Senses

We are guided by our senses. They connect us to the people around us and the world we live in.  They provide information that helps us make sense of our complex environment and make decisions which can be trivial or significant, frivolous  or life-saving.  All our senses combine and contribute to our wellbeing in ways we often take for granted.

The senses of touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight are all tied to the decision-making process, one that is sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious. What is it about the sight of a cute fluffy puppy that makes us want to stroke it? Why is it that hearing some romantic music can put us in the mood for sharing feelings of love and deep affection? To kiss a baby’s cheek is to reawaken a lost appreciation for innocence, hope and life itself, and many other precious things. The delicious taste of a chocolate brownie infused with the chef’s passion for sweetness can remind you of your childhood or inspire you to search out the recipe and bake some yourself. The scent of a well-tended garden might cause you to pause those hurried footsteps, just for a moment, and glance with admiration at the gardener’s handiwork, or pass a quick compliment to the owner, or carefully observe the variety of the flowers and their vibrant colours.  

It is interesting to wonder which out of the 5 senses we humans use most, and why?  Is it sight, the sense that gathers the most information?  Is it hearing, the one that allows us to judge whether our surroundings are safe or not when all is dark, the sense that extends our mental sight beyond our vision? The list of questions goes on and on.  We breathe, we scent, we eat, we hug and kiss, we laugh and hear laughter, we see some fabulous sunrises and some romantic sunsets, and immerse ourselves in a glory of sensation with gratitude for being part of such a beautiful world.  When all our senses are evoked it is challenging to conclude that one is more important than another.  Perhaps, when one sense is not quite so sharp the others are enhanced. This may be so that reliable decisions can be made for our well-being and survival, but it also intensifies our enjoyment of everyday life.

On a typical day at dawn, before I part the curtains and my eyes are splashed with sunlight, the honey-eaters in the jacaranda tree outside my bedroom window enchant my sense of hearing with a song that draws me up slowly toward wakefulness.  The tender brightness of a new day embraces my eyes as I draw the curtains aside and then slowly open the blinds.  I’m always grateful for my physical slowness in the morning, as it seems attuned to the gradual arousal of all my senses.  A refreshing shower followed by a freshly made cup of coffee complete my awakening.  I know then that my senses are ready to take on the challenges of the day.

For the next few hours, it seems I am guided primarily by my sight and hearing as I deliberately focus on the tasks at hand.  I do wonder whether certain senses become desensitised as we adapt to our environment. Then, when the workday is finished, all five senses seem to return to their normal levels to establish the optimal connection to my world. 

Do you ever wonder how our senses evolve throughout our lives?  In other words, how do our senses change as we move from birth to adulthood, to middle age and beyond?  Which of the senses predominantly connects us to our past? Babies are born with all five senses, although some are not fully developed, and of course they are not precise.  The strongest sense for newborns is the sense of smell, which helps them to identify their mother for her breast milk.  At the beginning of our lives we are already equipped with one of the most powerful senses, one that can transport us back in time, wherever we may be, to an indelible moment that has been stored away in our memory.  The sense of smell is undeniably powerful for humans, and based on numerous recent studies and research there is a strong correlation between the loss of smell and the risk of dementia.

For me as a child, it was always that primitive sense – to follow my nose.  Now as an adult, it is not entirely unexpected that it is still my sense of smell that guides me.  There are days when I will unquestionably prefer one perfume over another, one dish over another, although there is almost always a constant – that aromatic coffee.  The underlying reasons for such choices could be various – a mood or the weather, for instance – but somehow, and indisputably for me, it is the sense of smell that ultimately completes the mood, or satisfies the insatiable.

How should we indulge our senses?  Perhaps take a walk under the Autumn rain in your boots with your umbrella, reaching out to feel the little rain drops splashing on your palm.  Perhaps before you taste that morning coffee, pause to enjoy the intense aroma. Maybe take some deep breaths on a Spring morning, or every morning, and see whether you can sense what flowers or trees are in season.  Allow yourself to feel the cool gentle breezes brushing against your skin. The easiest of all is probably to remember to enjoy the taste of foods in their simplest form, just to appreciate them for what they are.  Or you could put on that perfume (the expensive one you have saved for special occasions only, forgetting that life is short – you know the one), and turn on some of your favourite music to occupy that empty space, and dance and dance…

When I need to fill up my senses, I will be in my kitchen with a glass of wine, piano music trickling around the room, blue flames dancing under my pans as I cook up a storm with carefree abandon. It seems like all my senses are alive and very happily intertwined, like a beautiful melody.

All images in this article supplied by Tao Tran