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Have you ever noticed how kids explore a new object? If they can hold it, they might view it from all sides, shake it, listen to it, and even smell it. They might also throw it or squeeze it, all in an attempt to understand what it is. Children use their physical senses to make sense of the world and to classify objects and experiences.
But as we age, we rely less and less on our senses since we have the capacity to understand the world cognitively by utilizing our neatly cataloged internal library of experiences. We compare a new object or experience with other similar ones to understand its nature and where it fits in our archive.
We are born with the capabilities to perceive and experience life as physical bodies that depend on sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, as well as what some of us call a sixth sense, intuition. Five senses are hardwired in the oldest part of the human brain, which may be why we take them for granted—until they no longer work as they were intended to do. When your vision changes or your hearing diminishes, you take notice and generally do something about it. But what about other senses like smell and taste, which become much less pronounced in late adulthood? Are we missing something?
Smell and taste are human senses that are intense in children but lose power over the course of growing up. As adults, we rely heavily on complex and abstract ways of understanding the world and communicating, sometimes even losing track of our most basic instincts, like smell and taste. But sensitivity can be rekindled to deepen and enhance life experience.
Animals depend heavily on their highly developed smell to shape their experiences, powerfully guiding their behavior throughout life. Just think about how a dog approaches most situations and people. It’s not the same for humans even though the olfactory sense, the most primitive of our five senses, produces incredibly powerful recollections.
Can you recall or relive your time in a place where smell was front and center? Was it your grandmother’s kitchen and the smell of fresh-baked bread? Was it a holiday family dinner where the smell of turkey or pumpkin pie made your mouth water? Was it the smell of wet leaves after a fall or winter rain? Was it the noxious smell of the outhouse at a vacation campground? Are there smells you remember from trips you’ve taken, to the ocean, to the mountains, to exotic destinations with unfamiliar smells that are wonderfully, or terribly, pungent? And why is any of this important?
For those of us in our senior years, there are decades of experiences and memories in our rearview mirrors. In our current life stage, we may have more time to reflect on the past and even re-experience events that are long forgotten but that can be cued by smell. Why not savor again what was once so pleasurable or meaningful?
Here’s an example from my own life: A long ago visit to Turkey still evokes certain smells when cued. Even a sip of apple tea rekindles memories of the Istanbul spice market where I first tasted this brew. Whenever I smell or taste it again, olfactory memories come flooding back. The Istanbul spice market has been in the same place since the Middle Ages when the spice trade linked the East and West in serious trade.
I remember bins of caramel-colored curry powder, yellow saffron, and black anise that caught my eye from a distance, but up close it was always the smell. Separate and blended, a medley of exotic aromas awakened my senses. Even now I feel the pleasure of associated memories from the bouquet of spiced tea.
Do you have olfactory memories? Are some of them linked to travel like my experience in Istanbul? As adults, we so thoroughly depend on visual and auditory processing that it’s easy to disregard our other senses. We accommodate to smell all too quickly. It doesn’t linger. Even after sniffing a strong scent like perfume, or unpleasantly, a nearby sewer or rotting food, we don’t notice it after a few minutes.
Because our ability to smell and taste is naturally diminished with age, we can’t have childlike experiences with these senses. It will take some attention, and maybe some lingering, to evoke the smells and tastes in the present.
We need to be in the present while we experience life, rather than thinking about what came before or is still to come. Remind yourself to remain fully in the present, when you can, and take the time to notice it. Then the present will become more impactful and the memories will be more vivid. Learn to savor again what was once so pleasurable or meaningful.
