Smells/scents bringing back fond memories?

Question

I pulled my scarf up over my nose and mouth today before I went outside to walk the dogs in the cold Chicago winter. Immediately after taking a breath, the smell of the knit scarf evoked powerful, pleasant childhood memories of playing in the snow after the blizzard of 1979. It even made me want hot chocolate. Anyone else have an "unexpected" blast from the past resulting from a scent or smell?

Answer 1

Oh yes! One that comes to mind (it's a little weird) is the smell of soap at the doctor's office...whenever I smell it, I am flooded with memories of my children's births. Pleasant, memories, I might add :)

Answer 2

Yes; I once passed a stall selling Indian incense sticks and scents, and I recognized one of the scents as one used by a woman who I was hopelessly in love with (unrequited) many years ago. It transported me back to that bitter-sweet time.

Also; whenever I smell diesel, it takes me back to the time in my childhood when a road near my house was being widened. At the time I was fascinated by the work being done by the earth- moving equipment. When their work was finished for the day, I would go and walk amongst the graders and steamrollers. The mixture of diesel,grease and upturned earth odors is, to this day, the most beautiful aroma I have ever experienced. To this day, I can still conjure up the smell in my mind, it had such a powerful effect on me.

Answer 3

Many years after the death of my mom, a woman came into my place of employment wearing the (not so common)perfume my mom had always worn. I immediately began to cry, it was very strange. I have since learned about the relation between the memory and sense of smell, amazing!

Answer 4

Every now and then. The smell of sugar cookies baking invokes variouis Christmas memories from time to time.

I think that there must be some sort of pheromone activity associated with scents which invoke memories.

It's definitely some sort of signal from somewhere.

Answer 5

in the process the holiday season - i think of back to whilst i became a new child. Remembering a definite Christmas. i became seven years previous. My father made table and chair gadgets and doll cradles for me and a couple of of my cousins. It became an extremely particular Christmas for me. It became the final Christmas we spent with my mom. She exceeded directly to the excellent beyond the subsequent 365 days purely formerly Christmas. I even have constantly had fond thoughts of my mom and that 'particular Christmas' we had at the same time. i do no longer mean to communicate of unhappy issues. this is the solid issues i'm prepared on. solid question. DeeJay.

Answer 6

Scent is actually the strongest connection for memory. When we smell something familiar we not only have the visual (like with photos) but we also connect to the emotion we had at the time.

Answer 7

ya for some reason the smell of a pink pearl eraser brings up the memory of a visit to a fossil bed when i was in grade school.then there is the smell of my mothers perfume and the memory's related to that.

Answer 8

burning logs>>>liveing in the mountains and that being the only heat we could afford at the time>>the smell of it brings back all the hard work it took to heat the home: but also a real sense of family that went with it>sometimes I feel that being poor was a blessing>

Answer 9

I actually had a chapstick in the tenth grade that I kept for a long time because the scent of it reminded me of the first guy I fell in love with. I think I still have it around somewhere :)

Answer 10

yes, wet wool always makes me think of childhood and playing in the snow, riding my sled, and building a snowman. I think of my Mom when I smell certain perfumes.