In Touch with Sense (ITWS) #1

I love writing. It’s part of my mindfulness practice, an element of self-care. It’s my port in a storm. Why is it then that I often deny myself the time to write when I am busy? It makes even less sense as that’s when I need to be super-vigilant about self-care! Discussions around self-care come up regularly in the coaching I continue to delivery virtually even through the COVID19 restrictions that have altered all of our lives. So, it’s time to do some myself and start writing.

Here is my plan and I am recruiting you to keep me to it. I am going to write for 30 minutes a day without paying particular attention to SPG (probably don’t pay it enough anyway!). I am going to share my writing online, something I don’t enjoy doing. I kid myself that this is because I don’t want to add to the mass of data out there that I sometimes find overwhelming. The more likely truth is that I find it difficult putting ‘me’ out there in writing, to be judged by others. If I don’t get a million likes that means I’m my content’s not up to much, right?! My test will be to post every couple of days, and not to bury it immediately by not sharing it with anyone at all!

My theme throughout all of this writing will be ‘In Touch with Sense’ which I might even given a hashtag of #ITWS. There are so many meanings for me that are relevant to pre-, present, and post-COVID19. For example, how we deal with the information we get from all of our senses is part of mindfulness (or lack of it). How do we use our sense to make sense of our world? When does one sense have a more profound effect on our thinking and feeling compared to another one? Do we consciously switch between these sensual priorities? How do our senses respond to a first discovery, or to a repeat experience, or to being saturated by the same thing happening over and over again? How do we respond to a world where physical touch is now something that is actively discouraged, even if this is clearly in support of our health? What sensory compensation is there in our growing virtual relationships? ITWS is also about how we remain connected to sense – that which is true, good and purposeful – in a world where we are bombarded by a mixture of truth, half-truths and blatant lies.

I hope you will agree that while the motivation for the writing might be very much of its time the meaning and value, I believe, will not be time dependent. While my purpose in writing In Touch with Sense is a challenge to me, I also hope it will offer some value to you to. Perhaps it will kick start some thinking for you that you can be curious about, it might help clear your mind in a moment of mindfulness, or it might encourage you into a safer place, your port in a storm.

So, to sensory experience number one. Spain is in a difficult a space as any country with managing COVID19. It is a country where ordinarily we go on holiday as our refuge. In fact, we would normally be there right now. The view you see in this picture is the one from the roof where we stay. The scale of the view is huge, with virtually no evidence of modernity at all, save for the threshing circles (era) in the foreground. The sight (huge) and sound (silence) have the sensory effect of lightening whatever burden you are carrying. Gazing into the picture does not have the same effect as reality although I can conjure the detail in my mind’s eye as my memory fills any gaps and triggers that feeling of…..peace. Do you have a picture, or perhaps a strong visual memory, that you can use to access your port in a storm?

Look out for the next chapter of In Touch with Sense which, if my resolve remains strong, will be posted shortly. I must confess that I feel a sense of excitement as I write – this has meaning for me and perhaps for you to. It is the thought of posting it that gives me a knot in my stomach. Get over it I hear you say, and if you are reading this it means that I have!