The Scent of Memory

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear or read the word 'Time Travel'? Is it an idea about peeking into your future? Or rewinding time and re-living some special moments?  

Given a choice I'd go back to some really amazing days. That is also because I love surprises and if you have heard the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat'? Don't think the present would be much fun if you knew what was in store in the future.

There is no machine built yet that can enable humans to travel through time but what we do have is Memories.... This is one of the few ways to revisit the past.  But there are also some other things that can remind us of what had been.  It can be pictures, books (remember pages from an old diary), particular kind of flowers, could even be a joke or a song.  But nothing can bring back memories like the smell of something.

Smell of new notebooks always reminds me of the 1st day of school.  The smell of wet hay or cut grass reminds me of the fields that were while I was growing up. The smell of paint - takes me back to the first memory of when our house was getting painted.  It is most unexpected when you get a familiar smell and it takes you back in time in a fraction of a second... to that place and the whole setting.  

Have you noticed that most of our memories are from our childhood and very few from the recent past.  The reason is not that we have grown old but because we stopped absorbing the moments. It comes naturally to kids as the world is new and they have lots to learn. But we can also make memories (aside from capturing pictures/ videos) by living in that moment.  Look around and absorb the people, the setting, the sound and most importantly... the scents around. Nothing can reinforce itself in your memory like the aroma of the moment! :)

 

Merlin the magician from the story 'King Arthur' was cursed that he would know the future like it was yesterday but would struggle to remember the past as if it is tomorrow.  This was a Curse!  Imagine losing your memory and you will find you have lost your identity too. Memory is a testimony of what made us.  Good or bad, memories are definitely for keeps.

Ending this post with two quotes:

The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.

-Tryon Edwards

A man's real possession is his memory. In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor

-Alexander Smith