1. Smell makes food taste so much better. Walk into a room where a Ham has just come out of the oven, or where bacon is frying, and the ham or bacon becomes so much more desirable, and more tasty when you eat it. This is especially true when you were already really hungry.
2. Go without candy for awhile, then take a whiff of some M&Ms or some red vines. Makes me want it so bad I feel like a recovering addict.
3. Smell has a strong connection to memory. Sometimes a whiff of something brings back really specific memories. For instance, I was walking down a street in Seattle a few years ago, and I was hit by a pollution-related smell common in big cities. It triggered very specific memories from my mission in the Philippines, where that specific smell was much more common. I went to my Grandparents house in LA a few years ago for a visit with my Dad and brother. The smell in their laundry room (soapy?) was the exact same smell that their laundry room had the last time I visited them, at least a decade before. That smell hit me and my brother like a wall and was almost the highlight of the trip for me. The smell of Lilacs always makes me remember summers in Rock Springs, where we had a Lilac bush in our front yard.
Smell is awesome.
3 comments:
Smell has been documented as the strongest of all triggers for memory. We associate people with certain aromas. Place smells are an important part of our experience. Notice the way good authors use that sense in valid description. And certainly it is a major element in our holiday season. It wouldn't be Christmas without cinnamon. :)
Sometimes I smell a race. Not sure what the trigger is but generally its early in the morning when I first go outside and all of the sudden my mind and body think I should put my racing flats on and head to a track.
I have also experienced the big city garbage smell mission reminder thing. When I see pictures of impoverished children in 3rd world countries I can smell it... Which goes to show that the strange smell phenomenon works both ways.
For me the smell of a summer day outside here reminds me of visiting Grandma Phillis as a child. Also I can remember the smell of school the first day of class. The smell of the pink soap in the school bathroom, and Grandma Paulsen's house are very distinctive to me.
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