over 3 years ago

What does happiness smell like? How certain scents can lift your spirits

Everyday scents and ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรีทุกค่าย smells are known to evoke feelings or trigger emotions in people – so it’s no surprise that something as vague as feeling happy may be linked to a specific scent for some.

“Smell is a primitive route to the limbic system – a part of the brain involved in our behavioural and emotional responses – that defies logic and conscious thought,” explained psychologist and leadership coach Dr Perpetua Neo. “I use smell to help my clients wire good habits and unwire bad ones.”

According to Dr Neo, smell has the power to “short circuit” even a person’s resistance to feel good.

“By letting my clients inhale a smell they love, this can teleport them to another headspace as the scent molecules hit the body and then the brain, there is no space or energy for your mind to wander. The client is 100 per cent wrapped up in that moment,” she told CNA Lifestyle in an email interview.

French perfumer Francis Kurkdjian of Maison Francis Kurkdjian agreed that the sense of smell is the most instinctive of the five senses – he refers to smell as a “primal sense”.

Even though scents are intangible, the scent master pointed out that these are able to trigger positive emotions such as happiness and joyfulness. “Smells speak directly to our emotional brain, bypassing the filter of conscious thought, interacting directly with our buried emotions and hidden memories.”

In spite of that, how a scent impacts people varies from person to person. Of the imaginable olfactory potions out there, both are quick to point out that smell is subjective.

“I can recommend a smell (that brings me happiness) but you may not agree,” said Kurkdjian.

Dr Neo added: “For some, the scent of cut grass makes them happy; for others, it smells like a painful assault, as if the grass is crying out.”

“Smell is unique to each of us,” explained Kurkdjian. “A scent that evokes the same feeling for everyone does not exist.”