Every Friday*, I reflect on the week that has just passed by doing a little senses exercise. This practice is a gentle, easy way to tune into how we are doing, what we are experiencing, and what we are grateful for while more acutely tuning into our senses. It’s a whole heart exercise with plenty of bodily input, if you will. Because this practice has been so good for me, I want to encourage you to do it, too. Building some gentle reflection into our weeks is a nice way to stay grounded while maintaining some big picture perspective. So please join me in this week’s Friday Reflections (with each sense as your inspiration, consider how experiencing it impacted your week).
tasting :: mushroom ragu over pasta, black bean burger with avocado, vegetable soup, chicken salad sandwich, cream of mushroom soup, lemon custard PS: this was one of the best weeks for tasting in a long time as I was invited to have lunch at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte where the French Cuisine Food Lab prepared an elaborate lunch for us.
hearing :: a medley of songs over You Tube like Ain’t No Sunshine, Hallelujuah, Rumor Has It, Someone Like You while playing Uno as a family after dinner
smelling :: spring: the brightness of cut grass, the pungency of some little weeds flowers that Happy picked in our yard
seeing :: a gap in Happy’s mouth as he is now down two front teeth (and five teeth overall), cousins, the SUN, a little baby bunny in my neighbor’s garden, Babe the movie during family movie night (the last Friday night of each month), and Flat Stanley as he came to visit for a few days
feeling :: touched by my sweet students’ honest journeys for self-awareness as I read their journals, so grateful for the wash of sunshine we have enjoyed this week
wishing/hoping :: for a feeling of internal balance during an April that will be jam packed with grading as the semester ends, a little bit of travel, and lots of Circle de Luz needs (events, fundraising, and planning for next week).
What about you? What were your sensational experiences this week? Please share!
This post was inspired by Teacher Goes Back to School who was inspired by Pink of Perfection’s Five Sense Friday.
*Friday Reflections has been on a partially unintended hiatus. While I meant to take February off so that I could get in all the Shine posts that I had planned, I also ended up taking March off because my camera broke and because I am not very tech savvy, I totally forgot about my phone camera. I am using my phone camera now but they aren’t the best shots– sorry for the poor quality! I’ll share FR as often as I have images, but it may be sporadic depending on photo quality.