Take a deep breath. Breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Take one more. What does it smell like? What emotions come over you? I can smell the toast and eggs that my daughter just made herself for breakfast, my coffee sitting next to me, and the general odor that is unique to my home. Toast is one of my favorite smells, it's so timeless. It takes me right back to my own childhood munching on toast in front of the Saturday morning cartoons.
There have been countless scientific studies on the ability of certain scents to evoke strong memories. What part of the brain causes this phenomenon, what senses are responsible for the most powerful recollection, the Proust Effect, and so on, and so forth. While all of this is fascinating indeed, I like the assertion made by Christopher Brosius, (founder of IHatePerfume), “Smell doesn’t really evoke memory, it evokes the emotion we felt at the time that caused the memory ...in the first place.”*
One of the most transcendental experiences I have ever had came on a quite ordinary summer evening when my husband and I were driving home from I don't remember where. I closed my eyes (I was in the passenger seat), laid my head back, and just smelled. From the highway dotted with restaurants and businesses, through the suburban neighborhoods into my driveway, the array of aromas was -as a writer I must apologize for this adjective -indescribable. You must try this. No matter the time or place, in a matter of minutes, you will find proof that ordinary can be remarkable and mundane can be magical.
*Taken from an article posted on YouBeauty, Scent and Memory, Familiar Smells Evoke Forgotten Feelings, by Nadia Goodman
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