Chapter 7: Appreciate Scents
Olfactory pleasure is one of the greatest pleasures available to humans. You can feel better just by smelling something pleasant. Your nose is a powerful mechanism that shapes your experience of the world around you. Scents can be nasty, but they can also sharpen your senses and make you feel good. Some scents are even designed to provide you with relaxation.
Appreciate the smell of baking cookies and food. Food smells delicious. As your mouth begins to water, appreciate the anticipated pleasure that is filling your body.
Appreciate the smell of a garden. Not just the scent of the flowers, but also the scent of the fresh plants and the fresh soil. Appreciate how it smells after rain or after a watering.
Appreciate the smell of the air. If you are in the desert or the forest or by the ocean, the air will have a distinct scent. But the air of any place that you call home can have a familiar scent that you can appreciate.
Appreciate the scent of the freshly mowed grass in your lawn or the local park. Even if this scent irritates your allergies, it is the scent of summer. It is the scent of plant life so abundant that it must be trimmed back with lawn mowers and weed eaters.
Appreciate the perfume or cologne that you wear. There is a reason that you chose it. As the new scent envelops you, enjoy it and appreciate how it makes you smell. Appreciate how a unique blend of chemicals created a scent profile that appeals to you and to others.
Appreciate the perfume or cologne that others wear. As good-smelling people walk by you, appreciate the way that their fragrances bring you pleasure. Appreciate how these people made an effort to appeal to your nose.
Also appreciate the unique smell profiles of different people. If you are close to someone, you have gotten used to the smell of their skin and sweat. Gross or not, this smell is comforting. It is uniquely theirs. Appreciate that they have a unique scent to comfort you and assure you of their presence. This scent is how you can identify them, even if you cannot see them.
Appreciate the scents you use for your house. Things like Febreze, Glade, and incense add unique fragrances to your home. When you smell them, you feel calm, like you are at home.
Appreciate how you can also influence your moods by using certain essential oils, like lavender. If you feel down, use a scent to boost you back up. If you want to relax, use a scent to mellow you out. The powers of scents are incredible. Appreciate that.
Go smell some roses, perfumes, or candles to remind you how beautiful the world can be. Surround yourself with scents that make you happy and satisfy your olfactory senses. Appreciate how you can elevate your mood just by smelling something good.