Smells

2nd November

The very first thing that you notice when you walk into a room is the smell. It’s a scientifically proven fact. At the same time it’s also fairly subconscious. Unless a room smells especially bad or good then we won’t remember the exact smell in the future. Instead our brains use the smell to set the scene. It makes associations between say the smell of mould and feeling uncomfortable (because it’s the smell that always accompanied cups of tea with unfamiliar relatives) or the smell of freshly cooked bread with an incredible sense of relaxation (because the only time you’ve ever smelt fresh bread is on those long, lazy days on the farm). Over time out brains begin to skip the logical steps and just go from smell to conclusion. It’s because of this weird habit that the other day I found myself sniffing molasses.

I was stressing out about exams and I found that the sniff of molasses filled my entire body with a sense of wholesomeness and relaxation. My family never used to cook with molasses so the only time I’ve ever used molasses is in my horses feed. The smell accompanies wonderful memories of twilight rides on long summer days and the absolute glee of having a long summer holiday in front of me. I know it’s kind of strange but because of that link now I find that molasses soothes me. It’s even stranger because I don’t particularly like molasses (I hate liquorice for instance). The associations are what make me happy.

It’s for the same reason that whenever I visit my horse I find myself instantly calmed. The smell of horse has always been accompanied by safety.

So that’s my weird spiel about smells....