Once again, a huge welcome to all those new to The Wild Edge, and to my work. It’s wonderful to be on Substack now, and I am very excited as to how this all evolves.
This week’s five minute creative retreat is all about noticing, and particularly how we can habitually engage our senses to enliven how we move through the world. All you need is a pen, paper and a couple of minutes.
Our senses are portals. As the primary threshold through which our bodies experience the world, our senses are the gatekeepers to our perceptions, our sensuous embodiment of our being here, and are tools to help us navigate both the external environment, and our inner landscapes. There are the five primary senses of sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell, and then we have a whole range of internally focused senses, of which there is no agreed number, as that all depends on what counts as a sense. These introception senses include balance, spacial awareness, proprioception (body position) and thermoception (heat). Even listing them is a reminder to me of how remarkable bodies are. And that is only the human body. Other animals have a whole range of additional senses, including echolocation, infrared vision, and the migratory superpower of magnetoreception, or the ability to use the earth’s magnetic fields for navigation. Perhaps there are many more portals than we even have the ability to perceive.
I like to think of this modulation of moving from the external senses to the internal senses as an undulating breath. It is something we can hone to regulate our parasympathetic, or calming nervous system, as we get in the habit of witnessing the interrelated dynamics of the world ‘out there’, to understanding the world ‘in here’, then moving back out again, often with a greater sense of ourselves. Creativity in some ways then could be seen as the transporting medium through which what is ‘in here’ is translated into form, whether through language, physical expression or movement; our bodies then as portal of multiple layers of discovery
And it is this act of discovery I want to focus on this week; honing our senses to notice, perceive and ultimately translate with more nuance and precision.
Most mornings I break the blank page with a simple writing practice which I call ‘The observances’, writing down five things I notice. I begin with sight, often noting the weather, or the quality of light entering the room. Then I move through my senses, gradually inwards. After many years of doing this, and mostly sitting in the same spot on my kitchen table when I do it, it amazes me that there is always something different happening; something has shifted, externally and internally. The act of habitual noticing shows us the consistency of change.
Today:
The string of Christmas lights on the mantle, a soft blur in my eyes, stage left.
The lamplight falling on the dappled skin of a grapefruit, accentuating the spherical.
Outside, the bare bones of the elder tree, now leafless.
The extractor fan, ferociously rattling in the tail of Storm Darragh, sounding more alive than an inanimate object should.
The soft page below my palm, so comforting and familiar I could sleep in it.
Day after day the observances become habituated, like a ritual, carrying me over so many thresholds: through my senses, through the blank page, and into the infinitely beautiful shape of the world.
So your creative retreat this week is to try it out. 5 minutes, but it may be even less. See what you notice. Get specific. If you can, try it several days in a row, as the cumulative effect, as with many practices, is where the power and promise of this resides.
I hope you enjoy. Let me know how you get on in the comments.
Next week I’ll be adding to this with another interesting noticing tool for seeing more, and appreciating more of the world around us.
Thank you.
Clare x
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Coming Up & Some Announcements.
For paid subscribers:
Poetry Salon: Sunday 8th December, 6-7pm GMT.
Open to all:
Winter Solstice Salon: A night of poetry, journaling and seasonal ritual. Included in ‘Gold’ membership. Tickets also available here.
Intentional Year Guidebook and Kick-off workshop - January 7th. For the last five years, I have created a reflective tool for helping us design our year more intentionally. It includes a guidebook, meditations, creative practices, and a live workshop on January 7th. By ‘honesty box’ donations. You can find out more over my website claremulvany.ie
Thank you so much,
Clare x
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