sensorial experiences in the mundane

What makes a particular moment unique?

This table serves as a daily reminder of what has been accomplished in the past 24 hours.
tangled wires.
an aloe plant.
a bottle of curdled milk.
keys.
plates with remnants of breakfast.

The constant white noise coming from the bathroom fan doesn’t distinguish this moment, it has become the soundtrack of quiet time.

The sweet smell of the molasses from the baked beans smeared on the plate reminds me of my grandfather, long passed.

I taste that it’s been too long since I’ve last brushed my teeth.

This is all familiar, as is sliding my hand across sheets of paper as I transcribe thoughts, observations. None of what I am seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching are unique in and of themself.

This particular combination of these familiar experiences are what that make this a unique moment to me, however mundane.

My mind drifts from what I am ‘experiencing’ in this moment to the idea of unique ‘experiences’. What if unique experiences are generated by a particular combination of sensorial activations that has never before occurred in tandem? Does déjà vu occur when two (or more) specific (or punctuated) sensorial activations occur simultaneously just in the same way that they have only that  once before?

I simply turn on music – my attention focuses to sound.

            My mood lifts.

A response to:
"Exercise 1- the basics of sensing - right here, write now" found in: Culhane, Dara (2016) "SENSING," in Elliott, Denielle and Dara Culhane, Eds. A DIFFERENT KIND OF ETHNOGRAPHY: IMAGINATIVE PRACTICES AND CREATIVE METHODOLOGIES. University of Toronto Press.

This was originally posted: September 13, 2016 for an assignment in Dr. Dara Culhane's course at SFU: SA 875- Ethnographic Methodology