Hello,

One of my aims in writing Life in Five Senses and creating the “What’s Your Neglected Sense?” quiz was to identify, and learn to appreciate, my own neglected sense.

The quiz revealed that my most neglected sense is tasting. This result didn’t surprise me: I'm no “foodie”; I rarely turn to my sense of taste for comfort or pleasure; I eat the same foods every day for years (ask me about my breakfast chaffle).

Once I realized that I tend to neglect my sense of taste, I started to look for opportunities to tap into its power more often.

This summer, to explore my sense of taste, I’ve been trying to:

• Be more adventurous with condiments.
• Learn more about the foods I’m eating—the more we know, the more we notice.
• Change up my order when I eat out.

I have another self-knowledge quiz, for my “Four Tendencies” personality framework: “Are You an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel?”

There’s an interesting difference between the two quizzes.

For the most part, our Tendencies are hardwired. If you’re an Obliger, you’re an Obliger at age 5 and at age 55.

But our neglected sense is changeable. One person told me that his neglected sense was “hearing,” and while he thought that answer was accurate for him now, as a teenager and young adult, he’d loved listening to music and going to concerts. Another person told me that she’d neglected her sense of taste until she married someone who owned a restaurant.

Fascinating.

Onward,

5 Things Making Me Happy

I love a novella or a book of short non-fiction. I recently read Foster by Claire Keegan, Lolly Willowes, or the Loving Huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner, and Nothing Personal by James Baldwin. I appreciate a book in a different way when I can read it in a single day—or even in a single sitting—and that’s much easier to do with a short book. (I highly recommend all three.)

Coleus plants! Lately I’ve noticed colorful coleus plants all over New York City. Is this a new landscaping trend, or am I only just noticing them for the first time—now that I’ve been paying more attention to my senses?

I went to a dinner party, so I had a chance to use a recent Try-This-At-Home suggestion: “To make a good connection with a stranger, talk more.” In the Happier podcast episode 437, we discussed new research that suggests that the “reticence bias”—the idea that we’ll be perceived as more likable if we talk less than half the time—isn’t true, and that actually we come across as more likeable when we talk more. I pushed myself to talk more than I usually would with new acquaintances, and it was an effective approach to help conversation flow more easily.

Seeing beautiful tools sparks my imagination—even if I don’t even use that tool. For instance, I love an old typewriter.

Shakespeare wrote that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but I really wish I could re-name the “jellyfish.” Nothing is more graceful and mysterious than the silent movements of jellyfish—but that name! It doesn’t suggest how beautiful they can be, or how dangerous. I was fascinated by this short video, “Nat Geo Wild: Jellyfish 101.” My new creative prompt for myself: re-name the jellyfish. After all, “prunes” became “dried plums.”

Updates

• Join Meha Agrawal, founder and CEO of Silk + Sonder, and me for a free webinar about self-care and the senses. We’ll be diving deep into my new Five-Senses Journal and discussing how you can use it to boost your happiness, creativity, and productivity. Join us on Thursday, July 27 at 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT. To register, click here.
  
  
• Want to work happier? Subscribe to my LinkedIn newsletter where every two weeks, I share insights into how we can improve our work lives. You can read my latest newsletter, “How Spending 23 Minutes Outside Can Change Your Workday,” and subscribe here.

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