Way back in 1982 the the English band XTC released the single Senses Working Overtime:
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
Senses Working Overtime, XTC
And I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in…
Sad to say, this is not how I live my life most of the time! As I wrote in the Preface to my book, As a Child: God’s Call to Littleness:
I am not good at paying attention to all that is around me. I live perhaps too much of my life inside my head: so caught up in my thoughts that I miss the world outside – the world of the senses – seldom truly seeing or feeling or smelling or touching or tasting.
Preface, As a Child: God’s Call to Littleness
So, I’ve come up with a little idea which I’m hoping might help me become a bit more aware of the world around me…
Each week day I aim to focus on using one of the senses in particular:
- Monday – sight
- Tuesday – hearing
- Wednesday – smell
- Thursday – touch
- Friday – taste
For example, today being a Wednesday I’ve made a special effort to use my sense of smell (which is very poor!) – including a wander round the garden to really smell all the flowers.
Tomorrow, I’ll aim to focus on my sense of touch – trying especially to notice rough and smooth, hard and soft, hot and cold, light and heavy, and so on…
Now of course, if there’s a glorious sunset on a Tuesday, I’m not going to ignore it just because it’s the wrong day for ‘seeing’!
And this may turn out to be another of my good intentions that comes to nothing.
But my hope is that by focusing on one sense in particular each day, I’ll have a chance of developing all of them – and in so doing become more aware of the glorious abundance and diversity of this wonderful world.
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
Senses Working Overtime, XTC
And I’ve got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime
Trying to take this all in…