Aromatherapy – The Emotional Impact Of Scent
Your mental and emotional health is a huge factor in your overall happiness and sense of well being. Unfortunately, not many people understand all of the factors that contribute to mental and emotional health in the home. One that gets ignored more often than most is the impact of Scent. Scents and odours have a powerful influence over our state of mind, and by extension the state of our emotions. In order to live a happy, healthy life it is imperative to make the best use this critical factor in the one place where you have most control – your home.
The Power of Scent
Have you ever wondered why scent is such a powerful emotional trigger? Have you ever fully realized just how much the scents and odours around you are impacting your health? Do you know what kind of an affect they have on your overall state of being?
We’ve all had the experience of taking in a familiar smell and being instantly transported back to a memory. More importantly, we also get reconnected to the corresponding emotion…often without our conscious awareness that it’s happened. The smell of fresh baked cookies, fresh cut grass, that lotion your mother used to wear, or the perfume or cologne that your partner wore on that unforgettable night. What’s the connection between scent and emotional state?
Scent is processed by the limbic system, the area of your brain that controls taste, emotion, and memory. That’s why you’re immediately transported back to childhood when you catch a whiff of Mom’s chicken soup. Chances are good you also start feeling better when you smell it. When we detect an odour in the air, we decide if we like it before we even identify it. You can be going about your day, your mind wandering, and before you know it be on the verge of tears—all because of an aroma. This happens because the perception of scent actually bypasses the conscious processing centre of your brain and travels instantly to the areas where memory and emotion are processed and stored. The power of scent can be very dramatic, both from a physical and chemical standpoint, but also from an emotional perspective.
Use This Knowledge To Your Advantage – Make Your Home An Uplifting Place
Where do you have the most control over how something smells? Of course, your home. Knowing what you now know, you can choose to make your home the kind of place that lifts you up rather than drags you down. You can use your sense of smell to make it a place that actually helps you rebalance, rejuvenate, and uplift your mental and emotional energies. This doesn’t have to be a complicated process at all. It can be as simple as burning some essential oils, or switching over to all natural cleaning products.
Did you know that there are all natural cleaning products that have aromatherapeutic properties? Every time you clean your house you could be calling up energizing and uplifting feelings, or relaxing and calming your family with scents from pure, therapeutic grade essential oils.
If you truly value your health and well being, consider looking at all of the factors that contribute in your home. You may want to consider trying some all natural cleaning products. This small shift alone can have a dramatic impact on your home environment – both physically, and emotionally.
Stay happy, stay healthy!
