Menu

Post image 1
Post image 2
Post image 3
Post image 4
Post image 5
Post image 6
Post image 7
Post image 8
Post image 9
Post image 10
1 / 10
0

Why a perfume can mean comfort for some and grief for others: UAE experts explain how scent shapes memory

Gulf News: Latest UAE news, Dubai news, Business, travel news, Dubai Gold rate, prayer time, cinema·Lakshana N Palat·25 days ago
#NtBKRv4O
#share#google#app#hamburger#emotional#scent
Reading 0:00
15s threshold

I grew up around jasmines.  If it wasn’t the flowers that my mother brought home, it would be in the perfumes she, and my grandmother would wear on special occasions. Our home felt like a valley of flowers on some evenings. You smelled the jasmine scents; you were lulled into believing that somehow, what wasn't alright, would be alright.  That’s the enchantment of perfumes. They can be bottled memories that we are. Most of the time, they’re comfort and healing.    Sometimes, not so much. It’s different for everyone, perhaps. Some would say that they love a little musk.  Yet it stings my eyes a little, as I’m reminded of a person wearing a heavy dose of it, during a funeral.  Sometimes, grief arrives as perfume. The strange intimacy of memory and scent  It's the Proustian memory effect, where smells evoke emotionally charged memories. A fragrance can remind you of a loved one, or make you relive a time in your life that you might, or might not want to relive.…

Continue reading — create a free account

Join HashtagPLUS to read full articles, follow hashtags, vote, and join the conversation.

Read More