Trigger Smells ...

Have you ever smelled something that brought back a memory from a long time ago? I've been fighting a cold/sinus thing for a few weeks, and recently I felt so yucky that I spent two days mostly in bed. Because of that, I didn't wear any lipstick or gloss, so my lips got a little chapped. I was waiting in line at Walmart the other day when I saw all the lip products by the mints and gum. I picked up a tube of Carmex because it was the only one that was medicated. Later that night, I was getting ready for bed and put some on my lips. It was weird. I was instantly taken back to snow skiing in the 1970s. My mom didn't ski, so she'd sit on the deck and read while I was on the slopes. I used to get really bad chapped lips while skiing, and often times I'd buy a little tub of Carmex at the ski resorts. As soon as I put it on my lips the other night, it took me back to the slopes of Mammoth Mountain. It was the weirdest feeling.

There is actually a name for this. It's called "odor-evoked autobiographical memory". It is also known as the Proust phenomenon, named after a French writer, Marcel Proust. Apparently, it has something to do with smells going through your olfactory bulb, which is the smell-analyzing region in your brain. It's very close to the region in your brain that keeps track of memories and emotions. That's why certain smells might trigger past memories easier than other senses, such as vision, hearing, or touch. Below is an interesting article about this, which explains is better than I can ...

Why Sense of Smells Can Trigger Strong Memories

Although the smell of the Carmex triggered a good memory of my old skiing days, this same phenomenon can trigger bad memories for some people. I was just reading about a study where a man had a negative experience smelling diesel gasoline, which brought up memories of his time in Vietnam. I haven't looked it up yet, but I've had the same thing happen with taste. I only drink nut milks now, such as almond or cashew, but I used to drink cow's milk. Every once and awhile, I'd take a sip of milk and would be reminded of being in a nursery school I went to in California. The milk had to be just the right temperature to trigger it, and it probably had to be whole milk, which I haven't had in years. But anyway ... the Carmex is helping heal my lips, so that's a good thing. This is how I remember it looking back when I used it regularly ...