The Transitional Power of Our Senses

I was walking at dawn recently and heard a Steller’s Jay raucous call. 

I was INSTANTLY transported to when I was a little girl, camping with my family.  In that moment (with my senses) I was in the Sierra Mountains, watching Dad start the campfire in the cold summer morning, and I could see Mom beginning to prepare breakfast.  I could feel the cool, dry mountain air on my skin, and I felt engulfed by the love of my family. 

That is the power of our senses. 

When we know about this power we can harness it, and often do.  Movie directors can make or break the movie by choosing the right or wrong music.  During the Holiday Season we are brought into the feeling of the times through music more than anything else.  (Well, the smell of cookies and pine trees can do it as well!)  And Real Estate agents know that a house will sell more quickly if there is the smell of fresh baked bread in the kitchen!

Our senses give us access to how life feels. 

Our intellect is by-passed for a moment and we fall back into the feeling associated with that sound or smell.  Notice that comfort foods are named very precisely for what they do!  In reaching for these things, though, we miss that it is possible to find comfort or the serenity of a cool mountain stream without anything outside of us playing a part. 

This is the biggest misunderstanding we have as human beings, that we need something outside of us to find a particular feeling we long for. 

Ads tell us we need X, Y or Z to feel better, or to belong.  It never occurs to us that a simple sound, like the call of that Jay, can bring comfort and peace as well.  Why?  Because that feeling of well-being, peace of mind, belonging, adventure…. that is built into the operating system for being human and available at all times.  We just need to remember it is there.

Try this experiment.  Think of something that annoyed you within the last day or two.  Now notice how your body feels. 

Now, think of something that delights you.  Notice the difference in how your body feels.  Nothing changed at all except the thoughts you considered.  This explains why it never works to keep thinking about what is wrong!  We FEEL what we are focusing on.  So the next time you suddenly notice you are clenching your jaw or your shoulders are tight, recall that Jay’s voice, or the smell of freshly baked cookies, the laugh of a young child, or puppy breath.  Your body will follow what you focus on and be at peace.