We opted for a walk around Hollis Gardens yesterday followed by a circuit around lake mirror and though it wasn’t the normal adventure along a wild trail somewhere, it turned out to be a lovely wander anyway.
We were able to let our senses out of the bag and run free among some things neither one of us had been around before. That’s one of the lovely things about Hollis Gardens. Regardless of the time of year there is always something that appeals.
Other than taste, each of the other senses were satisfied along the way. As soon as we entered the gardens, the sound of gentle classical music accompanied each step we took. The sights of each color and shape were amazing and we touched some of the most velvet-like leaves that just didn’t even seem real! And as for the smell; well, you just had to be there. Words do not describe the different scents that drifted aimlessly with the gentle breeze.
Though I failed on some of the shot-attempts, most of them were decent enough and I have added them onto the end of the blog here.
Hope you enjoy.
Honestly, it was this morning when I was going through the images, that the thought for today’s blog occurred to me. In essence, it is about how important it is to feed each of our senses on a regular basis.
Most of us routinely feed our sight and sound and judging by the size of everyone here in America, taste is also being taken care of.
Unless you get out and about in a natural environment, smell is really being fed artificially and although that isn’t necessarily ideal, at least it is something.
But it is the fifth one that I really wanted to dwell on here for a moment; touch.
You see, the more virtual our world becomes, the less we indulge this sense and it is such a shame. Of the five senses, it is often the least thought of and very few people seem to be worried at all about losing it. I mean people would moan about the possibility of going blind or deaf, a little less-so about losing their sense of taste or smell. But no-one seems to worry about the sense of touch.
I can’t remember where but I recently read a statement that said “marriage can still thrive without sex but not without touch” and I hasten to broaden that statement out beyond marriage and offer that we, as people, can’t survive without touch.
Touching is an intimate act. Whether we touch a person or a leaf, our experience is uniquely personal. We experience it as a lone act whereas communally we can share a smell, a taste, a sound, or a view.
The main reason that a cut on our finger tip can be so painful is because we have evolved to have so many nerve endings there and it gives us the ability to sense small fluctuations in what we are touching.
When we run our fingers across a soft textured leaf, we feel a beauty. When we run our fingers across our love’s face, we feel a connection and their face allows them to feel one too. When we pat someone of the back, hold their hand, or caress them; these are all important use of our sense of touch.
Virtual cannot and should not ever replace this important human sense. And to allow ourselves to drift into a virtual world eventually starves us of one of the main components of our humanity. Our sense of touch.
… just a thought!
