Try this: The five senses exercise

Feeling frazzled, overwhelmed, whirly? Pause. What can you see, hear, touch, smell and taste?

A selfie of me looking up at beautiful trailing trailing lilac wisteria. I’m smiling, wearing and cap and sunglasses. (Sadly not pictured - the amazing smell!)

Hello you,

How has your week been?

I’m writing to you on a damp drizzly morning. Our first rain after a couple of weeks’ solid warm weather.

I’ve got the door open inviting in the fresh, lush breeze. I’m not normally a fan of rain but everything feels grateful. It smells dewy and divine.

I’m actually away from home visiting friends and decided to book myself into a little annexe in someone’s cottage garden rather than the usual Premier Inn.

It’s a haven for the birds! Therefore, a haven for me. Already this morning I’ve hidden behind the curtain to watch a woodpecker and a jay. Crows, chiff chaffs, a song thrush and wrens sing out.

A section of the Italian Gardens at Trentham, low blue blooms in the foreground, spherical topiary and a sunny blue sky with wispy clouds

Something to try - the five senses exercise

I thought I’d share with you a little exercise which you’ve likely heard of before. It’s nothing new - Google it and you’ll find pages of results.

It’s so simple it feels almost throwaway.

I remembered and tried it yesterday when I noticed myself getting tempted down a rabbit hole that felt important but actually wasn’t at all.

I’ll be honest…I was getting pulled into comparison energy. Wondering why no one seems to notice my Substack notes and then thinking about ‘tactics’ I could try.

Ideas started to arrive and I felt myself getting edgily excited. A jangling, vibrating energy that sort of felt good but then headed more towards panic.

I was walking in an absolutely idyllic place, the mid-morning sun beaming down on fragrant petals. And I was missing all of it.

I was physically there but my mind was somewhere elsewhere, in a digital ether of screens, numbers and quick dopamine hits.

Woah. HOLD ON! I thought, clicking back to the present for a second.

“Is this what I actually care about? Is this where I actually want to be putting my focus?”

I sat down at one of the best writing desks I’ve probably ever found. A sturdy table and benches made of a once living tree next to a serene lake and a collection of magnificent sequoia trees.

Idyllic writing spot next to the lake

I took out my notebook, still struggling to bring my whirling mind back to this place, this moment.

Then I remembered the five senses exercise. My therapist set me it in one of our first sessions.

Notice

Five things you can see

Four things you can hear

Three things you can feel/ touch

Two things you can smell

One thing you can taste

I told you it’s simple.

It makes sense logically, doesn’t it? That paying attention to the senses will bring you back to the moment.

It’s difficult to be simultaneously listening to present sounds and spiralling about the past and future.

But have you actually ever tried it? For real? And if you have…what happened?

When I tried it yesterday

I saw

The glint of the sun on a crow’s beady black eye

a sculpture carved by hand into the form of a pine cone

small cotton-wool clouds and wispy lines against blue sky

the shadow of my writerly hand moving across the page

Canada geese with long curved necks searching the banks of the lake

I heard

The whoosh-hush of a crow flapping and swooping above

a vehicle motor getting further away until it faded completely

the scratch of my ink-pen on notepaper

the haunting squawk of a bird of prey

I felt

My bottom making contact with the wooden seat

a gentle spring breeze caressing my freckled skin

the warmth of the May sun on my right cheek and ear

I smelt

Pine trees

parched Earth, dried out by the sun

I tasted

Ever so slightly metallic decaf tea from my flask

I checked in afterwards and lo and behold felt completely different. Calmer within.

I had more space to remember what is actually important to me. Not the quick hit shiny stuff.

Connected to the moment, I was better able to appreciate the beauty of the place I was in.

And bonus. I wrote an accidental poem!

So, you know what your homework is, don’t you?

Whether this is new to you or a regular practice. Give the five senses exercise a go. You can even do it right now. I dare you!

And if you like, you can let me know in the comments what you sensed and how you felt.

Take good care,

Janelle x

P.S

I took soo many photos of this wisteria walk at Trentham Gardens I couldn’t NOT share them with you. How stunning!!?

On a blue sky sunny day, wisteria blooms, hanging down around and above a metal walkway structure. Photos at various angles and one with me looking up in awe