Sensorial Love-Letters

When last have you slowed down to stop and smell the roses?

Stopped to enjoy the sound of rain pattering on the roof?

Carved out the time to take a hot bubble bath after work?

I am wondering, when last have you truly relished in living your life?

Most of us have gone through life on the automatic setting, savouring our meal only at the last bite, recognizing our love for someone only after they have left, and acknowledging our beauty only when we are older. How insane is it that we move through the most pleasurable experiences and small moments without much thought or intentionality? But what if I told you that your body is here to experience life's pleasures to the utmost fullest, perfect in every way, doing exactly what it is meant to do?

Maybe it's time we move from living life on autopilot or self-surveillance to giving ourselves the permission to live romantically, audaciously, pleasurably and wholeheartedly with all our senses activated. Sounds so good, right? By the way, did you catch the part where I mentioned self-surveillance? I am sure you can agree that there has been many times in your life where you have objectified yourself, denying yourself from completely enjoying an experience or abstained from it altogether. I know I definitely have, to the point of being my biggest bully.

And I will be honest, from all the people I have worked with, most of them have admitted to being their biggest bully. So if you happen to find that this resonates with you, let me give you a comforting hug and tell you that you are definitely not alone. However life is short and we are only here for a short while so like the birds outside my window who are drinking the delicious nectar from the aloes, lets drink in the delicious nectar that life has to give us.

Indulge yourself in Sensorial Love-Letters

To do this I want to invite you to get creative in the ways you can flirt and play with your senses to make each present moment beautiful, even if the task you need to do is daunting. Let's go on a journey through your gorgeous senses:

Visuals (Sight)

Your eyes processes light, shapes, motion, color ect.

• Surround yourself with art. They say vision boards work wonders, and its no surprise because it reminds you and reinforces the imagine of the life you want to live on a conscious and unconscious manner. Change your phones background, designate a space on one of your walls for a vision board, invest in art pieces that bring you joy and beauty, or create your own art.

• Paint with all the colors of life. Color is a type of therapy, using colors intentionally from the way we dress to the way we decorate our rooms can invoke feelings from calm all the way to passion and authority. Dress in ways that delight you, uplift your mood or boost confidence. Decorate your bedroom in colors that invoke peace, abundance or passion. Maybe you want to feel a bit more sexy, paint your nails and wear some red lipstick, from your clothe, to your nails, to your room, colour them all in!

Olfactory (Smell)

Your nose processes scents and odors.

• Incense. Need I say more... Take the time to go to an incense store and spend a good few hours sniffing each scent, find the ones you absolutely adore and incorporate these scents into your daily rituals. It is such a lovely way to up-level basic daily tasks, for instance when I am cleaning my kitchen I always begin by burning an incense stick on the counter, how lovely!

• Literary, stop and smell everything you are eating and drinking. Fresh brew in the morning? Sniff it. Cooking a delicious meal with fresh ingredients? Smell the fresh produce, smell the finished meal you just cooked. Walking past a bakery? Slow down and appreciate the freshly baked croissant. Stop and smell the roses. The scent of a loved one when you hug them. These are the small moments that count.

Tactile (Touch)

Your skin processes texture, pressure and temperature.

• Touch your loved ones. Life is short, express your love abundantly. Hold your moms hand (even if your a grown up) hug your friends, kiss your lover and never hold back from showing how much love you have for the people in your life, there is no guarantee that they will be here tomorrow.

• Wear clothe that flatter and not restrict. Your body is not an ornament, it is a living breathing vessel (your skin breathes) so stop restricting your tummy and legs to look stick skinny. You deserve to feel comfortable and move freely throughout the day, curate a wardrobe that expresses your style and at the same time is comfortable.

Auditory (Hearing)

Your ears process sound, volume, tone, pitch.

• The soundtrack of your life. Much like a vision board, create different playlists to soundtrack your life, this is another powerful way to reinforce the sound of your life. Use music to repattern belief systems, to dance and shake off stagnate emotions, to uplift your soul, to heal and shed tears, you name it. Music is medicine.

• Nature has music as well, if you listen. Spend time in nature sitting silently and see how many different sounds you can hear, birds sings, a river flowing, bees buzzing, a breeze whooshing. Natures song is constantly singing but we always forget to listen, maybe this can be your new daily mindfulness practice?

Gustatory (Taste)

Your mouth processes flavors and textures.

• Taste your food! Ugh, how orgasmic! You are telling me you don't only get to smell your freshly baked cake but you get to eat it to? Remember, one day when you are sixty you wont be thinking to yourself "Gosh, I am so glad I didn't eat that piece of cake when I was 21!" How absolutely lucky are we that we get to be creative in the kitchen, nourish our bodies and our families and we get to stimulate our sense. Go and create magic in the kitchen!

• Be creative and try something new. Try out new restaurants, food from different countries, try recreating your favorite dish, new flavors, new styles. Don't be so shy, get savy in the kitchen. Life is waiting for you to taste all her delicious flavors and I bet that you want to.

Each day brings us an opportunity to relish in our senses, making the ordinary into magic. Take this opportunity to alchemize that bully in your head into your lover and send them some love-letters, show them how much you love them, and if you find them saying "Ugh, this is taking so long! It's not worth all the effort!" Girl, let me tell you how worth it you are!

You are an experience to behold, one of a kind. You can never be recreated, never be tamed, never be completely understood because each moment that you are on this earth is completely unique to that moment, so make is absolutely pleasurable. Don't waste your time waiting for the perfect moment, create it right now!

Isn't it?

This is my love-letter to you, may you indulge in yours -

Pascale