Animating All Them Senses At Once
Thugs don't cry !
My eyes burned at the flash of cameras.
A slow rush of sound followed. Hella voices, tew much light. I’d just taken off this blindfold, now I’m trapped in a dark room scattered with… stars ?
I couldn’t think straight, but I felt everything. Overwhelmed, distracted. Loved.
My retinas settled into an image of my community in one frame. Hugs, daps, and kisses shared while my bruddas thought I was crying for show.
But thugs don’t cry !!! I was just tryna open my eyes !
Thirty or so friends–new and familiar–swarmed me as I stepped into 29 years of age. Arm in arm with the conspirators of this chaos, we walked around the studio they booked. First stop: a table full of Fleurs et Sel cookies, LA’s best–shoutout to Lara.
A buttery medley of chocolate chips and oatmeal slowed my attention to see the room. A panoramic view of the guys posed like a K-Pop group at the wall sized cyc.
Swivel to the left, Raph is weaving deep cuts from Toro y Moi and Awilo Longomba. Swivel to the right, friends mushing into each other to make the photo booth frame. A man peddling churros crossed my sight, grinning knowing this isn’t his usual gig.
This moment was a lil over two years ago, yet these feelings remain potent only because all my senses were animated, at once.
Our senses are the foundation of our memories.
Think about yesterday. I bet your first flashbacks savor what you ate, the song you sang in the whip. Those cold sheets when you laid your heaaaaad, on that pillow.
Touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste link as this chassis, driving us through the turnt and the mundane. Most moments fade as we tap one or two of our senses at a time.
We chase completion of the day with no conscious experience. But when we animate all our senses, moments are shaped into memories.
Digging into this approach to life, the word neuroplasticity kept popping up.
A term I see as a malleable simplification of how our brains work. We take material from our senses to create these imprints, patterns that grow clearer with each new experience. With time, relatively quickly when we’re safe and having fun, we move past thinking and go deeper into feeling.
That’s what makes memories sticky. A gem from an OG crystalized this for me:
“Young fella, if you want her affection, give her attention plenty to mention”
I had to be like 12 at jiu jitsu, for sure not dating anything, just tryna grapple…
But those words stuck. He was right though. When we’re trying to learn someone, there’s plenty use in using all our senses to find the right fit.
This often starts at a restaurant. A warm light over our corner booth, close enough for knees and shoulders to touch. The bass in my voice matches the melody in hers. A waiter pulls up for the third time– but our eyes never made it down to the menu.
At some point, a mix of entrees takes up space on the table.
Salty, sweet, umami as we question if they’re playing a playlist we made. The whole time, the contours of her clavicle held my focus. Three hours pass before we look around… we’re the only guests in the restaurant.
The staff beeeeeeen needing us to get out…
I hold her hand and open the door, realizing I never had to force anything. I simply gave her senses plenty to hold onto.
That same choice– to engulf ourselves–can shape any moment offline.
To leave our phones at home on a walk. To journal our memories, letting the pen strokes soundtrack our memory.
Animating our senses is only as complex as we make it.
I simplify this daily by:
1. Turning chores into meditation. I’m savoring that last bite as the faucet opens and the unmistakable sound of water fills the room. Suds build up as my fingers slip, finding stability in the grooves of my favorite bowl. That sponge I’ve should’ve replaced time ago expands, feeling the grains of rice my fork couldn’t catch. A clean bowl catches the light as this hand towel dries it. I woulda missed all this if I let the dishwasher win.
2. Upgrade your hand goods. We treat dense materials with more respect. A favorite mug. That one Japanese knife. I ditched paper and plastic tableware to cop weighty ceramic pieces I treasure, moving around my space with the same feeling I get with my favorite garments.
3. See how long you can go without a screen, daily. I often lay on the ground with my phone in the other room, just to see how long before I drift to it. Each time, I notice the faint sounds of leaves bristling, the cold panels of my wooden floors, where the sun enters each room at different hours. Your house only becomes your home when you know how it flows.
Actively using our senses is the difference between setting the tone in our lives or accepting what comes our way.
We never needed more time or control. We need to be present and through our senses, new memories are always in reach.
Bro is writing fr.