Sensory Somethings....

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 I've had a rough couple of weeks.  Nothing serious or tragic happened, it just felt like an uphill climb every day and a few days in there where I stumbled, lost my footing and it was just exhausting having to gear up to climb some more.  It's friday night and I have come to a flat landing on this mountain and I"m ready to rest a bit and take in my surroundings for a couple of days.  We don't have to travel out of town, we don't have an intense schedule for the weekend and it's time to prepare and consume some sensory  sustenance.....and to find a way to self-regulate now that there is time to catch my breath.  

I have had an ah-ha moment.  When children are not regulated, and no one is co-regulating with them, and they are aware of this, there are impulse control issues.  "Why is he doing that?"  Lets see how regulated vs. how dysregulated he is.....how long does it take him to get to calm and make smart decisions vs being impulsive, destructive and out of control......

Adults are not that different.  When I don't feel self-regulated I tend to be more impulsive as well.  How do I find some inner calm and peace?  Sensory diet.  Feed my senses.  Here's the plan:

Read something, see something.  I plan to read on in my bible plan to read through the bible in a year.  You guys, I'm so far behind its not even funny but I am not giving up.  I will read on even if I don't catch up.  What I am reading will, by definition, fill me and soothe me and speak to my heart because it is the words of God.  See something?  I'm going into my back yard to see the perennials springing up and notice my favorite lilac bush starting to sprout some little blooms of hope and promise of beauty.

Do something.  Pilates is my best therapy for stretching, breathing, strengthening and moving......the program I follow is called Lindywell.  I love it so much.  

Hear something.  I want to figure out how to listen to a podcast in the car.  It's just not something I have taken time to figure out and I want to, and then search up a good podcast to start with when my workweek starts next week and I am in the car alot.  

Smell something.  I'm gonna burn some candles while I clean.  I don't usually do candles in the summer but its a cool spring weekend so I want to clean a room, then light a candle for a few hours, just to bless the space and have a house that smells nice for a minute.  

Taste something.  I'm planning to roast cauliflower with a cheesy sauce.  I found a bar of cheese I hadn't seen before...its a tomato monteray jack that should melt really nice over the cauliflower until it is fork-tender and will go great with burgers or brats or whatever finds its way to the grill.  Roger has been gone all week for work and I am ready to give the stove top a rest and dust off the green egg!  


Find the things that you can see, touch, hear, taste and smell and pay attention when you do them.  To feel better sometimes we just need to do something.  

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