Let me start by saying Happy New Year to everyone!
As we move from 2020 into the new year 2021, I’m finding myself thinking about how I’d like to grow in this next year.
Nowadays, with so much digital technology and focus on “getting things done”, it’s more difficult to slow down and notice and appreciate the sensorial things around us in our everyday life. Our human body is a sensory machine… a technology in and of itself. To remember this and consciously experience it, is one of the most healthy and satisfying actions we can take to rebalance ourselves and create more harmony in our life.
Due to our sedentary and work-oriented lives, one of the least developed and under-utilized senses in humans today is the olfactory sense. If we learn to rediscover it and develop it further, it can enhance our lives by bringing us joy and new-found information about the environment around us.
In this new year, I am choosing to pay more attention to this rich world I inhabit with my senses. I resolve to take notice and try to identify the scents I encounter throughout my day. I will contemplate the particular scents as I smell them, and in doing this, meaning will be assigned to them in my brain, creating memories. The more I do this, the easier it will be to detect and appreciate (or not!) all the scents I smell. I will, in a sense (no pun intended 😉), be training my sense of smell to become more acute.
An added benefit to olfactory training is that I can then apply these skills to my tasting practices as I will more easily detect and discover the aromas that abound in the wine and beer I drink and in the food I eat and choose to prepare. This will create joy and a sense of accomplishment to my tasting experiences!
-S.L.