In desperate attempts to find 'the land of nod' last night amidst my mother's snoring (we're sharing a room whilst visiting my brother for a few days), I turned to an app I'd almost forgotten I had. Head phones firmly in ears, Relax Melodies, can give me 48 different sounds that may relax and slow down a frantic mind (or, drown out earth-quaking snoring! Sorry mum.).

What's actually quite ironic (and amusing) when you stop to think about it, is that you can choose to have 9 or 10 of these sounds pumping into your ears at the same time - a vacuum cleaner (yes, really), a cat purring, rain on the roof, frogs, white noise, thunder, a woman humming, chanting monks - a huge cacophony of sound, all in the hopes of lulling ourselves to sleep!

But I digress. One of the sounds I chose was called City Ambience. It's a sound that has always evoked a very visceral, nostalgic feeling within me but, being an indistinct sound, it's not a noise I've ever felt able to put into words. It's more of a feeling than a sound. It's a 'melody' that gives evidence of a whole city, no, world, in motion.

The low hum immediately places me in a hot and sticky city: it has been a tiring but satisfying day of sightseeing but, feet now washed and enveloped in cool, white sheets, it's nap time.

This is what our glorious senses do. They - at a later date - turn a seemingly innocuous or colorless moment into something intense, stimulating and vibrant. Like a child wanting comfort, tugging at his mother's coat - sounds, scents, sensations of touch - can pull down memories from the dusty vaults in our memory banks. Beautiful.

On the good days, being mindful of what our senses absorb can really aid us on the grey-sky days, causing exquisite 'Ah, I remember...' moments.

I'm not sure my memory will ever feel wistful and nostalgic for the sound of snoring, mind!

Suzy

A Moodscope member.