“Perfumes are powerful magicians that can transport you through the years you have lived.”
Helen Keller
Here we are once again immersed in the heart of the subject because in this closing text of the file on smell, we are going to address the fourth essential to the mechanism of recording an olfactory memory and I have named it: emotion.
Phew, help! Another ultra taboo subject and so much too personal... I believe that we have here a very good avenue for reflection on why as a society we have not chosen to highlight the sense of smell and its wonderful benefits every minute of our lives. I'm saving this subject for later.
Indeed, it seems that when a scent is picked up by your pretty nose, if it is an odor that comes back regularly in your daily life (we are not talking here about odors classified as familiar and therefore imperceptible to your nose) and that at the same moment you experience an emotion, there is a good chance that this moment will be stored in your olfactory memory for eternity. The beauty and flaw of this mechanism is that you have no control over the selection of either scent or timing. It's an ultra-powerful mechanism, so memories are often rendered so realistically that it's not uncommon to hear stories of olfactory memories that begin with: "It's as if he were there in front of me." , it’s as if I was there…”
Strong emotions
We would tend to believe that it is strong emotions that must most easily provoke the mechanism of recording an odor as an olfactory memory. However, this is not the case. The explanation seems to tend towards the fact that when we experience a high intensity emotion, all our senses are on alert but above all the analytical action of the mind is predominant. Which leaves little or no room for smell.
In addition, certain emotions lead us to not really feel good. I am thinking here of grief, if you are sad perhaps but if you have deep sorrow unfortunately your nose is blocked, then there is very little chance that this moment will come back to you and perhaps it is better this way. Fear does not seem to produce little or no olfactory memory either, and this is surely due to the cocktail of senses that it solicits: touch, hearing, sight in order to trigger the survival instinct.
But if strong emotions don't seem to be my favorite, what about soft emotions?
Sweet emotions
I will not give here an exhaustive description of each of the emotions and their possibilities for creating olfactory memories. I will instead focus my attention on those who seem to share the palm of gold and I have named: love and joy.
Love carries many emotions and some can be very sweet or even euphoric. However, it seems that joy, through its constancy and positivity, is really the emotion of choice for storing a smell in olfactory memory. No need to dance under the plus, the simple fact of feeling joyful predisposes us to the mechanism engaging.
So moral of the story, make your sense of smell a blessed sense, have fun smelling and feeling all the perfumes that intoxicate your life, open yourself to their benevolence, and cultivate joy. What happiness!
This ends the file on smell and the power of smells. However, this is just the beginning because right now you can decide to feel and feel every little moment of your life. Get in the habit of smelling your clothes before and after wearing them, of smelling all the foods you put in your mouth, every spice you use in cooking... I can confirm that your entire daily life will be magnified and transformed. It's simple; “inspire life!” »
Next week, we will explore ways to “cultivate joy”. It's a date!
See you soon
If this text appealed to you, you would like to share it, leave me a comment below and I will happily read it!
Sylvie-Anne