Every movie has a smell and every time I hear that music from the movie, or think of the movie, or see the movie - I think of that smell. Whenever I smell that smell I think of the movie. I find it hilarious and odd how every movie that I have seen in the movie theaters is really defined by who sat around me at that point in time. I find it interesting how much a smell can evoke ideas of the past and memories.
“With Honors” was released at the beginning of my time in high school and was a changing point for many of my societal views and views of self. The smell in the movie theater that day was one of hope and sadness. It was a highly sweet perfume bordering on obnoxiously sweet. Everytime I hear the Madonna song "I'll Remember", which was played in the movie, I think about the smell, the movie, and where I was in life at that time. Whenever I smell that perfume, I instantaneously have Madonna playing in my head with a slide show of memories.
“Forest Gump” was has a more musky female cologne smell and reminds me of my best friend’s mother. I went to see the movie with her and my best friend at the time. The smell invokes the movie and a slide show of that time period in my life.
This smell association has continued throughout the years for movies and it’s moved into other realms of my life. Every season and weather condition has a specific smell. The first time that year I smell fall, I get so very excited.
My smell association has expanded into my esoteric pursuits. A few years ago, I learned my guides have a smell and by that I mean, one particular guide has one particular smell association. When I need to be clued into something or he is near, the air smells like frankincense. At first this seemed like an odd smell for him to choose, since I haven’t exactly kept up with my Catholic upbringing nor really identify with any individual religion. However, the smell does being up instantaneous thoughts of the only church services I completely enjoyed and captivated me - the ritualistic ones built in ages of beliefs and gods on Christmas and Easter..... So I guess it's only fair to say that smell evokes in me a sense of ritual, thoughts, beliefs, confidence, and the esoteric....interesting...
Roses every time I smell them I think of my grandmother who had tons of rose bushes outside her window. Sometimes I get this smell at the oddest times, like sitting working at my computer in the dead of winter. Or making tomato sauce...? It invokes her memory for sure and a sense of home, beauty, warmth, a loving mother. I love the feel that's she's surrounding me, however transient the smell is.
The problem with smells is that...more than half the time the scientist in my thinks that I am losing my mind or having a stroke. If I try to really smell the smells, then they disappear and I can convince myself that I'm imagining them. If I live within the smell and enjoy the smell, it lingers on the very edge of consciousness and I get flooded with thoughts, emotions, memories. (Once it's over, then I question my sanity.)
I’ve learned that if I smell something unusual the best way to treat it, is like the way I smell movies. Think about the thoughts it is evoking before trying to breath deeply and usually my answers lie within the smell before my next breath.
Smells are ephemeral, just like thoughts on the edge of consciousness. Learn to sit with both, but don’t hold on too tight.
I too associate smells and experiences. But airplanes are the heaviest memory anchors. I see an airplane and all of a sudden I am transported into a different body, different feeling, around family and full of excitement, imagination and the thrill of new beginnings. Nothing evokes so much thoughts and sensory input as seeing an airplane cruise aimlessly through the billowing clouds. Ahhh
ReplyDelete