Day 5 - Smell

Another activity to ground you in your senses - this time the sense of smell :)

Easy version:

Spend 5 minutes really enjoying a favourite smell. Light a scented candle, or rub a few drops of essential oil in your hands and inhale deeply..

Less easy:
Take a bit more time, and create a joyful sensory experience in your home. Bake or cook something delightfully aromatic. Make up a sachet of cinnamon sticks and dried citrus peel, and simmer it on the stove in a pot of apple cider. Have a relaxing soak in a scented bath.

Why?

This is another example of an activity that helps to ground you in your sense, which is calming and soothing. Smell is the sense most closely connected to memory, so if you can pick a smell with a happy memory associate with it, even better!

Ideas for sharing:

If you’re on social media, you can share a picture of what your happy smell is. Add a quick description of the activity to encourage your friends and followers to try it too!

If you’re doing a “daily Joy texting” partnership with someone, send each other pictures or a description of the smell, as well as happy memory associations (if any).

To share this activity in person, invite a friend over to bake cookies or make jam. You could even prepare a whole delicious dinner and enjoy it together!

Feel free to share your experience with me! Either in the comments below, or by emailing me.

My personal choice:

For me it’s perfume - specifically, Paul Smith. The men’s Extreme scent is what my husband used to wear in our courting days, and Roses is what I wore on our wedding day, so both have very happy memories associated with them. Neither of us really wear scent anymore now that we’ve moved to the country (don’t want to confuse the pollinators!), so I’m even more aware of it when I do smell it.