Senses and Science

Imagine for a moment you are floating in a calm sea... you are feeling a sense of peace.  Your breathing is slow & your senses are alive.  You may be able to touch the bottom easily if that's more comfortable for you...  You can hear the sea birds above & around you, smell the sea, your body is enveloped & held by the water around you & you can see the ocean stretch out ahead of you & the beautiful shoreline behind you.  You are immersed in this ancient place that holds so many stories.  

When you come out of the sea something has shifted - your thoughts are a little different, you feel different to how you did before you went in... the world seems different.  Sea swimming & 'wild' swimming are increasingly popular & the research behind the benefits is growing day by day.  The interesting point for me is; why did we need the research & data to convince us that it was good for us in the first place??  It's the same with forest bathing... Taking a break & walking in a forest, breathing in all the natural smells, feeling the wind/rain/sun on our skin, moving our bodies...basically doing what we were designed to do... who knew that would be good for us?!

I was facilitating a Positive Psychology course for coaches recently & I sent the group off to do some gratitude practice.  When they came back I told them all about the hormonal responses that will have been happening whilst they practiced & one person responded "I'm so glad you told me that, because it has made the experience so much better for me knowing that".   Now I totally understand, it's why I include so much of the data & underpinning evidence when I am working with people... it is a language we all speak, it can help give us access to motivation, awareness or understanding necessary to make changes AND I have started to question how all of this gets in the way of us really sensing what is happening for us & trusting our gut. 

It's the same with all the data coming from smart watches - sleep, exercise, screen time, sitting time etc etc.  All can be really useful AND it can get in the way of us FEELING.  We are becoming ever more reliant on tech or research data to tell us what is good for us and what is not.  The more we rely, the less we sense; the less we sense, the more we rely... and so the merry-go-round goes round!  Our senses are something we can loose or develop... remember the post Covid olfactory training for regaining our sense of smell?  

So my question is how can we lean into BOTH senses and science?  How can we use both to connect further with our selves, each other and our natural surroundings.  I don't have any answers (sorry!!) as I'm sure it will be different for all of us - however I do offer the following questions as a starter for your reflections & hope this will have sparked some new thinking:

• What do you use data to tell you, that maybe your senses could, if you tapped in a little more?
• What impact does this have?
• When/where are you most in touch with your senses?
• What does this tell you?
• How can you sharpen your senses in your daily life?
• What difference might that make?

On a different but maybe related note... I see the Nokia 3210 is making a come back... how fab is that!!  I wonder if I'll be brave enough to ditch the smart phone...!  Watch this space...!!