Exploring our own senses

The Self
Part 17 - Exploring our own senses

You are no doubt pretty familiar with the five senses that help us to navigate through life:

Yet there are also believed to be another seven senses that are part of our lifelong survival toolkit:

And maybe we have many more senses that we don’t as yet have the words to describe, alongside all sorts of receptors within our bodies that respond to all sorts of stimulations.

Which sense(s) you will use most will depend on such things as: where you are living, who you are as a biological, psychological and social person, what experiences you have had in life – and what your role is at any given time.

For example:

Gina lives in an extremely cold and harsh climate. She uses her sense of temperature a lot more than Freddie, who lives in a warm city. Freddie likes to walk around his neighbourhood. He is particularly alert to the sound of car brakes screeching, as he was once knocked down by a car while crossing the road. Freddie loves being in motion. When he sits still for too long, he gets very impatient and starts to bob his knees up and down. This is the opposite of Gina, who conserves her energy for when she really needs it – and who spends a lot of time being still in the winter months. Unlike Freddie, Gina considers herself to be ‘at one’ with nature and with her environment, and is largely guided by her instincts.

Marfa has a job as a primary school teacher. She is very focused on the expressions on the children’s faces, as they often do not tell her with words when they need the toilet. She is particularly focused on this as a boy recently wet his trousers and was very upset, which was distressing for her too. Marfa is also aware of a back pain she recently had, and which movements made it better and which movements made it worse.

Q: Can you go through each of your senses, one at a time, and work out your own relationship to it?

Start with the senses that are most important to you. With each one you may want to answer some of the following questions:

Q: What do you tend to use this sense for?
Q: What life experience(s) do you have around this sense?
Q: Are you positive, negative or neutral about this sense?
Q: Do you use this sense enough? Do you use it too much? Do you trust it? Do you like it? If you were to draw it, what would it look like?

My senses and I

Sense 1:

Sense 2:

Sense 3:

Sense 4:

Sense 5:

Sense 6:

Sense 7:

Sense 8:

Sense 9:

The Five Senses exercise

Imagine that you had five friends: Lenny, Jenny, Benny, Penny and Kenny. Each of them have got only one of the five main senses. They can either smell, touch, taste, hear or see. Imagine further that you are going to be spending one full day, from Monday to Friday, with each them.

Q: What activities are you going to do with each of them?

Take three minutes to map out how you would spend each day.

Lenny (Smell)

Jenny (Touch)

Benny (Taste)

Penny (Hear)

Kenny (See)

Once you have finished this exercise, you may want to think about the following questions:

Q: How many of these activities do you currently do?

Q: Which sense(s) did you struggle most to find activities for?

Q: Which sense(s) did you find easiest to find activities for?

Q: On the whole, would you say whether or not you involve all of your senses in the pursuit of pleasure?

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Exploring our own senses

The SelfPart 17 - Exploring our own senses

My senses and I

The Five Senses exercise

Continue reading

The Self
Part 17 - Exploring our own senses