Are you craving something sweet? I don’t typically reach for sugar, but recently I’ve been longing for sweetness. A teaspoon of raw, organic honey is all I really need, but the color and flavor of jellybeans nurtures other pleasure senses, like satisfying my eyes that are hungry for color. We basically experience four taste sensations in our mouth: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter (plus a fifth, umami, that is more a flavor than an actual sensation, the way ‘sour’ for example, makes our skin pucker). A single, amazing taste bud contains up to around 100 taste cells, and all five taste sensations are experienced in every part of our tongue. However, the different areas of our palate predominantly respond to certain tastes. Sweetness, for example, is mostly experienced on the tip of our tongue. What that says to me is that, metaphysically speaking, sweetness needs to be licked and savored delicately. It’s an outward expression of pleasure. What are some other words for how sweetness makes us feel? Delightful, flavorful, pleasant. When we’re feeling sweet, we’re feeling lovable, harmonious, and charming. Let’s try to manifest sweetness in our lives by feeling sweet rather than by eating jellybeans.
