Sensitive to Smells? Use it to Your Advantage
Do people tell you that you are sensitive to smells? Constantly sniffing the air to determine what THAT smell is? You’re not alone. Many highly sensitive people seem to sensitive to smells.
Are Highly Sensitive People Sensitive to Smells?
Elaine Aron states that highly sensitive people (HSP) are not shown to have heightened senses in general. However, a HSP usually has one sense that is particularly tuned in. For some this means you are sensitive to smells.
The Power of a Smell
Smell is evocative for many people. A specific smell can cast you back in time. The right baking smell can evoke childhood days standing in your mother’s kitchen, waiting for the cookies to bake. Cut grass can take you back to lazy childhood summers.
Smells evoke memories.
Smells evoke associations – like the scent of a mother on a t-shirt laid in a baby’s cot.
Our sense of smell is a powerful thing.
Overwhelm May Stem From Scents
But smells can also cause overwhelm for a highly sensitive child (HSC), or an adult for that matter, if they are unable to effectively filter out sensory stimuli.
If your HSC has a sharp sense of smell and seems to be overwhelmed when you are out and about, then consider the role that the smells around you may play.
Think about all the different aromas you can pick up at the shopping mall: Coffee, food, perfumes, cleaning materials, body odor, garbage. Just for starters.
Or the scents that invade the nostrils on a hike in the woods.
Even whilst walking around town.
Or sitting in a kitchen.
Smells can cause both an emotional and a physical reaction – disgust, hunger, nausea, yearning, nostalgia, joy.
Use Sensitivity to Smells to Your Advantage
I smell things that my husband does not. I could be used as a police sniffer human. It can cause immense irritation and discomfort; for example if someone is smoking anywhere near me, or the kitchen bin smells.
As an adult I have learnt to turn it around and use my heightened sense of smell to help me. Different scents can cause positive emotions and favourable states of mind.
It’s something I first related to whilst reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and it’s an idea I have embraced ever since.
Spending money on things that smell nice may seem luxurious. However, the impact a pleasant smell can have on your happiness or state of mind is worth the investment. It really is worth indulging! (You can read more on this here).
In short, smells can also make you happy!
Essential Oils
In recent years I have delved into the world of essential oils, learning which particular smells make me feel relaxed, which raise my spirits, which help when I have a headache or scents that help balance me.
Read: Why You Should Make Your Own Natural Cleaning Products
I extensively use a diffuser in our home.
And I’m learning about safely using essential oils to help my children too. You need to make sure you use child safe oils, and always dilute. Here are more tips before trying any oils with children.
I’ve lots more to learn but so far I do know that a whiff of a favourite essential oil can really do wonders.
*For your convenience, this post includes affiliate links to products and books useful for the HSK community. They cost you nothing more to buy, but I get a small commission.*
