Appreciating the Senses (February 9th) …
February 09 – Appreciating Hearing & Sight: To get through our days, we tend to rely primarily on our vision, and secondarily on our sense of hearing. As a result, our other senses have become dampened from lack of use … So this morning, wear earplugs and pay attention to how Life changes. Keep them in through lunchtime… Afterwards, remove them and put on something that will dampen or remove your sense of sight (e.g. a blindfold, eye-patches, two pairs of dark sunglasses, etc.). The less you can see the better. Pay attention when doing so , especially to your newly and radically awakened sense of hearing … Note: If you already have dampened hearing, engage the “blind” portion of this activity three (3) times today, letting your sense of touch guide you.
Many of us have lost a appreciation for the miracle that is our ability to see. In all the moments we spend processing our visual data (making sure our surroundings are safe by categorizing our experiences into “pleasurable” or “painful” & the people we meet into “friend” or “foe”), we rarely pause long enough to comprehend the beauty of all we are witnessing, much less to remember how amazing it is that we can see at all. In essence, even though we have our eyes open for most of our waking hours, we are actually sleep-walking through our lives.
And yet, once we purposefully remove sight from its place of primary importance in our sensory lives, all our other senses become more acute.
Food tastes better – and we taste it with Love.
Flowers smell better – and we smell them with Love.
Sounds are richer – and we hear them with Love.
And the things we touch feel “smoother” – we connect to them with Love.
If we have sincerely appreciated these other senses while “blind”, their brilliance remains with us even when we open our eyes. They become additional tools with which we can intimately experience our surroundings & our relationships.
And once our eyes are indeed truly “opened” in this way, our sense of sight becomes more than a mere tool for our survival. It becomes a source of constant wonderment.
See YOU when I see you …
… and until then, Be Now!
Scaughdt
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