Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Mandalas & Oscars
This past Sunday I was at family day at the Rubin Museum with my friend and our assorted 9-year-olds. As soon as we arrived she grabbed my hand and said, “You have to see them making the Mandala. Maybe you can write a newsletter about it.” Then she led me to a room on the lower level where two Tibetan artists were cross-legged on the floor creating an incredibly beautiful sand painting or Mandala.
Mandalas, for those of you who don’t know (like me until Sunday), are traditional Buddhist sand paintings. Monks create an in intricate painting using grains of colored sand, placed grain by grain with infinite precision and patience. The most amazing thing about this tradition, my friend informed me, is that when the painting is complete they destroy it in the sea. Whoa. Talk about letting go. Talk about non-attachment. My clients don’t want to let go of the painting that took their kindergarteners ten minutes and these people create such beauty and then wash it out to sea? This is an art form that is truly about process rather than product. It is a form of meditation.
As cool as I thought this was, I wasn’t sure that I could write a newsletter about it.
Then I saw the Oscars. And the gowns. And I started thinking about the ephemeral nature of the red carpet. Everyone is Cinderella at the Oscars. The gowns and jewels are borrowed. Tomorrow the red carpet and the tent will be gone-poof-like it was never there. Sure, your photo gets taken, and maybe you win an Oscar, but the jewels go back to Harry Winston in the morning. It made me think about the clients I’ve had who have actually walked the red carpet, and how I am always amused at how little clothing they own compared to many of my non-movie-star clients.
Then today, I was with a client who was sorting out a huge pile of clothes-Consignment, e-Bay, Charity-and it occurred to me that if you want to wear the latest fashions, it’s better to be like the movie stars: Wear them for a night or a few months, and then let them go. If you are selling clothes, they have much more value if they are recent, and if you haven’t had it a long time then you are probably less attached to it.
So be a Buddhist Fashionista. You can be your own work of art. But don’t cling. If you love to shop, I can’t stop you-heaven knows I’ve tried. But you don’t have to hold every piece of clothing forever. You are going to buy more, so you can let it go. Out with the tide, in with the tide. Om.