarely notice it until something makes us pay attention.
Taste and Smell: Bakeries and Barbecue
The smell inside the many bakeries I visited was its own kind of delicious. Smell is powerfully evocative, and a bakery smells like calm and delight to me. I indulged my sweet tooth and ate quite a few pastries. None of them made it into a photo.
One meal I did photograph was at Bark in Bushwick, where three of us, all originally from South Carolina, ate Texas-style barbecue with Dominican influences.
What I've Brought Home: Everyday Mindful Attention
I came back with a clearer sense of how much my attention is worth, and how easy it is to give it away without realizing it. A trip out of town isn't necessary to practice paying attention. A walk, a train ride, or a visit to a local museum can be enough.
For those of us who spend so much of our time attending to work, family, and the needs of others, it can be easy to overlook our own experience of the day. Try something simple and time limited, like checking in with the senses when you first sit down to eat or while you are in the shower.
If you would like to talk about paying attention to your own life, you can book a free 30-minute consult.
Haley Speer, LCSW, provides online therapy for adults in New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida.
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