Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to indulge your neglected sense. If you are
Speaker 1: less likely to notice and rely on one of your
Speaker 1: five senses, you can become more mindful of the world
Speaker 1: by consciously creating experiences for that sense. Today's tip comes
Speaker 1: from Gretchen Ruben's new book Life in Five Senses. Gretchen,
Speaker 1: who is best known for the book The Happiness Project,
Speaker 1: spent some time exploring seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling
Speaker 1: to see if she could become more aware of the
Speaker 1: world around her. Among other things, she learned about creating
Speaker 1: pers she tried to blindfold a dinner, and she visited
Speaker 1: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art hundreds of times. As
Speaker 1: part of all of this, she developed a quiz that
Speaker 1: helps people figure out their neglected sense. This is the
Speaker 1: sense that you are less likely to turn to or
Speaker 1: find ways to enjoy. I took this quiz a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago and learned that my neglected sense is touch.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I would have guessed that, but I
Speaker 1: guess it could be true. I often wear very drapy
Speaker 1: clothes so I don't have to feel much of anything
Speaker 1: a lot of the time. In any case, you can
Speaker 1: take the neglected Sense quiz at Gretchen Reuben dot com
Speaker 1: backslash quiz when you find out what your neglected sense is.
Speaker 1: Gretchen suggests finding ways to explore this sense and to
Speaker 1: create new experiences. For instance, with touching, it might mean
Speaker 1: taking time to pet a pet, or shopping in a
Speaker 1: brick and mortar store so you can actually feel the
Speaker 1: objects rather than just look at pictures of them online.
Speaker 1: She suggests even doing some out of the box things
Speaker 1: like buying kinetic sand to play with. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I'm going to do that. I don't want to vacuum
Speaker 1: it out of my rug, but I do appreciate the idea.
Speaker 1: In general, thinking more about our senses can help us
Speaker 1: experience the world in new ways. For instance, I know
Speaker 1: that scent has an incredible power to conjure up memories,
Speaker 1: so when I'm doing something that I would like to remember,
Speaker 1: I sometimes see if I can associate a scent with it.
Speaker 1: I went to a hotel on a lovely vacation once
Speaker 1: that had distinctive orange smelling soaps and shampoos. I took
Speaker 1: a small bottle home so that when I sniffed it,
Speaker 1: I could remember. Sound can do that too, particularly in
Speaker 1: the case of music. If you would like to remember
Speaker 1: an experience, play a certain song over and over in
Speaker 1: the course of it, and you will likely be able
Speaker 1: to conjure up the memories anytime you hear that song
Speaker 1: in the future. What senses do you use most often
Speaker 1: and which senses do you neglect? Take Gretchen's quiz to
Speaker 1: find out, and then check out Life in Five Senses
Speaker 1: to learn more about such exploration. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast Pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.