Summary

The article advocates for engaging the senses to deepen the experience of gratitude beyond mere mental acknowledgment.

Abstract

The author of the article shares their journey of evolving their gratitude practice from writing micro-gratitudes to incorporating sensory experiences. They emphasize the importance of focusing on what feels good, suggesting that engaging the senses can transform a superficial appreciation into a profound, embodied feeling of gratitude. The author illustrates this through personal examples of how sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch can each enhance the sensation of gratitude. By observing a cat basking in sunlight, listening to the silence of trees, savoring the ritual of making coffee, smelling an orange, and feeling the texture of flannel sheets, the author demonstrates that sensory engagement leads to a more fulfilling and present experience of gratitude.

Opinions

The author believes that traditional gratitude practices, such as writing appreciations, can be enhanced by engaging the senses.
They suggest that focusing on positive sensory experiences can help avoid reinforcing negative emotions like sadness or anger.
The author posits that sensory details in writing, similar to showing rather than telling, can evoke stronger feelings of gratitude.
They express a deep connection with nature and everyday routines, finding joy in the simplicity of these experiences.
The author implies that living in the present moment and appreciating the sensory aspects of life can lead to a more profound sense of gratitude.
They encourage readers to try sensory-based gratitude practices and to live from the inside out, suggesting that this approach can make one a beacon for positive experiences.

Stop Chasing Gratitude

Use your senses instead.

For about a year, I wrote micro-gratitudes on slips of paper and dropped them into an old fishbowl in hopes of raising my vibrations. I wrote down self-appreciations to boost self-esteem, self-worth, and self-love. Although these practices worked, it wasn’t until I included my senses, that I began to feel gratitude amplified.

If whatever we focus on grows, wouldn’t it make sense to focus on what feels good, rather than fuel uncomfortable emotions like sadness, anger, or hopelessness with thoughts of blame and shame, either for ourselves or others, the cycle repeating itself, indefinitely?

In writing, it is drilled into us to show, not tell; to bring in specific details, make the reader feel something. I found it works the same with gratitude. When I simply say, I love my LAMY pen, I don’t feel anything. The words fall flat. It’s an altogether different sensation in my body when I focus my energy on how the pen feels as it rests between my fingers, the weight of the purple ink against the white of the page, the quiet scratching as the letters form into words. When I take a moment to breathe in the yellow, which is the color of my pen, I feel joy bubble up under my skin.

Engage the Senses

1. Sight

Instead of saying, I am grateful for the sun, I watch my cat, resting inside a pool of sunlight. I imagine the warmth he may be feeling. Or better yet, I find a swath of sunshine to lie in for a moment and let the rays permeate my skin. This is a sensory exploration that ignites feelings of gratitude deep in my body.

2. Hearing

Every morning, I silently greet the three spruce trees I’ve named, The Sisters. I imagine they sit Zazen every single day, their roots deep in the soil of my front yard. I connect with their silence and then, hear my cat chortle at my feet, his way of asking for breakfast. The furnace whooshes warm air through the air ducts and the coffee grows bitter inside the carafe with every tick of the clock. My breath flows in and out. I feel grateful for the joy my hearing offers.

3. Taste

Coffee. I could write odes to coffee, entire sonatas if I were musically gifted. But how often do I chug it, impatient for my mind to wake up, not bothering to savor its flavor with my tongue?

Only this morning, I realized how much I appreciate the ritual of preparing the perfect cup of joe. The grinding of the beans — the sound, the smell, the texture of the ground-up beans — the precise measuring, and then watching the magical elixir drip, one drop at a time, into the freshly washed carafe, growing more robust with every cup brewed. I take the first sip and appreciate the coffee back to its first blossom.

4. Smell

Can I smell winter? Crisp. Translucent, its scent trapped inside every snowflake. How about the peeled orange my beloved left on the table where I write? It smells of positivity. It’s active and vital. I split it in half, inhale, take a moment for my brain to register what I’m about to eat. I sense a thank you from inside my body.

5. Touch

The firmness and click of the keyboard keys as I type. The weight of my cat as he curls up on my lap. The sting of sleet on my face and the heat of a steaming bath as I lower myself in. My lover’s lips at my temple and the flannel sheets against my bare skin. It all brings me into my body, reminding me I’m human.

Sensory experiencing

Focusing on what feels good through our senses is a practice that can lead directly to feeling gratitude. It is an act of slowing down, of noticing the mundane details that make up our days. It grounds us in the present moment where gratitude resides.

Go ahead. Close your eyes. Connect your soles to the floor, imagine roots growing into the earth. Breathe in. Press your palm flat against your chest. What do you hear? Open your eyes. What do you see? Become a beacon for what feels good. Live in slow-motion. Live from the inside out.

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