Most of us have experienced moments in our lives where a particular smell brings an old memory right to the front of our mind with incredible detail. In a study at Northwestern University researchers are looking into the link between the sense of smell and our emotions and why a certain perfume or the scent of baking pie can conjure memories of a long-dead loved one. While conversely, the smell of diesel fuel might trigger a flashback for a soldier suffering from PTSD.

Aroma Induced Time Travel

If I smell a particular home baking smell I can instantly see my Great Aunt Edna's kitchen, I can see her, her apron, the cooker, the griddle she used to make me Welsh cakes, the kitchen table where I sat to eat them. Everything in such incredible detail. Just from one brief whiff of a particular baking smell I'm instantly transported with full recall to that moment.

Sometimes we might find ourselves perfectly recalling an event that we thought we had forgotten about, but there it is available to us in stunning detail due to one specific scent flipping open a file in our brain, and there it is a complete memory with all it's detail. We can see what we saw at that time, hear what we heard, it's all there. What's also there is the emotional recall, instantly we feel how we were feeling at that time. In the case of Aunt Edna's kitchen that's a nice experience.

But what if the memory wasn't so good? To use a mild example, I used to feel nervous when I smelled methylated spirits. Why? Because the smell took me straight back to waiting to see my childhood dentist. The smell of meths still brings an image of a shiny lino floor leading from the waiting room to the room I sat in to have a tooth extracted, but due to a little trick I learned some years ago, it's now a memory without any sense of nervousness.

Click to read more ...

EFT is a self-help tool that works wonderfully for dissolving negative emotions like anxiety, sadness and anger. If you haven't tried EFT for yourself yet, here's a quick guide to get you started...

To use EFT you tap with your fingertips on a set sequence of acupuncture points (see diagram) while you focus on one specific issue, or feeling, that is causing you disturbance...

Click to read more ...

One of the many great things you can do with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is clear your head and settle those niggling negative emotions and experiences that can pile up and get you down. For improved sleep and focus try this quick ten minute exercise for dumping what’s on your mind and settling to sleep with a lighter mental load.

If you’re not yet familiar with EFT, you can get a quick walkthrough here (it’s free). http://easyeft.wordpress.com/eft-the-basics/

Click to read more ...

If you haven't yet experienced the power of EFT in action for dissolving negative emotions, stress, pain and more, you might like to take a look at this introductory video on YouTube.

Click to read more ...

Most of us have at least one negative association we can all relate to. Something shocking that impacted our lives in a way where it’s understood “I’ll always remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that news.” There are the ones that impacted a whole nation, September 11th, the assassination of Kennedy, or the assassination attempt of the Pope.

And then there are the more personal memories, the little traumas or sometimes huge ones that affect us suddenly and massively, imprinting in a second all their detail and intensity - finding yourself in a threatening situation, an accident, the sudden death of a loved one, being the victim of a crime, and a whole unwelcome collection of other possibilities.

Click to read more ...