It Was There All Along
How my nose gave me just what I needed.
Early one morning last week, I was sitting at the kitchen table with hands wrapped around a hot mug of coffee my husband had lovingly prepared for me. We have breakfast together every day and have done so for more than 25 years. A hot cup of coffee is always part of the ritual.
That morning he was in the process of making some oatmeal for us, and I was just chatting with him, when I noticed the aroma of the coffee hitting my nose. Something was different and my sense of smell was letting me know. I took a second whiff because I was curious now; why did the coffee smell different?
I asked my husband what coffee beans he used (yes, we’re the crazy people who freshly grind our coffee beans - it’s part of the ritual) and he said he grabbed a small bag that he had found buried in the back of the cabinet. “I forgot we had that coffee we bought on our trip to North Carolina last year,” he tells me. “I thought I’d change things up this morning.”
The aroma was jagged, restless, with an herbal aspect to it. Absolutely divine. I hadn’t even taken my first sip and the smell was already drawing me in. I could notice my body relaxing, shoulders down. I was completely happy just taking in the smell of this coffee. For a split second, I was in my own little world.
How many cups of coffee had I held in my hand, and taken in the aroma of, before this moment? I realized that the simple act of changing the coffee, and noticing a different aroma, made me reconnect with a ritual I had been doing daily for years. It’s as if the aroma was shouting at me, telling me, reminding me how much I treasured the morning ritual with my husband.
The smell of coffee relaxes me. It makes me want to slow down and savor the experience, even if only for a moment. The aroma has that effect on me, and, in that experience, I feel absolute joy.
Can you think of something in your life that you do routinely, habitually, where an aroma or smell is involved and you feel that way?
I tell you this story simply to say that sometimes it takes something as banal as a change in smell to recognize that what you already do on a daily basis, consistently, is giving you some joy.
Savor it. Notice it. Revel in the feeling. Then go about your day knowing you’ve had at least one joyous experience that day. Your nose is a beautiful instrument that can be harnessed every day.
“Joy comes to us in moments, ordinary moments.
We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.”
- Brene Brown
I wish you a very happy new year. One filled with many moments of joy. May you experience pleasure in the smells of the everyday, and treasure the feeling immensely.
Explore Scent Memories
I’ve added a new section to my Substack called The Scent*Tattoo Project, which is a passion project of mine that I’ve been working on for four years now.
Here’s what I wrote when I kicked it off in 2021:
This project is personal. It connects two things I love more than anything: humans + our sense of smell. Strange combination, right? Well, let me explain.
We are living in uncertain and volatile times - the information revolution, mass migrations, increasing income inequality, climate change, and political discourse, I sense we are getting ever more disconnected and divided as a human race. And it’s causing anxiety and fear - and alienation.
We are all human beings first and foremost, but quickly society knowingly divides us by our gender, race, religion and/or class. Fundamentally, as humans though, we ALL have basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and the air we breath, but we also have social needs like love, belonging and the desire for connection.
So where does our sense of smell come in? Well, I’ve been working in and around the fragrance industry for 20+ years and what I saw more than anything is that people connected with scent - all people - humans. It didn’t matter who you were, where you came from, there was always a strong emotional response, and a story to tell, about what we’ve smelled.
This project is meant to showcase how much more we are alike than different as human beings. I believe we fundamentally all desire the same things. And we are all humans with stories to tell. Although each of our stories is unique, there are aspects we can all relate to. And that is connection.
Ironically, the world has only gotten more complicated and disturbing. My aim is for the stories, the scent memories, to give you some connection and peace in the storm.
If you’re interested in bringing your scent memory to the project, send me a message and we can take it from there.
An Aromatic Life is back with all new episodes and this week I celebrate the 4th anniversary.
On this fourth anniversary of An Aromatic Life, just like every year, I share what my recent guests revealed when asked “What does the sense of smell mean to you?”
This New Year's episode is a chance to reflect on this beautiful, complicated, and under-appreciated sense and ask what it can do for you.
It's also an invitation to incorporate more smelling into your life in 2025. Be curious. Be open. And stay connected.
You can hear this episode and many more on Apple podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I’m frankly amazed that last year’s coffee was still drinkworthy, let alone pleasant to inhale. In our climate any beans that sit around for more than a month go sour…