In two other posts we shared how to use two of the senses to infuse joy into your life.  We used hearing in the post titled ‘Happy CD’ and we used vision in the post titled ‘Vision Board’.  If you are not familiar with those I would suggest going back in the archives and rereading them.  Well we are now moving on to our third sense, smell.  How powerful is the sense of smell.  Some say it is one of the most powerful senses for bringing up memories.  Realtors use the scent of baking chocolate chip cookies to try to sell homes.  Here is a more powerful example I heard of recently.  A medical university studied the power of smell on a group of rats.  Now I know what your thinking, rats are not people.  In which case I encourage you to come check out the bar I work at.  In all seriousness, here is how the experiment went.  The had two groups of rats, one the injected with a chemical that causes cancer.  Just enough where it would begin to tear down the rats cells, but not enough to cause the cancer to grow.  In the second group they gave a super vitamin shot to.  After doing both they filled the rat’s tank with the smell of camphor.  They did this over and over.  Finally all they did was release the scent of camphor with no chemicals.  What do you think happened? The one group of rats continued to progress towards developing cancer while the other group continued their upward healthy spiral.

So how can we apply this to you and me?  Well if we are trying to sell our homes, bake cookies and stay away from rats that smell like camphor.  Seriously, think of a fragrance that you enjoy.  I rather like the scent of coconut because it reminds me of vacation and lovely ladies covered in tanning oil.  I also like the scent of spiced rum, but if you were to go around smelling rum, you may be tempted to drink said rum and that may not always be appropriate.  Back to our post today.  I suggest figuring out what scent inspires you.  Does the scent of pine make you think of the woods and adventure?  Vanilla give you a warm and fuzzy feeling? Whatever it is, get yourself a nice bottle of essential oils.  I know a lot of people like ‘Young Living’ oils, but any quality essential oil will do.  A lot of homeopathic stores, or organic grocery stores will have them.  Keep it in your car, at the office, or wherever you may need it.  I have a bottle of peppermint at the office that gives me a quick pick me up with I need it. Just one more quick tool to change your state when you need it