Scintillate your senses (for free!)

See: This video. Once you've watched it, stop for a moment and close your eyes. What does your body feel like? Is your heart racing? Are there butterflies in your solar plexus? [Warning: it may be hard to resist ordering the book right away]

Hear: The whirr of the washing machine. The hum of the fridge. The traffic in the distance. Your neighbour's dog barking, signalling her return home. The breathing of your little 'un, nestled in your lap. The almost imperceptible "click!" that your clock radio makes as it ticks past midnight. The rhythm of your days.

Taste: Your lunch. I mean, really taste it. Like, stop everything you are doing and savour every single morsel. If you need any convincing of the power of this, read Geneen Roth's interview in the Huffington Post about women who eat at their desks!

Smell: The roses. If you live in Melbourne, like me, you will notice that all the roses in the neighbourhood have exploded with the last gasp of Autumn sunshine. Stopping to smell these magnificent creatures over a garden fence will reward you with the full glory of the goddess in a single moment. (If you're living in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm pretty sure that blossoms will have the same impact. If you're living in the tropics, I'd image you'd be spoilt for choice!)

Touch: The bare soles of your feet together. Or the bare soles of your feel against those of the one(s) you love. I don't think I could explain how or why this is so delicious. It just is.

Know: That you understand this maxim of Joseph Campbell's on a cellular level:

I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That's what it's all finally about, and that's what these clues help us to find within ourselves.

(With thanks to Chris Guillebeau for the quote, and to Liz Lamoreux for the inspiration to honour this sixth sense.)