Want to feel important? Surround yourself with meaningful art.

When we got married, my husband was entering one of the most challenging stages of his life – residency in internal medicine. He spent long days in the hospital and had a very rough night call schedule. I certainly don’t miss that period of our marriage. Soon afterward, our first daughter was born and I spent long days alone with her in our apartment. She would only nap in my arms for 20 minutes at a time, and the only thing I could do during those short breaks was watch TV.

This is when I got hooked on “Scrubs”. And shortly after that, my husband joined me. Late at night after his shifts that is. From that point on, it became our go-to show for any free evening. The episodes were short and entertaining – just what we needed to take the edge off after a long day. We watched them so many times that we started using quotes from the show in all real life scenarios.

Here is one of our favorites:

“I am a very important part of the team that… I am a very important part of the team, thank you very much!”

-Turk

Feeling bold

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about all of us suffering from Impostor Syndrome. Do you ever find yourself wanting to say something similar to Turk’s outburst? It might not even feel like you need to say it to others, as much as you need to say it to yourself. We could all work on our self-esteem and teach ourselves to exude more confidence.

But what if you didn’t have to? What if you could just look at a piece of art next to you and feel bold automatically?

This is what happens when you feel like you are the only one (or one of very few) who understands something profound. Looking at art that may seem abstract to others, while knowing that it contains much deeper meaning rooted in science, will make you want to say “I am a very important part of the team” or “I am knowledgeable and capable – I’ve got this”.

Feeling respected

COVID-19 lockdown and multiple months of remote work have served as a serious impediment for human interaction. However, while inviting friends to your house was out of question, regular Zoom calls have also allowed many more people to see your personal space. And that allowed them to get to know a different side of you.

So what kind of an impression would you like to make on them?  As much as we hate to admit it, the days of endless Zoom calls are not over. In fact, many people have learned that they prefer the flexibility of working from home and have no intention to return to the office. So it would make sense to allow a bit more of your real self to seep through.

While we are generally advised to take Zoom meetings with a plain white background (or a beach with swaying palm trees), what if you could follow Elsa’s advice and “show yourself”? This is precisely what you can do by hanging a piece of interesting SciArt in the background. It will make your colleagues and clients want to know the real you, beyond the professional persona you put on during work hours. It will help you establish true connections and relationships. Even if the effect on your audience is subconscious.

The question is: Why don’t you surround yourself with art that will communicate your intelligence and sophistication?

Fragile Memory, 2019 (13″ x 13″)

$3,000

The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is responsible for forming new memories. In order to delineate its complex connections, neuroscientists have developed a “Brainbow” mouse model. The Brainbow mice are genetically engineered to have each neuron labeled with a different color, resulting this delightful confetti. (Read more here.)