Scent has an ability to evoke reminders, create meaning, and enhance your experience.
Scent is a big part of the way we experience our world, and if I think about it, I can smell my neighbor's house from when I was in the fifth grade. Sometimes I would get off the school bus before my mom was home from work so I would go sit at my neighbor's house and wait for her. When I think about that time, I smell mothballs and cabbage and I'm reminded of feeling nervous and uncomfortable.
Around that same time, my two friends, Christie & Colleen, had the same grey sweater from the Gap. They were the same size, so the way we would tell them apart was how they smelled. Colleen's smelled something like laundry detergent, and no matter how clean it was, Christie's always smelled like maple syrup. Often when I smell maple syrup, I think of my childhood friends and the times we would pee our pants laughing so hard together.
I traveled to Singapore for a month when I was 18 and I still remember the fresh, dense mixture of jungle and city when I stepped off the plane. The smell of humidity and hot pavement reminds me of a new adventure.
What I'm getting at here is that there are a million things that go undetected and our brain is registering as memory. A friend of mine recently told me their scent story of Honey Tobacco. I didn't know them when this first transpired, but the power of their story has stuck with me and has evoked a greater sense of meaning behind all of this for me:
"Two years ago I was in the midst of a marital breakdown. Though necessary, it was unexpected, confusing and wildly painful. As our carefully curated life together ended, my imagination stalled alongside it. The future went dark; I could not picture life without him.
Yet I inched forward, trusting my loved ones who confidently promised this state could not last. Then mercifully, and ever so slowly, the future softened. The fear of uncertainty shifted into the excitement of possibility, and the avoidance of pain shifted into growth from facing it. I exhaled; I would be ok.
In this season I came across the Honey Tobacco scent at a market. Though not typically one for perfumes, I was instantly drawn to it. I loved it but couldnʼt immediately place why it felt so powerful to me. I left the market empty-handed, but still ruminating on the scent.
Half an hour later, it became clear to me: Honey Tobacco was the smell I needed for this new era. It was the perfect symbol to demarcate the shift of my focus from the grief of losing my partnership, to its acceptance. A means to officially welcome the next chapter, which I hoped would be like the scent itself: complex and strong, yet sweet and light. Within minutes of this realization, I had the scent in hand. I felt inspired and clear: I was moving forward.
Though the last two years have not been without challenge, they have been wonderful. Ripe with growth and opportunity. Of the many tools employed to facilitate this, scent has been solidly among them. The lovely Honey Tobacco will forever remind me of confidently and intentionally stepping into the unknown and into my own skin, and for that, I am deeply grateful".
This particular story is incredibly personal and vulnerable, and one of the most impactful stories of how scent can pull us to a time in our life or remind us of something we are seeking.
One of the main reasons that we use crystals for the Honey Tobacco fragrance rollers is because the scent becomes a reminder for whatever it is that you are needing/ pursuing/ practicing in your life. Check out this page if you are looking to learn more about the simple reminders embedded with crystal rollers.
So grateful for the author of this story, thank you for sharing this with me and for allowing me to share it with others.
If you care to share a scent story with me, I would LOVE to hear it. You can 💌 it to hello@picotcollective.com
Love, britt
