Do you enjoy certain little everyday sensory pleasures?

Personally, I think this is a must. Just last night I had the balcony open and a cool breeze filled the room with the a sweet smell of jasmine as well as providing a tingling sensation on my skin. I walked outside to follow the smell and spent the next 10 minutes just leaning over the balcony, enjoying the nighttime air and views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands. It was an awesome, yet brief experience.

here in new Orleans we have a place called cafe du monde. They sell French donuts called beignets. I just love going there on a early saturday or Sunday and sitting eating drinking cafe au latte and watching people

To continue with the regional theme… many parts of New Mexico get incredible sunsets, including Albuquerque which sits on an 80 mile wide river valley. So now matter where you are, you get to see them, and just about every day they are spectacular.

@shilolo I love night-blooming jasmine too! (although I would not have thought the Bay Area warm enough for it). In spring I walk my dogs through the neighborhood at night and stop to smell the jasmine and look at the moon.

@Hollister0221 You live in the single best sensory food place, I think. Warm beignets, crawfish etoufee, fried oyster muffaletto. I could go on, but I am making myself hungry!

also when I lived in key west the sunsets at Malory square and at Bahia Honda state park were some of my favorite times

@marina. Me too. LOL. Tonite is my regular chargrilled oysters at ACME. Mmmm. The best!

Every morning I stare out over my backyard and across the hills from my kitchen window. It’s part of my 20 minute get-ready-for-the-world time.

Being the summertime, I love the smell of honeysuckle (which is almost gone) and fresh cut grass.

The smell of the ocean breeze

That first morning stretch.
A hot shower on a cold day (an almost everyday experience here in Chicago).
Taking a leak.
A good back scratch.
A cup of tea when I get home.
Collapsing into bed.

All absolutely golden.

It is summertime in new orleans so the humidity can be brutal. But right at dusk in my front yard the birds love to hang out and chirp away so I open a cold beer sit in my chair and kiss the day away. Man I can’t wait till this evening. Lol

Seafood

@marina. Great question. I think we should all stop and appreciate the simple things

It may not be sensory, actually probably this encompasses every sense, but I am going camping in the mountains tomorrow. The “appreciation” comes from the fact that the mountains are 15 minutes away.

One of the other, weirder things I used to (and still occassionally do) experience is the brief instant before falling asleep after being on call the night before. Usually I am dead tired, and, having been responsible for answering pages all day and night, I am glad to be in bed. Almost always there is a brief moment, lasting no more than 20–30 seconds, when I experience a sense of total and complete relaxation. The sense of relief at not having to be awake, or aware of my surrounding, coupled with extreme exhaustion, leads to an (almost) orgasmic experience. Then I pass out!

@shilolo. You sure you were not touching yourself? LOL. Nah I know what you mean

@Hollister: picturing that makes you feel good?

It depends if your a guy or girl

Currently enjoying the sweet scent of baby kittens while it lasts…aww.

@Hollister. I’m pretty sure the answer to your question is no. :-)

hmm lets see, i love looking at the clouds, when i am driving, walking, sitting near a window. sunset is one of the most beautiful sights ever. i love the sound of thunder (its thundering right now here in Ohio!), its comforting for some reason. I love waking up in the morning when it has been raining all night. There is a “fresh” smell from it, like the world has just gone through laundry :). i like lit candles, i think they really add something to a room. Just getting to sleep for that “extra 10 minutes” is a blessing and being wrapped up in my comforter and sheets still makes me happy. I love going out for a a walk late at night, its one of the most enjoyable experiences (and totally free haha).

Absolutely. Good weather, watching the garden grow, or a simple meal are all good enough reason to celebrate life.

the little things are the best, definitely. my personal favorite is when i wake up in the morning with sun coming through my open window, hearing all the birds outside and feeling the cool air. priceless. or watching a thunderstorm while swinging on my front porch.

I’ve been riding the bus for about the last half a year. Part of that was surviving Winter in Minneapolis. Bundled up in layers of wool, jackets, mittens and hoods. Hot cup of coffee in hand. Breath trailing from nostrils and mouth. Sound of buses and a city coming to life.

I like the feeling you get when you drop into a densly covered stretch of road and the temp drops ten degrees, the air smells sweeter and you know that someplace close Is a natural water source.

Oh yeah. Coffee in the morning, the simplest pleasure. Seeing a real rainbow. Hearing the “unknown neighbor” play jazz sax somewhere far away. Shooting the rubber band from the newspaper at the fridge. Seeing how appreciative my betta is when I feed him.
Good stuff.

@Knotmyday Betta? Is your bete a beta?

Parking the car, which smells like people and dogs and polyesrer, opening the door, the air is
alive..

There is a Japanese book called the Pillow Book written by Sei Shonagan over a thousand years ago – I think around the 980’s. She makes various lists in the book…one of my favorites is a list that I was reminded of when I read this question. I love reading it because it makes me think of how little has changed about human nature in the past thousand years – even with all of our technological advances. The small pleasures still sustain us…

Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster
By Sei Shonagan (from The Pillow Book)

“Sparrow feeding their young. To pass a place where babies are playing. To sleep in a room where some fine incense has been burnt. To notice that one’s elegant Chinese mirror has become a little cloudy. To see a gentleman stop his carriage before one’s gate and instruct his attendants to announce his arrival. To wash one’s hair, make one’s toilet, and put on scented robes; even if not a soul sees one, these preparations still produce an inner pleasure.

It is night and one is expecting a visitor. Suddenly one is startled by the sound of rain-drops, which the wind blows against the shutters.”

@Marina- Betta Splendens, my Siamese Fighting fish. Lives in a brandy snifter, hold the brandy.

@Knotmyday I love their colors! Thanks for clarifying the name for me.

@occ Thank you so much for sharing that beautiful excerpt.

I love the sounds of a skateboard. When you skate across bricks it makes a crazy fast clack-clack-clack. The wheels slide and will screech. Grinding sounds like KRRrrch, all raspy lots of friction. Trucks banging on coping making clanging noises. And they pop when you pop a crisp ollie.

I enjoy self pleasure. LOL

I LOVE the smell of my bedroom. I can’t describe it, but to anyone else it probably wouldn’t have the same appeal. I also love the smell of my kids’ pillows, the feeling of my kids’ hands in mine, and the taste of Coke after a nice shot of Bacardi.

Nice stuff OCC. Is that “Orange Coast College” BTW?

The smell of my husband on our pillows.

One other thing I frequently do:
Get home from work, take off shoes and socks and walk barefoot on the grass outside – amazing!!

I don’t enjoy the little ones, I enjoy the ones late at night if u know what I mean!

I love the way the air smells right after it rains And, this may sound weird, but I love the smell of puppy breath!

@scamp Love both of those too! There is nothing like puppy breath!

When I was younger I worked for a vet. When puppies came in for their first shots, I used to love smelling their breath!!

I like quaint sounds and the smell of good food. I especially like hearing animals playing around, pets. I guess so then, yeah.