NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to
a life of more energy creativity luck and love: by tuning in to the five senses. “ Life
in Five Senses invites us into the seismic shift toward a life grounded in sensation vitality
and innate intelligence.”—GLENNON DOYLE author of Untamed “An inspiring and practical
guide to living in the moment.”—SUSAN CAIN author of Bittersweet and Quiet For more than a
decade Gretchen Rubin had been studying happiness and human nature. Then one day a visit to
her eye doctor made her realize that she’d been overlooking a key element of happiness: her
five senses. She’d spent so much time stuck in her head that she’d allowed the vital sensations
of life to slip away unnoticed. This epiphany lifted her from a state of foggy preoccupation
into a world invigorated by seeing hearing smelling tasting and touching. In this journey
of self-experimentation Rubin explores the mysteries and joys of the five senses as a path to
a happier more mindful life. Drawing on cutting-edge science philosophy literature and her
own efforts to practice what she learns she investigates the profound power of tuning in to
the physical world. From the simple pleasures of appreciating the magic of ketchup and adding
favorite songs to a playlist to more adventurous efforts like creating a daily ritual of
visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and attending a flavor university Rubin shows us how
to experience each day with depth delight and connection. In the rush of daily life she
finds our five senses offer us immediate sustainable ways to cheer up calm down and engage
the world around us—as well as ways to glimpse the soul and touch the transcendent. Life in
Five Senses is an absorbing layered story of discovery filled with profound insights and
practical suggestions about how to heighten our senses and use our powers of perception to live
fuller richer lives—and ultimately how to move through the world with more vitality and
love.
