HOW often do we take the time to properly reflect on our thoughts and feelings?

Modern life seems to be designed to keep us busy all the time with no time to just to be relaxed. We seem to be distracted by alerts on our phones or feeling the need to keep abreast of what’s happening on social media.

Most of us don’t seem to mind keeping ourselves busy and don’t seem to give ourselves enough downtime to be in touch with our inner thoughts and feelings.

Norman Farb and Zindel Segal have looked at how our thoughts can affect our wellbeing. They found that where people have closed themselves off from their responses to their feelings that they scored higher on various measures of depression.

It appears that limiting the input from our sensations may be a good short-term strategy to protect ourselves but it may not be so good for our long-term mental health.

So how can we be more in touch with our senses and not do things on automatic pilot? Sensing our feelings can be practised at any time and anywhere. Examples of being aware of our senses could include, for example, feeling the breeze on our faces when we are outdoors, the smell of coffee as we drink it or the aroma of a meal cooking or feeling the warmth of the sun.

Perhaps you are feeling a little bit low in your mood with the recent change in the weather – now it seems a bit greyer and darker earlier in the evenings. Then, why not give sensing a go? Just stop and take a look around you and see what you notice, smell, feel or hear. If it is something that you normally wouldn’t notice, then you’re on the right track.

By sensing our environment we can help reawaken areas of our brains that we don’t normally use and this can be an antidote to the stresses of daily life.

So I’m off to enjoy the feeling of the fresh air on my face as I take my dogs for one of their daily walks.

Lesley Pallett,

Zenara Therapeutics