Jillian’s June Post:
Summer Pleasures: Travel to a Sensuality Day

Have you ever passed a tree you’ve seen countless times but never before noticed the intricate design on its bark? Or how the grass balds at a certain spot on your everyday route? Or a flowering bush, previously unnoticed, in your neighbor’s yard? In the past you’ve most likely had other things on your mind, instead of immersing yourself in the moment.

For Change Your Life Through Travel I traveled to special places for some of my favorite writers. D.H. Lawrence seemed to master this art of living in the moment in Italy.

Italy was the place that awakened Lawrence’s senses. He walked the paths of the locals. Smelled their flowers. Made friends at neighborhood pubs. Picked olives with the peasants. Produced his own wine. Browsed in local shops. Preserved figs, and made jam with his wife, Freida. He sat in his garden, watching birds, or a butterfly that would “sit content on my shoe.” He savored the often-sunlit ways of the Italian people, immersed himself in their culture, settled into their rhythm. And in so doing, as his biographer Leo Hamalian said, “He found the essence of his being.”

How about following Lawrence’s inspiration to live fully in the moment?

Here’s one tip to begin: Declare one day this summer as a “Sensuality Day.” Devote an afternoon or an evening, if a full day is impossible. Take a bubble bath. Listen to your favorite classical or jazz CDs. Feel the firmness of your bed, and the weight of the sheets on you. Delight in everyday household tasks, as D.H. Lawrence did. Cook a leisurely dinner. Enjoy the warm, soapy water as you, slowly, wash dishes.

Set part of your Sensuality Day outdoors if at all possible. Create an afternoon picnic or a sunrise gathering. Bring elements that represent sensuality for you: food you love, good wine, music, a cherished book, friends you enjoy, a treasured article of clothing, stories to share. Bring a reading that inspires you, that reminds you that life is richer than we often know. Maybe it is something you have written; a travel recollection that enlightened or expanded you. Or a poem by a writer such as Walt Whitman, Rumi, or Maya Angelou.

Repeat it whenever you need more sensuality: more slowing down and savoring in your life.

For more stories and suggestions to help you “Slow Down and Live in the Moment” at home or on the road, see Change Your Life Through Travel Chapter 4.