“We live with our faults as with the odors we carry: we no longer smell them: they only bother others. »
Gabriel Senac
Here we are at the heart of the action. Feeling, voluntary or involuntary action? I believe it is important to bring certain preconceived ideas to light. From the start of my quest and the implementation of my Well-being Perfumery House project, I had to explain two principles that may seem obvious to you: the difference between breathing and smelling. I believe that exposing them can only clarify them.
Breathe vs Smell
There is a clear difference between breathing, which is a mechanical and involuntary act of our body, and feeling, which involves intention. In fact, the action of smelling implies a desire to encounter an odor. I believe that the distinction is important because to put the act of feeling in the same basket as the act of breathing is to risk taking it for granted. Why worry about it since it happens by itself? Little news, we all breathe but few really smell.
Consciously feel
Outlined in a previous text entitled: “Inspire Life”, this concept opens the way to understanding both the power of your sense of smell as well as the power of smells.
The intention
So I wrote to you: “to smell consciously is simply to make ourselves available to smell an odor by taking good care beforehand, to silence ourselves and to let it transport us so that we can feel it ”. Making yourself available to an odor is intentionally going to discover it.
The silence
For the magic to work, first create silence within yourself . If hearing will have difficulty hearing clearly in a cacophony of surrounding sounds, it will be the same for smell. How do we silence our noses ? To put the nose in perception mode, you must first put it in neutral. There are three simple ways to do this: drink a large glass of ice-cold filtered water, go outside and take several deep breaths of fresh air, or inhale your own scent by inhaling deeply into your forearm. There you go, your nose is in neutral!
Being silent also involves creating calm both within yourself and in your immediate environment . You will have intuitively understood that your ability to sense is not at its best if you are assailed by thoughts or surrounding noises. So simply choose your time : perhaps in the evening accompanied by soft soothing music or even just before entering a nice hot bath to benefit from the humidity of the room.
The other silence
Smell also requires another silence and that of the surrounding odors. If I told you that you will have difficulty smelling after eating a spicy dish or drinking wine, you would not be surprised. The same is true if your kitchen smells of spaghetti sauce or you sit near the laundry room filled with the smell of detergent and fabric softener. So, we stay away from any place filled with odors (kitchen, bathroom, laundry room).
Where it gets complicated are all those smells that your nose has classified as harmless and which go under the radar of your olfactory power. In fact, the primary mission of your sense of smell is to protect you . As I often joke, there's a reason your nose is in the center of your face and sticks out past your mouth. Your nose is always on guard 24/7: is the food you put in your mouth healthy? Is there a significant surrounding danger (fire, gas leak). In order to maintain its sharpness, your nose creates a category “familiar odors that pose no danger”.
We all have smells in our environment that we no longer smell: the smell of our house, our body, even our perfume! That's it! All those years when you were told that your perfume suited you well because you no longer smelled it. This is not entirely true because even if it didn't really suit you, if you wore it every day, there is a good chance that your sense of smell would classify it as harmless and therefore imperceptible to your nose. The best way to counter these familiar odors is to air out the room in which you want to discover new smells.
That's it, you are there: the intention is there, the silence, the calm... It is now time to let go and let yourself be invaded by the smell in order to feel it. Well rooted in the “here now”, you will make sure to reduce mental activity as much as possible. You will seek to silence any form of apprehension, expectation or judgment regarding the experience. Just slip into the moment and welcome the pleasure !
I am very aware that this text contains a lot of information. This is why I decided to talk to you about the feeling next week.
In the meantime, I suggest you pay attention to your sense of smell as well as your environment. Go in search of the perfect time and the perfect place for you. Is it weekdays or weekends? At the beginning or end of the day? In the office or in the bedroom or maybe the living room? All these questions may seem trivial, but each nose and each home has its own way of coexisting. Have fun! Just doing this set up will make you feel good.
I really hope that you liked this text but above all, that it opened you to the magic of your sense of smell. Next week in “Smell to Feel – Part Two” all our attention will be focused on feeling the smell . It's a date.
Looking forward,
Sylvie-Anne
If this text appealed to you, or you would like to share your experience following this implementation experience this week, leave me a comment and I will be happy to read it!
In addition, I invite you to spread the information and share it with your friends and loved ones.
See you soon !
Sylvie-Anne