Take Five (Senses that is)

Create richer settings using this simple exercise.

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I wish I could take credit for this, but I can’t. Someone in a Facebook group talked about mindfulness and being present in your surroundings. She gave an exercise involving the five senses called 5-4-3-2-1.

For mindfulness, the idea is to be in a place and create a sensory inventory so to speak. However, I will suggest you use this to become immersed in the setting where a scene takes place.

Here’s the exercise:

Close your eyes and imagine the scene. and write down the following:

5 - things you see

4 - things you hear

3 - things you feel

2 - things you smell

1 - thing you taste

The last may not be that relevant to the story, but imagine yourself eating or drinking something or if it is an emotional scene imagine the tastes that we often overlook but are nonetheless there lingering in our mouths. Fear might taste like the salty perspiration on our lips, for instance.

Try it and see how it works for you.