How Your Senses Can Unlock Creativity

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Using our five senses is often something that we can take for granted. It isn’t until we have to go without one of them that we notice how crucial they actually are to us. Maybe you’ve had a sinus infection that caused you to lose your sense of smell or your burned your tongue so you couldn’t taste anything. Perhaps you had surgery that required the doctors to numb part of your body–or, you sat in a funny position that meant you lost feeling in your foot. Have you ever had water stay in your ear after swimming so your hearing became distorted? Or, maybe you or someone close to you has limited vision, is legally blind or color blind. When we lose a sense, the rest of our senses become heightened to compensate for the loss.

When we notice that our lives are stuck or un-inspired or we feel bored, engaging with our senses, like, actually noticing them by doing things to be present in ourselves in the present moment, we can often unlock creativity.

1. Smell: Our sense of smell can trigger memories. While we take time to inhale a pleasing aroma or foul odor, something is activated in our brains which make a connection to something that happened and often where it happened. Being present to “stop and smell the roses” can actually increase your overall awareness as well as connect your mind and body to the here and now. You have the opportunity for gratitude (if it is a pleasant smell) or the opportunity to decide whether your thoughts will be positive or negative (if the smell is rotten). This could mean you fill your life with fragrances that prompt your imagination so you think of certain people or places.

2. Taste: Did your grandmother make you special cookies for your birthday? Did you have a favorite meal from growing up? Similar to the sense of smell, taste can draw up feelings of nostalgia. Maybe you have travelled to a country or culture that is different from your own and you discovered a combination of flavors that inspired you. Maybe you need to go on a culinary adventure to change up your eating experience. When we become aware of what we are eating, noticing the sweet, salty, umami, bitter, spicy or sour sensations on our tongue and how the different tastes interact in the food we eat, something creative can unlock in us. You might begin to notice new flavor combinations which you hadn’t before. This could mean you try new recipes and begin a journey of exploration in the kitchen.

3. Touch: Often our sense of touch can be a passive one that tends to alert us to danger. When something is too hot, we know from experience to stay away. When something is too cold, we might get goosebumps. If something is too rough or sharp, we might be alerted to take caution, too, because it might cut our skin. I would like to have the sense of touch be more interesting than cautionary and preventative only. Plush blankets can feel cozy in the winter or cold glassware on a hot summer day can be refreshing. Feeling the contrasting textures that surround us might actually alert our senses simply to be aware of our surroundings instead of being passive until danger is at foot.

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4. Sound: Close your eyes and listen to what is happening all around you. Listening, actually hearing and taking in the frequency of vibrations can be powerful. Some music performed in an opera with a full orchestra can move its audience of listeners to tears because of the power of the sense of hearing. Being quiet, still, in silence, can sometimes be disconcerting. Many of us in this modern era can jam our sense of sound because we are afraid to let our minds wander or come aware around us. But, when we really listen, we can hear the hum of a kitchen appliance, the chirp of a distant bird, our own breathing. “If a tree falls in the forest, but nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” I think it does! Hearing is taking in the frequency of sound waves while listening in engaging our minds with what we hear and stay in the present. This means we can actually notice things that intrigue us that we might have missed in the past.

5. See: The human eye can perceive the color green with the most varieties in shade. This is why military developers of technology made night vision in green. Sight is a sense that nearly everyone engages with and perhaps, takes for granted most days. The sense of sight allows us to notice beauty in color, shape, form, line, texture, value and space: these are the seven elements of art and design. Our eyes also allow us to perceive the time of day based on daylight, finding a way to walk or drive, notice minute facial expressions on the people around us. So much of the sense of sight is for the “doing business” of mundane life to keep us safe, yet I wonder what might happen if we let go of getting things done and instead really looked closely at what is in front of us. We might grow to appreciate subtle details of beauty with our eyes that we have missed in the past.

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How do you enjoy using all of your senses? Leave me a comment.