“Self-awareness is your awareness of the world, which you experience through the five senses (sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell). Pay attention to your sensory impressions and be aware of those five ways that the world comes to you.”
– Deepak Chopra
Our emotions and senses play an important role in shaping our identities. Both are foundations for how we perceive and interpret the world. They influence our memories and imprint associations to specific experiences.
When we think about who we are, we think in tangible terms, our bodies, homes, and jobs. As I started this month’s essays with subconscious layers. We are a part of everything we experience, and our emotions are what connect our past, present, and imagined future. Today, we explore the interplay between our five senses and our emotions.
How our senses and emotions connect to our identity
It is a complex mix of thoughts, feelings, and experiences that shape who we are. Our sensory experiences are deeply connected to our self-awareness of the environment. So, how do the layers of our emotions and sensory experiences affect who we are?
Creating memories
Our senses are powerful stimuli for our memories. The scent or taste of a dish can transport you back to childhood. As we sense the world around us, we are having an emotional experience as well. These experiences are all filed away until something triggers them for retrieval.
Emotional connections
Since our senses are directly connected to our emotions, they help us understand and process them. Think about a loved one’s hugs or how sitting on a beach can shift your feelings and thoughts. These sensory experiences can shift our mindset.
Music can prompt strong emotions and tap into our memories. A song can take us on a journey to our past, almost like time travel. Music triggers the release of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins, which can reduce stress and improve our mood. Music can also make you sad, bring tears to your eyes, or your favorite song makes you get up and dance. Music can decrease your blood pressure and heart rate, bringing a sense of well-being.
Our emotions are deeply tied to our cultures. Think about Thanksgiving and how your traditional meals can create a feeling of belonging tied to memories of past holiday meals. These memories are a part of our identity, connecting us to our past and providing an anchor.
Scents and memory
Scents can trigger intense emotional responses; they can connect to our memories. There is a strong connection between smell, memory, and health. The feelings we have through our sensory experiences contribute to self-identity. The scent of a perfume your grandmother used to wear can bring up memories of connection and love.
On my walk this week, I passed a man smoking a pipe, and the scent of the pipe tobacco floated in the air. I was immediately transported to my childhood, and I could see and smell my father’s pipe, just like he was with me now. Our experiences and memories are all filed away, which can be triggered by our senses.
What the nose knows, by Coleen Walsh
The Connections Between Smell, Memory, and Health, by Molly McDonough
Touch and comfort
Tactile sensations, such as the texture of the sand between your toes as you sink into the tide, can induce memories. The soft fur or your dog or cat. The warmth of a blanket just out of the dryer. Throughout our day, we have constant tactile experiences, cooking, typing, textures on surfaces we come into contact with. Temperature changes, such as walking out of a warm house to a cool breeze as you step outside.
The Tactile Sense, by snoezelen
Everything you Need to Know About the Touch Sense, by Griffin Occupational Therapy
Auditory associations
Sound can also transport us to a specific moment in our past. The sounds of waves lapping the seashore can take us on a beach vacation. Couples often have a favorite song “oh, they are playing our song,” bringing them to the place and time they first heard the song. These shared memories help us to connect to others.
Art and self-expression
Viewing a work of art is an emotional experience that can bring joy and awe, or a strong sense of peace. As a form of self-expression, art allows you to express and explore your deepest self. It helps to put life into perspective and voice your feelings about the world. Art can be therapeutic as a method of processing your feelings and interpreting the world. In creating art, we are connecting to our senses, memories, and emotions and putting them into a visual medium.
How Does Art Evoke Emotions and Why? by Pinot’s Palette Naperville
The Four Domains of Human Consciousness; Different layers of consciousness can be mapped to better understand humans by Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Awareness of our senses and emotions for well-being
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
– Socrates
Engaging our senses can heighten our awareness of emotions and their triggers. We can understand our sensory inputs and learn to regulate our emotions through mindfulness. We can learn to focus on our sensory experiences on a deeper level. This awareness and focus can help us to live in the present moment.
Emotional triggers
Becoming aware of our emotional triggers is vital to emotional regulation. Just think about an emotional advertisement on TV; your eyes tear up; the sweet little dog waits patiently for its human to come home; a man buys a car because he can picture his children on a trip and the happiness it will bring. Commercials are designed to trigger your emotions. Our emotions are responsible for how we respond to stimuli and triggers. What are you feeling now? Learning to be aware of your emotions can help you feel more peaceful and comfortable in certain situations.
Think about giving a speech in front of an audience of 2,000 people; just thinking about this scenario might trigger emotions of fear. Studies show up to 75% of the population has a fear of public speaking. What triggers the fear? The same is true of happy emotions; thinking about visiting someone you love can fill you with happiness.
Personal reflection
Self-reflection is necessary for personal growth. Reflecting on how our senses and emotions are connected can help us build a stronger resilience, learn what triggers our emotions, and how we can regulate our emotions.
Artistic expression is a powerful tool for self-expression and discovery. Expressing yourself requires self-reflection, experimenting, and taking risks. It powers us to think through art and to communicate what we see and feel. Art impacts us on many levels, as the artist uses color, textures, and maybe sound to transport us to an emotional experience.
Conclusion
Who are you?
What I hope you take away from this essay is an awareness of the layers of your emotions and sensory experiences, an awareness of the connection to our memories. Take responsibility with zero excuses; finding and identifying your identity takes work. It requires you to spend time with yourself, to reflect on and understand all the layers of your identity.
Sensory triggers can evoke powerful emotional responses. We connect the pieces of our life’s puzzle through emotions and memories. Who we are is based as much on what happened in the past as what is happening now. Through our auditory, olfactory, taste, and tactile sensations, we experience the world.
Next month, we move into the deep philosophical topics about who we are. The goal is to help you with topics to think about or questions to ask to find your authentic self. Then, you can start to move forward and build the life you want. So, we will move toward setting new goals for 2025. And further. How about a life plan? Define who you are and what you do, find clarity, and focus on your goals. Rid yourself of time-wasting activities. Be who you were always meant to be. If you don’t know the answer, seek by asking and answering questions. Understanding the layers of self is a starting point.
We design our lives by the choices we make. Take responsibility, determine who you are today and who you want to be tomorrow. The more you understand who you are today, the more you can take control of tomorrow. What are the gaps between who you are today and who you want to be tomorrow? What is within your realm of control?
How do your senses influence your emotions? You answer this by living in the present moment and being aware of your five senses and how they interplay with your emotions. Get in touch with your deeper layers to help you understand yourself and help create the self you want to be tomorrow.
Recommended Reading
Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, by Gretchen Rubin
Compass of Emotions: Mastering Emotional Regulation for Lasting Happiness (Emotional Intelligence & Mental Health Collection), by Brooke Emerson
DEEP CLEARING: Balance Your Emotions, Let Go Of Inner & Outer Negativity, Shift To Higher Consciousness: A Radical Inner Process, by John Ruskan
The Remembered Self: Emotion and Memory in Personality, by Jefferson A. Singer
Previous Blogs
The Art of Introspection – Finding Yourself
Designing Tomorrow – The Path to Intentional Living
The Power of Authenticity – Becoming Your True Self
Rewrite Your Story. Embracing the Blank Page of Possibility!Take Responsibility for the Quality of Your Life
Citations
Photo by Tabea Schimpf on Unsplash
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash