Embracing Your Senses

Have you ever thought of how important your five senses are to you? Typically, I don’t think about these great features that God gave to us humans and how they work. Are they sharp enough? Do I need to do something to them if they are dull? Well, that is interesting, because our senses do lose their abilities at times. This could be due to an illness, an injury, or growing old.

I have a theory that when we have one sense working at a lower capacity, one of our other senses works more energetically, productively to compensate for the lesser sense. For example, my vision is pretty bad, yet my sense of smell is uncanny. I can walk into our house and smell if my dog had an accident. My nose takes me right to the spot! Kurt, my husband, can’t smell it even when sniffing right at the dreaded, soiled area. We could be out at a restaurant, and I smell cigarette smoke, but Kurt doesn’t smell it at all; neither of us can even see who is smoking, but I do smell it.

Roses! Whenever I pass by a rose bush while on a bike ride or walk, I am quick to rush over to the bush and take in a big whiff. I love the smell of roses. Because my sense of smell is so sharp, the roses smell intensely richer to me. Roses are also a beautiful reminder of my grandpa’s rose bushes he grew on his property. I can picture them along the house similar to the picture below.

One piece of evidence I found interesting about the sense of smell is from Dolores Malaspina, MD, MSPH, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University in New York. She said that studies show women have a better sense of smell than men due to a more developed orbital prefrontal region of the brain.

I recall a time when all my senses were on high alert. One winter day in February, we dropped off our son Evan at his youth retreat and decided to enjoy the northern Arizona town for the night. I saw on the weather app there would likely be snow at 2am, 3am, 4am. Oh, I how love snow!

Many of my favorite childhood memories involve fluffy snow: ice skating, sledding, snowmobiling, building a snowman and fort, snowball fights and even a walking field trip in 4th grade to my home for hot cocoa and cookies.

As I struggled with the idea of waking up at 4am; that is crazy early! While at a late night dinner, I checked my phone again for the weather and said, “If there is snow at 5am, I am setting an alarm to get up!” Guess what!? 30% chance now of snow at 5AM! I set my alarm!

At 5am, I hear my alarm song playing, and shivering slightly, I got up quickly to see if there was snow. YES! Very light flurries. I got dressed and bundled up to go outside.
WHOA! The feelings and memories that stirred up – like I was making a pot of delicious stew with all the best and tastiest ingredients.

Sight – tiny white flakes that became larger as the snow came down harder
Smell – the cold air and smells of the trees
Taste – oh yes, cold snow that instantaneously melts on your tongue when it drops
Hearing – the sound of the snow is typically silent, but this snow was a little crispy and the sounds were a little crinkly
Touch – wet, cold, fresh and clean

Whether your senses are sharp, dull, lacking or overflowing, find an opportunity when you can experience as many as you can all at the same time. Capture the moment. Enjoy it! Discover the senses you have, stronger and weaker, and how they all work together to create that moment just for you – for only you, indeed.

Just like our senses, we also have weak and strong personality traits and habits. Learning to make them work for us can mean the difference between having a positive influence on others and living an isolated life. God totally wants us to live to our fullest potential and be in life-giving relationships that sharpen us to be at our best.