Sharpen the Senses to Accelerate the Mind

Being observant or attuned to the sounds, sights, smells, tastes and tactile feelings about you is a set of skills that can be learned.  The more aware we are the richer our experiences and the more effective our brains and minds will be. Said another way, if we don’t hear, see, smell, taste or feel something it is hard to remember, think about, learn from or use it to solve a problem.

Small improvements in observational skills can lead to a big jump in cognitive performance.

Given this, developing skills to sharpen our senses will be a frequent topic on the Next Brain Blog.

But how do we go about improving our ability to perceive the world? There is no how-to manual. Fortunately, the art of perception is taught in many disciplines. For example, supercharging your skills of visual perception is taught in drawing and law enforcement classes. How to hear is taught in music appreciation.   There are many lessons we can draw from these disciplines that will help us sharpen our senses in everyday settings.

Take for example the techniques for visual observation that are taught to security and law enforcement personnel.  This blog post summarizes one such technique nicely:

“When you set out to develop your observation skills, there’s a simple exercise that you can do to help. When you encounter a person while in a public place, in the time that you are with that person, see what you can observe about him or her. Catalogue the person’s height, weight, build, hair color, eye color, clothing and any distinguishing marks as though you will have to describe the person to the police afterwards. Notice important and telling details like whether the person is wearing a wedding ring. Also notice the person’s body language, facial expressions and eye movements, see what hypothesis you can form about their emotional state. Be careful not to stare while you’re observing all of these things, you don’t want to come off as creepy. If you feel comfortable, engage the conversation and see which of your estimates were on the mark. Once you feel comfortable with this exercise, up the ante and see if you can observe 2, 3 or 4 people at once. As you go through these exercises, you’ll notice that your ability to observe will increase tremendously.”

You can do this yourself.  If you try it or use a different technique for sharpening your senses leave a comment and share your experiences.

Source:  Five Senses Image