Know Thy Taste: How having Good Taste Enhances your Quality of Life
Knowledge of self is always pursued by the intellectual or prudent truth seeker. Yet the focus tends to revolve around an understanding of one’s history, spiritual significance, or cultural influences amongst many other things that pertain to consciousness. Yet there is an important aspect of the self that tends to go unexplored and underdeveloped and that is taste. Taste is incredibly important to discovering and expressing our own individuality, but it is often overlooked as being reserved for the affluent.
In this context, taste is defined as an individual’s personal, cultural, and aesthetic patterns of choice and preference or the faculty of discerning and appreciating what is excellent. Regardless of your income, it is good to be able to identify and appreciate quality items and experiences. This doesn’t just have to be materialistic. Beauty surrounds us all the time and our ability to appreciate it has a huge impact on our mental health and quality of life.
Like most things valuable, it takes work to organize your likes and dislikes in the framework of everyday life. It also takes effort to define why you like what you like. You have to educate your eye. Some are naturally gifted at identifying what is aesthetically appealing, but others have to develop a sophisticated appreciation for aesthetics. The work is worth the trouble. We all want to express ourselves creatively and authentically. We all want to be admired for who we truly are.
Become Detail-Oriented
As we increase our familiarity with our likes while developing our personal style, we begin to build the lucrative skill of being detail-oriented. You cannot achieve anything significant without being able to understand the details. In educating your eye along with your other senses, you start to notice qualities that aren’t so obvious. Such a skillset is valuable in any professional endeavor or hobby that you may pursue. This is what separates the aspiring Sommelier from the individual that confines themselves to daily glasses of Moscato. There is nothing wrong with Moscato. Some people just like it and don’t consider themselves to be lovers of wine, but if you’re going to say that you love wine it is a good idea to learn how to appreciate other varieties. You are only able to do so by being able to identify characteristics that separate wines, like acidity, tannin, body, and hue.
Communicate Authentically
With an appreciation for the details, you begin to develop a more refined way of communicating your interests to others. Take an aesthete for instance. They have a very special interest in all things art and beautiful. When you listen to how they describe paintings you’ll hear a connection made to senses beyond the obvious. A great work of art makes them feel exhilarated, surprised, intrigued. They become absorbed, both intellectually and emotionally. Most likely, there are things that inspire you this way as well. Explore them, study the history, become familiar with what makes it special to you.
Our interests represent who we really are, therefore if you do not understand your own interests on a deep level, you lower the potential for you to be able to build authentic relationships with others.
Step Out of your Comfort Zone
Taste goes beyond buying things because they are expensive or trending. It’s about being selective and building the muscle for appreciating all things beautiful. Good taste is the result of learning, patience, and discernment. It also requires unlearning the bad taste and habits we may have developed from our surroundings and unsophisticated influences. This can be very uncomfortable. If you are not willing to be flexible, willing to change, and eager to improve, then good taste is likely to elude you. In essence, it has to do with how much time we give to attending to the details.
Follow Relevant Publications and Influencers
Take the time to explore the realms of art, architecture, fashion, watches, furniture, books, wine, cars, etc. Follow the publications and influencers that share attractive content. As you explore these worlds, don’t allow those who are authorities in the space to dictate your preferences. Just allow them to inform what’s already inside of you. That is how you protect yourself from being lost in trends and develop authentic taste that transcends time.
Don’t Worry About Income
Don’t think because you don’t have excessive amounts of disposable income that you are not worthy of good taste. You are. In fact, some of the most tasteful people in society aren’t rich, they just have a very refined appreciation for aesthetics. And vice versa, a lot of rich people don’t have taste. There are thrift shoppers who have immaculate wardrobes because of their ability to discern the attractive from the unattractive. It’s all about good judgment, which can be learned with practice.
Through this pursuit of understanding our own preferences, we become more in tune with ourselves and thus profoundly increase our quality of life. So, while you spend time becoming more spiritually and intellectually aware, please devote time to developing your taste as well. It’s a huge part of knowing and expressing yourself.
