Common Sense

In the afternoon I drove to a local hospital to lecture on changing addictive thinking. I asked the audience what they did to help people overcome the self-pity common to early recovery.

Paula, who worked for a residential agency, described a gratitude exercise she used. She’d ask her clients if they had to, which sense would they give up?  They usually struggled to name one, seeing the drawbacks in losing one’s sense of smell or taste, hearing, vision, or touch.

At the end of the exercise, she’d remind them they didn’t have to give up that sense.  She’d instruct them to go enjoy something tied to each of their senses.

I stopped at the cafeteria on my way out of the hospital.  I smelled the coffee, felt the warmth,  and savored the flavor. I listened to the conversations around me, and smiled at an old couple with their backs to me, holding hands under the table.

Today I’ll have the good sense to be grateful for my senses.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/