The Power of the Olfactory Sense-A Salute to Smells
By: Kristina H
Tags: Body, Life, Life Lessons, Self, Human Behavior

The Power of the Olfactory Sense-A Salute to Smells

We smell today what will become the memories of tomorrow.

“Mom! I bought a cleaning product that smells exactly like Circus Circus in Las Vegas!” This was a text from my daughter a few months ago. As it turns out, my 27-year-old daughter has the same weird “aroma flashbacks” as I do. We share Olfactory Oddities.

It is so interesting that human beings’ sense of smell is oddly taken for granted. We focus so much on our sense of sight and vision, as well as taste, that we never seem to take a moment to realize how very crucial our sense of smell is. Our olfactory sense, although sometimes offensive, is typically the first link to our brains, even before sight, sound or taste. This sense can serve as a warning, a signal, a craving, or a memory trigger before we even comprehend where the source is.

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Have You Ever Smelled a Rainbow?

I remember my Grandmother asking me, when I was 4 or 5 years old, if I had ever smelled a rainbow. I giggled when she asked me, as I honestly believed she was kidding me. We were sitting at her kitchen table, amid the scents of the tea we sipped, a lunch of her famous chicken pot pie in the oven, and the smell of “Grandma’s house” enveloped around us. It was raining outside her large kitchen window and I was happily watching the droplets race down the glass panes. Her house was my happy place, as a kid, and I have vivid memories of many of our chats.

To this day, when I see a rainbow in the sky, I revert back to that afternoon at Grandma’s and the aromas come back to me. Rainbows will always remind me of that moment and I swear I can smell potpie, tea, and the warmth of my grandmother’s scent. The vision of the colors sends a scent trigger to my soul.

Photo by Krysten Merriman on Unsplash

The Stench of Caterpillars

Have you ever trapped a caterpillar in a glass jar? This was a hobby of mine as a child, and I will never forget how the jar emitted an earthy, sweet aroma, when I opened the lid.

Caterpillars, especially the Tent variety, send out a scent that I can detect as soon as I am in the vicinity of a nest of them. Our neighborhood Facebook page recently warned that there are Tent caterpillars on the trees and to kill them before they take over, destroying everyone’s shrubbery.

As soon as I read that announcement, my brain triggered the stench of the little worms. Now, when I walk in the neighborhood, I swear that is all I can smell, beyond the rain, beyond the freshly mowed grass, and beyond the smell of the city. I can’t tell if I can actually smell the caterpillars or if my brain has stored the scent, deep within my memory bank, and it is coming out of my face from within.

“The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, which might explain why the smell of something can so immediately trigger a detailed memory or even intense emotion”- The Fifth Sense

Photo by Richárd Ecsedi on Unsplash

Some Odors Stay with You Forever

I seem to have a very odd bank of odor memories. Paired with a photographic memory, scents will trigger a frozen moment of my past, without warning. My daughter seems to have this same trait.

The odors aren’t all pleasant. For example, the disgusting smell of whiskey brings me back to childhood abuse. The stench of stale cigarettes, beer, and mildew remind me of my childhood house, which should have been “home”. The same goes for the smells of garbage and Lux bar soap.

Sauerkraut and sour milk will always remind me of my Grandmonster’ s house (my paternal grandparents). The same goes for the smell of lavender, which she sprayed to cover up the vile odors of Grandpa’s rye and body odor. Oddly enough, my Grandmonster had a passion for the color mauve, and to this day, I can smell that color, and it gives me chills of bad memories in their home. They were not kind grandparents, and it took me most of my lifetime to brave eating sauerkraut, and if I don’t smell it, it’s delicious.