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Menka Sanghvi

I'm a researcher, writer, and designer working on the theme of mindful curiosity. Just Looking is a project I started to help myself and others slow down and experience more wonder in the everyday.

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Ditching the Magic This Season

Sometimes it's not clear if a shadow is part of the perfection or part of the imperfection in a photograph. Maybe life is like that too.

Ditching the Magic This Season
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What Reading Does To Our Attention

The word "spell" has a telling double meaning: both to arrange letters, and to cast magic. When we read, it's amazing how we can hear distant or even dead human voices telling us things, but at what cost?

What Reading Does To Our Attention
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Watching Ourselves Wait

Waiting is essentially about a desired future. It's the duration of time that is the obstacle between where we are, and where we want to be. No wonder it brings up feelings of discomfort, boredom, or even anger. But what if we could wait differently? What could we see?

Watching Ourselves Wait
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The Loss Of Starry Nights

For thousands of years, the sight of a star-filled sky has been a unifying human inheritance. The invention of the electric lamp in the late 19th century changed that. This has come with so many benefits, but what do we lose when we can no longer see the starry skies?

The Loss Of Starry Nights
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Steady(ing) Presence

There are metaphoric mountains in the backdrop of all our lives. Standing strong through the different seasons, providing a steady reference point for all the change.

Steady(ing) Presence
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The Best Kind of Localist

Can you point north from where you're reading this right now? Do you know what grasses are native to your area? Many of us are urgently connected to global news yet know very little about where we're at: our local people and places.

The Best Kind of Localist
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You're Too Good For Perfection

Did you know that when we blush, our stomachs blush too? And that our eyes are sensitive enough to see the light of a candle 30 miles away? It's an amazing thing, our bodies. And its fragilty is a core part of that beauty.

You're Too Good For Perfection
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Noticing Fragility

A crack, a wrinkle, or a moving cloud. If it's not forever, then it's fragile, at least on some timescale. Responsive to the sands of time. Alive. What reminds you of life's fragility?

Noticing Fragility
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Competing with the Metaverse

It's predicted that the metaverse will soon rival and then surpass physical realms in many ways. If that's true, we're going to be spending a whole lot more time online. But what might we miss if this happens?

Competing with the Metaverse
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What Might We Miss in the Metaverse?

Four fundamental ways in which our perception will be limited in virtual reality, and why this may be important.

What Might We Miss in the Metaverse?