Your Senses are Talking, Are you Listening?
One Friday afternoon an adoptive mother called the adoption agency I worked at in distress: 3 months post adoption, her 3-year-old daughter, still could not sleep through the night. The call was directed to me, the Director of the Russian program.
I asked many questions about the child’s evening routine and the bedroom surroundings to identify what could possibly overstimulate the child’s mind and body.
The mother’s answers were satisfactory. For a minute I was at loss. Then, suddenly, a question popped up in my head. “What is the color of the baby's room walls?”, I asked the mother.
“It’s a girl”, she simply answered.
I thought she did not understand my accent and repeated the question again.
“What is the color of your daughter's room walls?”, trying to pronounce all English words as distinctly as I could.
“It’s a girl”, she repeated her answer.
I asked her the third time being rather confused by her answers.
“Pink-it’s a girl!”, she exclaimed.
It was my second year in the states, and I did not know that Americans associate pink with a girl and blue with a boy.
Dickson Kingdom Lilly | Photo by Mary Hilldore Photography
“Paint walls immediately to a calmer color!”
I made my recommendation.
“What color?” She asked.
“To simplify things, let’s just choose white, similar to the orphanage walls”.
Over the weekend I thought about that poor innocent baby and loving mother trying so hard to help the girl in her immense adjustment to a new environment.
Four days later, the mother called to joyfully share with me: “I painted the next morning and my daughter has been sleeping through the night ever since!”.
That case had significantly affected my professional life as the social worker and then as an artist. It led me to respect our sensory system and understand how it effects..
our body,
our health,
our subconscious memory,
our…well…
EVERYTHING!
Dickson Kingdom Turkey “Tuk Tuk” loves to be Petted |Mary Hilldore Photography
I had also come to realization that I could relate to that girl. And many other children, who could be easily overstimulated.
In another instance, an adopted boy, had shown various emotional struggles. After bringing the baby boy to multiple specialists, at last the parents had found the answer: tactile sensitivity. Just changing the sock texture (what they were made of) relieved the boy.
Over 25 years in the US I tried to train my brain to deal with sensory overload in big stores with no success. As a result, I had simply to give up visiting grocery stores and malls as my sensory system has been overloaded bringing my body to a complete exhaustion and irritation.
I always wondered: could some crying babies at the stores experience the same? The answer is rater simple: very possible.
And what about you, my dear artistic followers and readers. I bet many of you are in the same boat.
So, let’s have an honest chat. Could you ask yourself some questions. Do you:
Acutely respond to normally unnoticeable details?
Enjoy solitude and were able to benefit from the isolation during COVID-19?
Prefer spending time in nature versus in crowded malls?
Need to do your groceries as quick as possible to minimize the overload?
Have favorite colors and respond to them very acutely?
Have problems with loud music and prefer soft tones?
Appreciate art in all forms?
Instantly want to help people who are in distress?
If the answer is YES to many of them, then you might be a highly sensitive person. Like myself.
Sometimes, we don’t even know that our "cranky" child (or partner) is not happy simply because of his/her sensory overload. Not because they are cranky.
Well, believe it or not:
EVERYTHING BOILS DOWN TO OUR FIVE SENSES:
Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch
NOTHING ELSE sends our brain information.
NOTHING.
Then why am I, artist, taking your time to talk about sensitivity?
Because paintings, sculptures, mosaics, murals, car and furniture designs, are VISUAL art.
V I S U A L
And vision (sight) is one of the strongest stimuli.
Everything you fill your home with sends visual information through shapes, materials, textures and most importantly…
COLORS.
Dickson Kingdom Chicken & Duck Eggs
This applies to every piece of art.
Whether you are an art buyer or an artist, you need to be aware of it.
When you are attracted to a specific piece of art, these senses lead you to it!
You don’t have to know or explain to anybody (including yourself) “why” you like it, because in most cases we don’t even know it ourselves.
In addition, our brain has been storing our memories since the childhood.
We don’t even remember many things, but our brain does.
You know what mostly attracts my art buyers?
The same reason as why I am subconsciously drawn to my painting subject matters (Wildflowers, Ponds, Countryside, etc.)
Artists Studio | Wildflowers
So, it is not necessarily about how pretty the things are.
It is about how our senses read the visual information and how it makes us feel.
Well, how about taking some actions?!
Pay attention what makes you feel good.
Find your favorite color paper or/and favorite color marker and write in bold -with your very own hand writing- “WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY”.
Think sight, smells, sounds, and touch.
Try to do the same for your family members.
Circle or highlight what you have in common- those things will make your family happy.
If you want to really improve your home environment, then create another list "WHAT IRRITATES ME?"
“Spectacle” | 2016 Tulip Time Poster Winner | Alla Dickson
I have been doing this for the last five years, since I had found, with the help of a psychologist, that all of my latest anxieties have been triggered by the senses that were related to tragic events.
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
is the extreme version of such senses reaction, which could be triggered by a sound, image, smell, taste or touch.
"WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY?" LIST WORKS!
Remember, you need to satisfy all FIVE SENSES!
Start with one of the most important: VISUAL
(colors, shapes, objects, water, sand beaches, wildflowers, skies, birds, colors, concepts, anything!).
Benefits:
1. This list will guide you to choose the best colors in your home.
2. You will be more selective of the objects for your home.
3. You will be heading toward mindfulness and harmony.
For example, if water, beach, ocean, skies dominate on your list.
That means that blue color relaxes your body (brings that happy feeling dopamine). This leads to your choice of art images.
NOTE: Blue has many tones and highly sensitive people strongly respond to the tones as well.
And the last question to ponder:
What is true happiness comprised of?
Well, through all my writings, teachings, and conversations I will continue to share with you more simple and working secrets on the ART of living with JOY!
