Friday's Five

I listen to John Tesh on morning radio as I drive to work each day. Besides music that eases me into the day (I’m not a morning person), he has “Intelligence For Your Life.”

One morning, he said to boost creativity you should break small habits each day to get your mind out of its rut and take it for a stroll. So, that’s what Friday’s Five is going to be about. Five new things I did this week and five new things I’m going to do next week based on the five senses. One sense concentrated on each day and the honing of my observational skills.

Sound – ears – I drove home every day with the radio off and the window open. My front driver’s side wheel squeaks. My tires squeal as I go around corners. I heard every kind of music from the other cars on the road: rap, country, classical, classic rock, head banging stuff. The whooshing sound when cars passed by me was different than the whooshing sound when I passed them, and different again if we were all moving. And the lawnmower cars crack me up. Those little souped up cars that sound like high-strung miniature poodles.

Sight – eyes – Tuesday, I drove a new way to work. I saw a Jewish temple, a Presbyterian church and an AME church, which apparently is an African Methodist Episcopal church. Seedpods and flower petals flew through the air like confetti. A huge, two million-dollar home sat between small, single story homes in a fifty-year-old residential neighborhood. The builder had included a seven-foot white barricade style fence all around it. Talk about a white elephant. I wondered how long the For Sale sign had been up. The front lawn grass needed mowing.

Taste – mouth – Wednesday, I ate a Twinkie. I love Twinkies. It must be over a year since I’ve had one. The vanilla cake was spongy, soft and moist. The filling was the perfect amount of sweet, so I didn’t get a headache. And underlying the light, creamy taste was a bit of salt.

Touch – skin – The breezes this week have been heavenly. Cool, clear and clean, they caressed my skin, sometimes encouraging goosebumps on my arms. I’d be sitting on my livingroom chaise when a kiss of air would touch the nape of my neck.

Smell – nose – I’ve noticed that most of the time, on the surface at least, the smells around me are neutral. Unless I try hard, I can not distinguish different smells. Then, a repairman walked into my office and I couldn’t breath because I was so overwhelmed by body odor, sweat and unwashed clothes. The stench lingered for an half-hour, hovering in my doorway where he stood. I feared passing through the portal, envisioning faint yellow molecules attaching to me.

Next week, I will explore an onion using all five senses.