Green Mom Carnival, Gratitude for the Gift of Six Senses

Photo by underclassrising

This month at the Green Mom’s carnival at the Best of Mother Earth’s blog, the topic is gratitude.  It was a given that I was grateful for the small things in life, my family and friends, and just life in general.  But was this all I was grateful for? When I dug deeper, I realized that I was grateful for being born with the gift of six senses and imagination.

The Gift of Sight

If I had to pick one sense that I rely on the most, it would be the gift of sight.  I am a visual learner, and have relied on this sense my whole life.  I have used this sense to learn as well as interpret people.  Auditory learning was always hard for me. Don’t try and spell your email address to me, since I always get it wrong.  When my children were small, I hated when other mothers would spell words to me so their kids could not understand what they were saying.  I never got it.  Even accents throw me.  I can’t even go to a movie where the actors have English accents unless you want me to interrupt every five minutes with “what did they say?”

I am so thankful for the gift of sight since it allows me to interpret my world.

The Gift of Hearing

I love to hear the sounds of the wind as it rustles the tree leaves, rain on my roof, bees buzzing, and birds chirping. Hearing the sounds of Mother Nature makes me feel connected to her.

Hearing also allows me to share the day’s events with my family, listening to music and singing along in not the best voice, and listen to a friend in need.

I am thankful for the gift of hearing since it reminds me of how valuable every living creature is to our world.

The Gift of Smell

There is nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass, camp fires, the scent of roses, and the aroma of brownies baking in the oven.

When my children were young, I loved the way they smelled.  They were all breast-feed and smelled like powder.  Now as they are older, I often sneak into the box that has their baby clothes to smell them to remind me of that innocent time.

I am thankful for the sense of smell since it connects me to memories.

The Gift of Touch

Being able to touch makes us feel alive.  From a young age, we all yearned to be touched.  Who doesn’t love a good massage?

Touch enables me to embrace a friend, feel my children’s foreheads, grab my husband’s hand, and dig into the dirt.  On more occasions than I can count, I have used my fingers as temperature gauges for food.

I am thankful for the sense of touch since I can feel life through my fingers.

The Gift of Taste

Oh boy, this is a big one. I get a warm feeling in my stomach when I think of the taste of chocolate, strawberries that are particularly ripe, a crisp tart apple, chicken soup when I have a cold, and ice cream practically anytime of the year.  I love to pucker my lips when I eat something sour like a great key lime pie.

A lot of the veggies that I grow never make it to my kitchen because I am too busy eating them in my garden.  A ripe tomato right off the vine is delicious.  Fresh green beans and snap peas are heaven.  My strawberries are so amazingly sweet. (Ask the crows, rabbits, and slugs.)

I am thankful for the gift of taste since it lets me enjoy all of Mother Earth’s bounty.

The Gift of Intuition

Intuition is often referred to as the sixth sense.  I have always tried to follow my intuition.  As a mother, you know when your child is not okay.  When my oldest complained of being constantly thirsty, going to the bathroom a lot, and looked like he had lost weight, I knew something was wrong.  I sensed that he had juvenile diabetes, having heard about it years ago.  We immediately took him to the doctor, and at 15 he was diagnosed. We were lucky because we caught it early.  Many times parents think in the summer, they are just thirsty due to the hot weather. For this reason, many children are diagnosed when their sugar level is very high.  His was only in the 200’s.

I always believe that if something does not feel right, it generally isn’t.  I am thankful for the gift of intuition since it has help to make me feel safe.

Gift of Imagination

Although, this is not considered a sense, I wanted to include imagination because it is a unique human trait.  At a young age, we use our imagination to create wonderful stories and games. Others express their imagination through drawing.

I always created stories and grand adventures when I was young. Ask my sister. I always begged her to play Barbies with me. In fourth grade, I invented Sally the Detective who was a master sleuth. (I think I read too many Encyclopedia Brown stories!)

Creating Sally was so much fun that I decided I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.  Most of my high school teachers would have laughed at that idea. Unfortunately, expressing my thoughts on paper was very hard for me.  They were disorganized and never flowed. Forget grammar. Even in law school, my professor told me I need to read Plain English for Lawyers.

So, are you wondering why I am blogging? Since, Rachel Ray or Ophra have not rang my doorbell to cast me for their shows as their green expert, writing was the only way I could share my passion for green living.  Green Talk has opened up a whole new world for me and enabled me to create a community to help all of us live a greener lifestyle.

Rachel or Ophra, if you are reading this article, I am still available.  Call me.

I am thankful for the gift of imagination since it makes my world colorful and fun to be in.

Green Mom Carnival

Photo from Sommer Left to Right:
The Green Parent: Jenn (member)
Green Phone Booth: Jessica (member)
The Smart Mama: Jennifer (member)
Green and Clean Mom: Sommer (member)
Colleen: Foodie Tot
Lynn: Organic Mania (member)
Min Sook Lee: Documentary Film Artist for Toxic Baby

Lastly, I am thankful for the new friendships that I have formed with the women at the Green Moms carnival.  They are all so intelligent and passionate as well as a great sounding board for me to ask my many questions.  I have included a picture given to me by Sommer, of Green and Clean Mom, of some of the green moms who met at the Washington DC BlogHer.  (Hence, the visual part of me.)

Readers, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching what are you truly grateful for?

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