September through the Senses
Morning sounds, trying a texture walk, and taking a moment (or two or three) to taste the season
One week of September left, so we are kicking off this Monday with a repost from last year’s sensory series.
Engaging our senses is a great way to find grounding when life is throwing us punches. So here are three ways to “get sensory” right now.
1. A morning sound check in (~5 minutes or less)
After you wake up and get the essentials out of the way, pour yourself your morning drink and either step out the door or open your window.
Close your eyes, and listen to the sounds right beyond your door.
If it’s raining, really listen to the rain. If it’s not, are there birds? Squirrels? Distant traffic? Wind? Other human or non-human sounds?
If you are hearing birds, you might want to give the free app Merlin Bird ID a try during your 5 minute listen.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, all you have to do is open it and hit record. Voila!
Watch your recording and discover who is singing those songs. Often, the Merlin Bird ID app will record sounds just out of range of our hearing or sort through a din of competing sounds - and perhaps help you hone your own listening skills in the process.
2. Take a walk with an eye for textures (~20 minutes)
The world is filled with textures of all kinds - rough and scraggly branches, smooth stones, velvety petals, the smooth shine on berries, the squishiness of fallen fruit or mud, and a lot more.
Like colors, shadow, light, and temperatures - these textures are ever changing, but often we take these changes for granted, noticing colors first - or noticing nothing at all, if we are rushing about from place to place without much thought about the location or time of year.
Step out the door over your lunch time or after work, and take short walk to explore the textures that are around you right now.
And remember, they won’t be like this a month from now. Say to yourself, these are the textures of this moment in this year.
3. Visit a market, farm, or store (or forage public fruit trees if that’s an option) and taste the season (~1 hour or more if you bake or cook with your discoveries)
This week marks the harvest moon!
That makes this a great week to taste the local or regional foods that are in season with a trip to the a market, farm stand, or just to the produce section in your grocery store.
Late summer produce is still providing its bounty in many places, just the first fall fruits and vegetables are becoming available. What a moment!
It’s a period where eggplant sits beside winter squash in many a farmers market stand. Plum and fig harvest is overlapping with pears and apples harvest.
It’s also pretty nice time of the year to break out of the standards and try something new-to-you.
Farmers markets can be a great go-to. Think you know your apples and pears? Try out a few varieties you’ve never heard of notice the subtle variations among them.
Or just spend an evening trying a new or favorite recipe with your favorite early fall food.**
**Bonus points for sharing that recipe in the comments section.