Hello Lovely Reader,
Our senses have had a bad rap. Instead of being recognized as unique forms of intelligence through which we understand the world and our selves, they have been treated as untrustworthy narrators or as gateway drugs that lead us down the path to temptation. The truth and our relationship to our senses is far more complex and interesting. The senses are the operating systems through which we process information. It takes all of our senses to pick up on, and make sense of, all the stimuli pleasant and unpleasant, we are encounter on a daily basis.
How does your experience of one sense affect all the others? In addition to being the conduits of pleasure and pain, your senses are the midwives of intelligence. -Michael Gelb
We each use and rely more on certain senses than others. For example, some people are very visual and think in colors and images. They are likely to notice how people and objects appear and tend to have very active imaginations and strong, detailed memories. Others are auditory oriented and think in sounds and rhythms. (I do both and my poetry has been described as both strongly imagistic and lyrical.) They are excellent listeners and can easily pick up on all the layers of different sounds around them. (I’ve included a link to a fun quiz to help you determine your sensory style at the end of this post.)
Then there are those who think in tastes and smells. They notice and interpret the world around them more in terms of physical sensations, and remember how situations and memories made them feel physically. These people are often drawn to the culinary arts. When they get a whiff of something they often have flashbacks to memories associated with that smell and can almost even taste it.
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it’s raining, but the feel of being rained upon. – E. L. Doctrow
Our senses connect us with the world and our selves. Yet often we deprive these essential ‘parts’ of our selves of true nourishment. We are running as fast as we can subsisting on a diet of TV, reality shows, magazines, shopping, catalogs, fast food, alcohol, social media, smoking and any and all other kinds of escapism, instead of the Beauty we really need. No wonder why we often feel like something is missing. …. Our lives are stuffed full of list making, doing and buying, but they are short stocked in being and receiving and creating. We tend to take better care of most everyone and everything from children to possessions. Or maybe we lavish money on adorning our body, while starving ourselves of true sustenance.
What we really crave is Presence. And no matter how busy we are, we can and do have two minutes to attend to and befriend ourselves. So the next time you have two minutes to spare, instead of checking your phone, you might want to try checking in with yourself!
It is as easy as taking three mindful breaths in and out through your nose as you soften your jaw, throat and belly. Let the muscles around your eyes relax too. Continue to breathe fully and deeply, sighing out any tension as you exhale. Then imagine the shape of a smile at your heart center, as you let your shoulders drop down away from your ears. Lastly, feel your feet on the ground as you place one hand lovingly on your own heart and give it a little ‘hug’. Beautiful.
