Hello Dear Reader,

Today I want to talk about a subject which I keep coming back to time and again in my own thoughts - so you could say it is close to my heart. And that is the long-form over the short-form of everything.

We all get one life (unless you are the proverbial cat) - and we would all like to enrich the experience of that life. We would like to make every second count for more and we would want to experience as many fulfilling experiences as we can.

So we want to do more per second and we want to see more things. This leads to endless scrolling of pictures (or short videos) on social media, each of them giving us a tiny amount of kick - a micro kick. However we all know that too many of these micro kicks add up to a negative fulfillment counter-intuitively. We all know this from personal experience, but there is research out there which confirms it too.

Instead it is perhaps more fulfilling to look at a particularly well-designed picture which tells a narrative for a long time. Hang it on the wall and keep coming back to it every time you cross it and learn something new from it.

In a similar way people return to their favourite bench at the park, their favourite movies and songs again and again. Careful, mindful listening helps you increase noticings per minute. There is so much variety in nature that you could spend hours looking at the tiny ecosystem of a banyan tree. And counter-intuitively this both increases how much you notice and learn, and also increases fulfillment.

And good art imitates nature in this very fundamental feature.

I leave you today with one of Paul Cézanne’s paintings from a series called “The Card Players”. Notice the intricate design of this piece. There are hidden ‘V’s and other coincidences hidden across the piece. Every time you look at this painting you will see more. This is a good painting which serves the viewer well.

Hint: Look at the where the eyes are pointing, the legs, the pipes, the folds in the cloth. The painting creates such a harmony that you are forced to look where the painting wants you to look.

As always,

Have a great day, Bye,

Abhishek (art noob)