Day 114/366 days Towards Self-Mastery. Mood: mellow and accomplished. Big assignment finished today! Yay!
Coming back to our senses. My therapist said this to me recently. "You are coming back to your senses!"
How very apt was that statement to describe my reconnection with the aromas of body lotions and bath salts, fragrant candles and foot massage creams.
As we return to our senses, we are indeed returning to our life and living more fully. Life's foibles distract us from the pure pleasure of living fully, and with them, our senses are dulled and forgotten. We rarely stop to smell the roses, we lose our sense of taste failing to savour our delicious meals, we overwhelm our hearing with headphones, are careless with our sight with screen time and cuddle less and live without that delightful sense of touch.
For many the sense of smell is not strong. I lost my sense of smell for what seemed like forever. Then I noticed that on the rare occasion that I did a detox diet, my strong sense of smell would return. That says something right?
It says something about what's in my body tissues that maybe they could do without. And to be perfectly honest with you, if I had more greens growing in my garden right now, I'd be attacking that detox all over again, as my ability to smell those bathroom aromas is not as sharp as it could be.
Come back to your sense of smell
Your sense of smell awakens old memories. There must be so many experiences that connect to an aroma from your passed.
Today, take the time to indulge your sense of smell by engaging with aromas at every opportunity.
When I consider the experiences of smell I recall the strong natural scent of passed lovers lingering on the pillow, the smell of my little boy's now manly aroma, a freshly picked and gently squeezed lime that covers my hands with citrus oil. The pungent incense burned during mass services at Easter.
Patchouli oil from the seventies, coconut oil to build my tan on the salty, sandy Queensland beaches during adolescence. Lavender that has a permanent home on my bedside table, rose in my bathroom.
There's nothing quite like the smell of dinner cooking, slow and long in the wintertime. Olive oil, garlic, onion and tomatoes for an italian pizza paste or pasta sauce.
A rich aromatic and chocolaty blend of coffee brewing on the kitchen bench!
Freshly oiled leather couches, fragrant furniture oils. These are the smells that I live with and love everyday.
Of course there are the smells that I'd rather not live with though forever grateful that they are available to me. The smell of mould after a rainy period alerts me to find that small white patch on a leather couch and smother it with clove oil. The earthy smell of indoor plants reminds me to open up my home and allow the fresh air. The sour smell of stale milk or food that's gone off ensures I don't poison myself.
My garden is developing and I'm reminded to plant scented geraniums to add to my bath water or hang from the shower head.
How will you indulge your sense of smell?
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.