How To Smell
Smell. We smell all the time. Without thinking. It’s not even something that we consciously consider. We just do it. We move about our day and we are constantly smelling the world around us.
Be in The Moment
But what if we were to slow everything down, and reintroduce ourselves to what it means to smell. Imagine, just for a moment what it is like to take a bite of your favourite, indulgent food (the finest of cheeses thank you very much!), a sip of a fine, full bodied wine, listening to some beautiful music. When we do things like these, we will often start by closing our eyes. We close our eyes to shut out the noise that may distract us from the task at hand. We want to minimise, eliminate those distractions so that we are free to be in the moment. It can be an incredibly ritualistic moment that is very similar to a meditative practice, a sacred practice. Giving ourselves a concentrated focus to what we are smelling is game changing. It shouldn’t be an absent minded or passive practice. We want to expand our minds as we smell. Get rid of the preconceived ideas of simply thinking whether you like or dislike something, just as when we meditate, we get curious and we don’t attach preconceived ideas and start to consider whether the scent is nuanced, vibrant, alive with a spirit of it’s own. Allow the scent to tease out your curiosity and pull the scent into your full focus and awareness. We have an innate feeling for scents and aromas, they call on something primordial within us; they take us pack to a prehistoric moment in time when we recognised the texture, the nuances, the evolution of a scent. Scent kept us alive.
The Act of Smelling
When you want to smell something, to really take in the scent in its entirety, start by getting comfortable, taking a seat if you can and close your eyes. Do nothing other than just breathe in the scent. Don’t get caught up in thoughts of whether you like it or not, instead ask yourself:
what are the layers of the scent, how deep does it go? Is it complex and layered or simple and one dimensional?
what memories get called up? What moments in time do you get taken to?
What are the textures and the shapes of the scent? Is it sharp, rounded, spiky, rough?
what are the feelings that come up? What are the emotions that stir within in you as you smell this scent?
What colour or colours come to you? Lightness or darkness?
When you are allowing yourself to smell, allow yourself to open up to it, allow it to open up to you and find the different facets of the scent. Discover what is beautiful and even remarkable, to you.