Presence

This post is about a gift I want you to give to yourself. It is what I call presence, or awareness, and it is deeply linked with appreciation.

I am not going to go too deep and new agey so don't worry if that isn't your thing. I am simply going to tell you about my favourite way of increasing my presence. It is a journal that I started early this year. I call it my Journal Of the Senses.

What is this? It is a pretty little notebook where I write anything I have observed using my senses: touch, taste, hearing, vision, smell, and the emotions evoked. I noticed that at first I thought of only a couple of things a day, but now I notice so much more each day, and even if I don't have time to write every one down, my senses are more alive than ever before.

I have noticed over time my entries have grown to include multiple senses over the same trigger, a smell and a touch, an aroma and a taste, memories and thoughts about all that I record, and I have noticed my entries are getting more poetic, with metaphores and symbolism included, I am growing in creativity too.

If life has many trials and stresses, at the same time I can find escape and happiness in simple pleasures, and so can you.

To give you an idea of what a Journal of the Senses can be like, I will share with you some of my entries as follows:

I hear a bird scolding in the garden. I smell lavender body butter on my skin and in the air and my skin feels like silk. I see gently flickering light as the breeze bobs my curtain back and forth at the open window. I notice the slight scratching sound as my pen moves across the page but the ink flows like a river of satin. I hear far away traffic, like a buzz in the air, it is a familiar soothing sound of life carrying on around me as I rest serenely here in my small room. My eyes are very green today. I feel contented.

I love the warm light of my bedsided lamp, so cosy, so inviting. It helps me unwind, it is a cue to me, it tells me that whatever I am doing will soon come to an end, that it won't be long until I can snuggle into the pillow, turn out the light, and think my contented thoughts until sleep carries them away up to Heaven.

Listening to music, voices like silky ribbons curling as they fly through the air.

Rubbing Velvet laundry soap into wet clothes - the sound and feel of carefully rinsing out a stain - a simple, pleasing process. The soaped up garment does remind me of velvet. It is so simple, so wholistic, a loving act of nurturing, a timeless task.

The loop of wool aroung my toe is snug as I plait strands of wool together to make cord. Lovely, pretty, colourful and sparkly wools with beautiful texture, passing through my hands. So comforting, making me feel timeless, i could be any girl at any time in history doing the same task.

Baby black calves in the Fairbridge fields, spindly legs, it is a wonder to see them stand or run, a blessing to behold.


it was actually difficult to find entries to share with you as I love all my entries, they are each beautiful experiences I have had, and most of them I have had only because I was Present, I have started because of this book to notice the things that stimulate my senses, so I am truly appreciating the minutiae of each day. I truly hope you will find ways to be present in your life, and really live, this journal has given me a much fuller experience of life.