One reason I wanted to write my book Life in Five Senses was that I realized that I spent so much time locked in my head.

I’d be on vacation and walking on a beautiful beach, but I’d be so busy rewriting a paragraph in my head that I wouldn’t feel the wet sand beneath my feet, hear the waves, or appreciate the smell of the seaweed.

I was even more likely to ignore the familiar sensations of my ordinary days; one of my Secrets of Adulthood is: “It’s easier to notice the exceptional than the familiar, so to observe the obvious requires intense attention.”

So I was enchanted by reading a description of an installation by artist Scott Polach which was part of Convergence, a site-specific show at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego.

In his 2015 Applause Encouraged #111415, on a cliff overlooking the ocean, at forty-five minutes before sunset, eight participants were checked in, then ushered to their places in a row of foldout seats cordoned off with a red ribbon. Posted signs reminded them not to take photos. The attendees watched the sun set, then applauded.

It occurs to me that this art installation would be particularly meaningful for people whose most neglected sense is sight, because that’s the sense that they use in a utilitarian way, but neglect to tap into for comfort, pleasure, or adventure.

If you’d like to learn whether your most neglected sense is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching, take my free quiz “What’s Your Neglected Sense?“

What a terrific reminder to notice the extraordinary beauty of an ordinary sunset.