Museum of shared experiences

A few weeks back, on a bright Sunday, our Content Team made a trip to the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum. As the team's writer, naturally, I whipped out my phone's Notes app and jotted down my thoughts as we wandered through the exhibits. This wasn't about crafting an artsy newsletter – to be honest, I'm not exactly the artistic type ?? – but more about understanding the stories that captivate me and the meanings I derive from them.

So, today, I'm inviting you to join me as we delve into some of my favorite pieces from the museum and explore the incredible way they evoke such personal yet universal emotions and ideas. Here's what we'll be covering:

?? Are you playing hide and seek or simply hiding?

?? Life as a spiral of experiences

? So unique, yet united

?? Content recommendations and what's new

?? Are you playing hide and seek or simply hiding?

Just a few days before our visit, I began reading a book - Monday Letters by Ege Soley, a Turkish author with a pure and impressive writing style.

That night, I found myself back home, pacing through my gallery, gazing at the paintings while flipping through the pages of this book. It suddenly hit me – there was a striking resemblance that I could not ignore between the paintings that caught my eye and the sentences that captivated me in the book.

Like pieces of a puzzle coming together... Does it sound familiar to you somehow? After all, the core topic of my life during that time was crystal clear. It mirrored meanings across the diverse phases.

The moment I saw the painting above, my first thought was, Oh, how sad that she's frightened and hiding behind the door. But then I paused, questioning if that was really the story being told. Curious, I turned to my team to hear their interpretations. One suggested she was playing hide-and-seek—a starkly different take from my own.

In that instant, I realized the fear and isolation I saw in the painting were reflections of my own. This echoed a passage from the book I was reading, Let the Children Ask, which noted: Sometimes a child prefers to face tough times alone, in silence and solitude, dealing with challenges inwardly. However, if this solitude becomes a routine, a habitual way to confront life's hurdles, and they don't seek help, it evolves into their main strategy for facing life. (...) They start believing in their ability to manage and surmount every challenge by themselves. And quite often, they succeed. But occasionally, there arrives a time when they're caught off-guard, their energy depletes, and they find themselves struggling to keep up.

How does your inner child react? Is it hiding or merely engaging in a game of hide and seek? More importantly, what is your inner child seeking?

We all have patterns in our interactions with life, ourselves, and others. Sure, these patterns might be somehow effective, so we continue to use them. Yet, could it be that they sometimes limit us, encouraging us to hide behind closed doors? What if we considered new ways of existing and connecting?

?? Life as a spiral of experiences

I don't intend to be gloomy, but I've always believed that we live in cycles, especially in the last few years, as I've dedicated more time to inner practices. I use the word gloomy because realizing life is made up of cycles often makes us hopeless. But is it really hopeless? Isn't it when we recognize the existence of these cycles when we understand how we can break free from them? So yes, for me, this is more about hope...

Just like the path in the painting above, life moves in a direction. It certainly progresses, but do we live in a straight line in successive periods?

If we're curious about discovering ourselves, if we occasionally look inward, changing over the years and reacting differently to similar events is inevitable. Yet, sometimes, you too might feel, in moments of pressure and overwhelming emotions, that you haven't moved far from where you were a few years ago.

Perhaps there isn't just one path, as we might have believed. Maybe, sometimes, we just need to step off the path and blend into the trees. Maybe breaking out of the cycle involves touching more branches, more leaves, and embracing more uncertainty. This may not feel safe, and choosing this path over a more familiar one might seem scary or unnecessary. Or, on the contrary, you might find more oxygen and take a refreshing breath, realizing that life isn't just about the trees that loom over you and block out the sky. That's why I say sometimes it's necessary to stray from your own path.

When was the last time you went out of your designated way?

? So unique, yet united

After wrapping up our time at the exhibition, we, as a team, excitedly shared the photos we'd snapped. Scrolling through my gallery later, I noticed some of us had gravitated toward the same artwork. However, I found some pieces that I left unnoticed. It felt like my photo collection had become a mini showcase of the entire exhibition.

We often discovered both shared and unique interpretations of the same artworks. While some of us breezed past certain pieces, others were captivated, contemplating for what felt like ages. It highlighted how similar yet different we all are...

It's not exactly a groundbreaking revelation to realize we're all unique but share common experiences. However, why do we feel so distant from this familiar truth? Could it be that when life doesn't go according to plan, we're lulled into thinking we're the only ones in our particular boat, adding layers to our despair?

In a way, each of us is like the preview of the gallery I found in my photo library. We are individual pieces reflecting parts of the grander human experience, yet each of us is a complete exhibition on our own. We all harbor similar desires, seeking them in our unique ways. Recognizing this might not erase all your worries, but it's a gentle reminder that you're not as alone as you might think.

I'm not sure what you're searching for these days, but I suspect what we're all looking for isn't as far off as it seems. You, me, and everyone else...

?? Content recommendations and what’s new

Meditation

? New Content

Music for kids

That wraps up this week's edition! Thank you for joining us and we wish for a life filled with curiosity and exploration.

Looking forward to reconnecting next week.