It’s been a minute - how are you feeling?
I left New York today and I’m currently on the plane home after shooting our holiday collection. It’s hard to quantify how much work, preparation, excitement, nerves, stress, more excitement and anticipation goes into something like that!
Today we went to get coffee at Maman, then we went to Popup Bagels and walked to Washington Square Park to eat and sit in the sunshine. As we walked in we heard piano being played with someone singing.
We sat down on the bench, took in the music coming from a man singing and playing in the center of the park, right in front of the fountain. Closer to him I noticed a woman who was nodding her head to the music.
We were eating our bagels, talking about our plans for the day, taking in the sights and people watching. Through that I couldn’t help but be reminded of the TikTok trend of “The Art of noticing” going around. Noticing all the small things, and being present, not being distracted to do anything but notice.
This woman got a little more courage with each song that played and eventually she was standing up, dancing, fully moving to the music.
There was something so powerful by just witnessing the crowd of people walking past, or stopping to film the performance, or looking at their travel guide books to see where their next stop was, or taking a phone call, or noticing a man stepping over the fence, saying “hey siri, pause the music” to then hand a homeless man a bagel and cream cheese.
I couldn’t help but notice. And the more I noticed, the more I felt.
We are all human. Filled with emotions. Filled with different experiences.
Life is so simple, but it can be so tough.
I couldn’t help but reflect and think about our world’s current affairs while noticing. There we are in one of the world’s most populated cities, eating something as simple as a bagel with cream cheese, sitting in a park on an October fall day, listening to music that’s filling the park, while a woman connects and dances to the music. Feeling.
Feeling is so much of our entire experience in this life.
The most common question in our vocabulary and likely one of our largest habits is to ask “how are you?”
We as humans, we feel. Some more than others. Sometimes it’s the last thing we ever want to do. It can be hard to feel so many emotions. However, we as humans want to connect with others, in fact, we crave and rely on that.
In general I would consider myself extremely emotional, capable of feeling a million emotions and feeling every ounce of them. I know it affects me. When I feel, I feel it; especially in my heart.
It’s hard to come to terms with what’s going on in Israel right now. When the events started unfolding I had a moment of noticing at home. There I was. A small city in Utah, in my favorite sweats, with Jack and everything I needed to go to bed, feel comfortable and get a good nights rest. While a 15 hour plane ride away, people’s worlds were crumbling down in front of them. Humans - making others feel the most traumatic emotions, beyond one’s imagination.
Today in the park I couldn’t help but feel how strong we are individually, and when one person can sit, notice and take in the world around them, they can inspire others to notice. Once I saw the lady nodding her head, I pointed her out to Jack and Suzie. We’d notice her dancing, then notice someone or something else, and then come back to watching her dance, feeling the music.
It takes courage to feel. It can take courage to be vulnerable and let yourself notice.
We are living in a society that tends to prioritize what we see on a screen more than what one could see if we simply stop, sit on a bench, and let ourselves notice.
Once we came up with our plan today, finished our bagels and got up to head to the subway, I got emotional thinking about how we are all just human. Imperfect, incredibly capable, incredibly smart, and simultaneously incredibly confused as a human race as to what matters most.
We got onto the subway, and entered the car. As we took our seat, there was a man with loud music, blasting on his speaker. It was very obvious that the others in the train car were annoyed, and as I sat down I made eye contact with a woman who nodded towards the music, rolling her eyes and giving me the look of “can you believe this?”
I then smiled and nodded my head - and then I noticed her sweater. Covered in butterflies. My universe sign. Something I hold close to my heart. A wink from the universe. I immediately complimented her and told her that I loved her outfit.
A few stops pass by and as we get up to leave, she looked up at me, smiled and wished me a good day.
Noticing. Perspective shifts.
While walking the city and being surrounded by skyscrapers, you can’t help but feel small. Let’s not forget that we are quite literally a floating rock in the middle of the universe, but we can talk about that miracle later.
This world gives you every opportunity to feel. I can’t encourage you enough to let yourself feel. It’s the hardest, purest, and most amazing thing we as humans can experience. It’s a miracle.
Notice. Feel. Notice. Feel. & repeat.
xx
