We rarely focus on our senses and thus miss out on how they can enhance our lives at both micro and macro levels; what they can offer us in daily life, as well as during life's special moments. It is up to each individual to become more consciously aware of and use each sense in more deliberate yet sensitive ways. Everyone can benefit by focussing daily on one or more of the senses even if only for a short period. Ideally it should become a daily practice.

This book arose from an altered way of heightening people's senses as they 'experienced' what Shekina Sculpture Garden has to offer: its views, stream, shrub beds, seating areas, and its unique collection of sculptures by modern Irish artists. The latter are made of many mediums: stone, wood, iron, glass, stainless steel etc.

Heightening our use of each sense is enhanced by adverting to both our outer as well as equivalent inner sensing. For example seeing; seeing colours in all their shades, seeing form, then finally noticing one's inner seeing. An example of the latter might be receiving an 'insight' about something. Gardens, in particular, are places to be tactile in, such as walking bare foot on grass, sensing the texture of a leaf with one's fingers, hugging the bark of a tree, stepping into the coolness of running water etc. Inner sensing might be opened up by the phrase: 'I felt very touched by...'

The book offers a short chapter on the anatomy of our senses, and closes on another perspective: the part inner sensing plays in relation to religious faith as well as noticing how tactile Jesus was in his healing ministry.

Books by Catherine McCann