ENTRY #3 Sweet Confection

                              

Close your eyes for a few minutes. I want you to take a few deep breaths and, in those breaths, I want you to reach inside and remember a memory from a childhood vacation. Maybe a beach or a peaceful camping trip. Then I want you to think about what kind of things remind you of those memories: the food you eat, the smell of your clothes, a candle, anything. Lastly, think of eating a really cold icicle drop on that trip. What was your experience? What was your feeling of thought? Did it engage your senses? What about opening the packaging of the drops. 

The tingle of sensation felt from your lower vertebrae to the tip of your brain. The crinkles of the packaging perking your ears to the mystery of flavor and excitement that await. Who knew plastic sounds could bring such satisfaction? With the whole 6.25-ounce bag of coolness displayed on your hand,  you can almost hear the ocean. Rough edges of the top representing the kind of crashing of the waves during a storm. The bag has shades of blue color, similar to the ocean. Blue representing the deeper parts of the water. White representing the wash after the waves crash. 

The memory of it brings you back to the time when you felt the breeze of the ocean run through your salty sea curls, the feeling of the pebbles of sand at sunset, barely lingering with warmth. Snuggled in a jacket, and the crashing of the waves barely touching the tips of your toes, but just enough to feel the ice of the winter waters. The sweet confection tastes like a thousand peals of thunder. The rolling waters' crashing on the seashore, embracing every detail of the crisp cool air. Numb enough to not feel the cold but basking in the crisp cool air. Immediately the sensations shoot to your spine, an overwhelming sweetness shooting sweat-like symptoms to your head. Your tastebud's screaming with excitement. Crisp, cold, exciting to the taste. Arouses your senses and cooling your brain. Crumbling and dissolving in your mouth; cold-sensing nerves making your mouth go numb. Your kappa opioid receptors producing the sensation of numbness. 

Can you feel it? The drop stimulating your blood flow at the surface of the skin, giving you that tingly awareness. Your mouth, producing more saliva to break down and dissolve the drop.

The taste of the drop almost brings you back to the day you were born, as if you remember the feeling of once being surrounded by warmth, brought into exhilarating wonder, not too uncomfortable, but the very start of life and a journey thereof. 

Benevolence of sensation flooding the room. Every ounce of your body can feel the simplicity and independence of the joy of one taste. Enjoying the process of the memories it brings back and the mindfulness you experience. The sweet confection. 

Now open your eyes. How was the journey?