Seasonal sensory experiencing
If you know me, you know autumn and Halloween is my favorite time of the year. My birthday falls in this season, which I’m sure has some influence, but I think regardless of that it would still be my favorite.
I received this idea from a blog I follow on Substack, Sensory by Julia Paige Lemke, to share my personal sensory experiences each season. The reason I find this important is threefold. If you have been in therapy for a while, you are probably familiar with the Five Senses grounding practice, which is where we utilize our five sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch to bring us back into the present moment. Beyond that, Deb Dana discusses the importance of glimmers, which are “micro-moments of regulation that foster feelings of well-being”. Sometimes I hear that referred to as the opposite of triggers. I also recently read How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend in which Rachel Barr discusses the importance of micro-dosing delights, which to me seem similar to glimmers. Rachel states a delight is “a pleasant experience, a moment of connectedness, that takes you by surprise”. With these three things in mind, I present to you my Seasonal Sensory Experiencing:
Sight
Turning of the leaves
One of my favorite things about this time of the year is watching the leaves turn from green to orange and yellow. Simply stopping and noticing the changing of the leaves feels so magical and wonderful. I discovered recently that leaves always have red and yellow pigments in them, we just aren’t able to see them until they stop their food making process that makes it the green color we normally see, fascinating!
Halloween decorations
Alongside the turning of the leaves, I love to see everyone’s Halloween decorations that they put out. Irvington is the best place to be at this time of the year to witness all the best Halloween decor! I have fond memories growing up and driving around neighborhoods to see everyone’s decorations, I believe it brings back that same sense of wonder and joy in me!
Rewatching Midnight Mass
Okay, this one is a little different BUT I LOVE Mike Flanagan! Mike is the director of my favorite shows, Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor, and some other recent work of his was Fall of the House of Usher. Naturally I love to watch some horror super natural shows and movies this time of year, and I had yet to rewatch Midnight Mass. I simply forgot how good it was, and is often revered as Mike’s best work. If you haven’t watched it yet, and you’re into that kind of stuff, I’d highly recommend it!
Blooming Aster
This one is something new for me, as we just planted our native garden last year I have really enjoyed watching the Aster bloom in the fall. Most plants are dying down for the season, but Aster is in all it’s glory! It’s turned into one of my favorite flowers. Not to mention the bees LOVE it too!
Aster in full bloom!
Smell
Campfire
I understand this isn’t everyone’s favorite, but I love the smell of a campfire. I love the way it clings to my hair and my clothes. I love cracking the windows as the air cools down and you can smell it in the breeze.
Cinnamon broomsticks
Something I look forward to every year is when stores begin releasing their cinnamon broomsticks. I like to keep them up year round too, because I also think they look so cool. Unfortunately the scent doesn’t always last that long, but while it does it fills my heart with warmth and comfort!
Cinnamon is also believed to symbolize protection, I think this might come from the fact that cinnamon is a great tool to ward off unwanted pests as they hate the smell. Double win as I love it and keeps the bugs out of my house!
Sound
Halloween Instrumental Playlist
I tend to listen to a lot of instrumental music, so I love busting out the Halloween instrumental playlist at this time of year. It has the perfect spooky vibe.
Hayley Williams album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
I’ve been really into Haley Williams’ new album lately, I hope you’ve been able to give it a listen. My favorite song is probably True Believer, but they’re all bangers!
Crunching and rustling of the leaves
This one speaks for itself!
Taste
Pumpkin spice latte
Definitely a little basic, but as an avid coffee drinker and a latte girly I do love a good pumpkin spice latte. Extra points if the coffee shop uses real pumpkin! Not to mention there’s so many tasty local coffee shops in Indy to choose from!
Hot apple cider
We like to make homemade mulled apple cider every year, one of my favorite traditions. It’s super easy to make too, just some unfiltered apple juice, orange slices, ginger, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves in the slow cooker for 4 hours and that’s it! Super delicious and cozy.
Touch
The cool breeze
I’m really not into summer and the heat, so once the temperature starts to drop and I can feel the cool breeze my heart sings!
Warm cozy sweaters
Speaking of a cool breeze, I can’t wait to bust out my warm cozy sweaters for fall!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this iteration of Seasonal Sensory Experiencing! Hopefully there will be more to come :)