Immerse Yourself

I went to an immersive art museum in Florida with my son this past weekend.

We needed some fun things to do, and perhaps a little pick-me-up based on the news lately.

What a difference it made going into a museum where we could touch, smell, and interact with everything. They advised us upon entering not to lick anything, but otherwise we could engage how we wanted to.

The museum was created using paint, sculpture, video, sound, and light—and the help of over 75 different artists.

In a room filled with lamps and glass cabinets, we turned the switches on and off to move the light around. I sat on a strawberry chair in another space filled with strawberry cupcakes and pies. The wallpaper there covered in strawberries reminded me of a room in a house I lived in when I was a kid.

In another room that felt like the control center of a spaceship, every time we flipped one of a set of switches, a word came over the loudspeaker. So, we made fun combinations, and the haunting voice would say things like, “Smelly…magical…panthers.” 

In the final room before the gift shop, the walls were covered in hanging layers of plastic silver spoons. There, we helped a little girl look for a tiny flamingo for a scavenger hunt.

It was super fun. Both my son and I loved the experience. 

The visit to this museum made me realize how powerful immersive experiences are. They help us get proximate. It’s different to not simply walk by something and admire its color, texture, or light, but to actually touch the world you’re seeing.

In these times of distance and screens, now seems like a good time for us to get more proximate.

What might you get more proximate to?

Where might you immerse yourself more deeply to have a new experience?

This could be the difference between giving funds to a cause you care about and volunteering your time to help them. It’s the difference between reading an article about something and talking to someone who has lived experience with it. It’s the difference between seeing a beautiful cake in a bakery and actually tasting that cake. Or watching a reel about a funny cat and seeing your own cat do something funny.

How much of your experience these days comes to you through something you are simply observing or noticing or watching?

Versus something you are experiencing directly or immersed in?

Perhaps you have a very hands-on job, so you get to be in the experience of whatever it is you are doing.

But many people spend their weeks in meetings or behind a desk or in an office chair looking at a screen.

I often ask clients when they are trying to create change in their life, “What is the smallest thing you can do and what is the biggest thing you can do to get to where you want?” These questions suggest that some big leap or step can be powerful, but the micro habits or steps can also get us where we want to go.

But now I think I’ll add a new question to this exploration. 

That question is: “What is an experience that you are longing for?”

During the weekend, my son and I also went to a Dale Chihuly exhibit as well, where we saw rooms of colorful glass arranged in extraordinary ways. I admire Chihuly’s work so much. But after going to the immersion art exhibit, it was a different experience walking around taking pictures of colorful glass rather than being able to touch the art itself.

I longed to climb into that canoe filled with gobstopper-like balls that looked like they belonged in a Dr. Seuss book. 

But I couldn’t. (They discouraged that.)

But I’m in a space right now where I want to engage with the world. I want to have more hands-on kinesthetic experience. I want to be reminded of why we are here. I want to take action. To do something to improve where we are.

I have been longing to get involved with a non-profit organization supporting whale conservation for several years. And I finally got to facilitate a strategic planning process for the Pacific Whale Foundation on Maui, which is still in process and has been the most amazing experience ever. 

But I want to go be with the whales. I want to be out on the ocean among them. I want to teach kids about whale conservation. 

Immersion is about dissolving the boundaries between the viewer and the thing. It’s about stepping inside something and experiencing it with our entire being. 

Where might you get more proximate?

What experience are you longing for right now? 

Perhaps there’s an opportunity for you not to just observe some part of this world, but to become a more integral part of it.

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