This month we continue with the series, “Practices in Smelling,” which aims to inspire and animate you to engage with your sense of smell more.
You know that feeling when you’re standing in a long line at the grocery store waiting to check out? Or you’re sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office waiting to get called in for your check-up? Or you’ve just sat down in your seat on the airplane and you’re waiting for the plane to take off?
I’m talking about that period of time between one action and another. A moment of simply being, of waiting, that we’ve come to feel too uncomfortable to live in. Most of us turn to our phone for distraction.
In this digital age, where sight rules supreme and escaping your immediate surroundings is becoming the norm, I believe we are fast losing our sense of place, presence, and knowledge about the world around us.
In the sixth century, the bishop and writer Isidore of Seville wrote a book on the origin of words, linking the Latin words noscere, “to know,” and naris, “nostril.” So, according to Isidore, knowing something meant being able to “use your nose.” He called ignorant people ignarus - those without nostrils.”
From The Forgotten Sense by Jonas Olofsson, pg 36
Ironically, today we treat our nose as more of a source of misinformation. We don’t always trust what we smell and turn to our eyes for confirmation instead.
All this to say that it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s incredible wisdom in our sense of smell. And I invite you to use the moments when you find yourself waiting, when you instinctively reach for your phone to fill the void, to instead turn to your nose for guidance. It has so much to reveal.
Here’s an exercise I like to do. It can be done in as little as 1-2 minutes if that’s all the time you have to wait. Although I suspect, if you’re like me, it can often be more like 5-10 minutes depending on where you are. It works particularly well for those moments.
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