OK. I agree. “smell” is a funny word. It normally connotes something bad, though that is not the word’s intention. A smell can be something good, bad, or in between. But nonetheless, when we hear the word, our minds usually jump to garbage or breath or even worse. If one says, “He smells”, no one ever thinks that means that he smells good.

But today, in my quest for all things inspirational, I’ve decided to dive into inspirational smells. I invite you to share your own with me. Your own ideas, that is. Perhaps we’ll come up with the definitive list! So here goes…

Oops, before we start, one disclaimer, or perhaps, warning: This is only my list. You may violently disagree with some of my choices. There is, on the subject of smells, a distinct relativity to the subject. Simply put, one person’s perfume may be another’s stink. The nostrils can’t really tell, you know; it’s the brain that decides, and that choice is quite arbitrary from person to person, brain to brain.

Ah yes, and one more thing: The quite horrifying thing about smells is that when we smell something, tiny little pieces of whatever it is that we’re smelling are actually being drawn into our nose (and therefore our lungs, aaauuuugggghhhh) through the air. Gory, but true. Let’s hear it for the filtering hair follicles of our noses! It’s why we sometimes violently reject certain smells by coughing, sneezing or sometimes even vomiting.

Ok, Ok, enough already. Sorry to take you through all that, but I try to be thorough in my research. Moving on. Let’s get on to the more delightful subject at hand. Inspirational smells:

Most of us would start with the fresh smell of bacon in the morning, or perhaps fresh coffee. I, myself, am not a coffee drinker. For me, the drink is a little bit too akin to drinking mud, but the smell, I must admit signals a new day, new hope, up n’ at ‘em. And bacon cooking, now there’s an inspirational smell. Sometimes I don’t even need to eat it, just smell it.

For me, it’s lilacs in the spring. When I grew up, our entire back yard was fenced in by 10’ lilac bushes, and for several weeks in April, when the lilacs bloomed, oh my goodness, that was a time. Last week I walked down Lilac Lane back at my college where I was visiting and had to stop and simply stand there for long minutes and breathe it all in. I nearly wept with the rapture of its fragrance rekindling the memories of those times.

My wife wears White Shoulders perfume and sometimes L’heure Bleue. When I smell it from the bottles, it’s terrific, but when it’s mingled with the bouquet of Julia, it is a nosegay beyond imagination.

We have on our street a pie shop called The Little Pie Company. They wisely put their kitchen air vents blowing out onto the sidewalk. I used to pass it each morning on my walk to my studio. My step would slow at the aroma of apple pies baking. The siren’s call would begin. Sometimes I could pass by the shop with great difficulty, but most mornings I could not make it.

What is it with new cars? Why can’t that scent be bottled and sold at filling stations across the country for when your car gets old? Peel an orange, crush a cherry, squeeze a lemon, half a lime. Bake bread, cook an onion in butter, make chocolate chip cookies and the world stops for the olfactory experience.

Speaking of chocolate, I once did a show in Milwaukee. I lived within pungent range of a chocolate factory and in the morning when I awoke, when the wind was right, the air was filled with chocolate. I awoke to chocolate! Those days were always rich with promise.

The ocean is a tricky one, but when it’s right, it’s oh so right. But shift the mixture of fish and salt and air slightly and you have a slight odor. Shift it a lot and it can reek. Fresh laundry out of the dryer is face bury-able, but stand between the drying sheets outdoors on the line on a sunny day in Italy and you stand in heaven.

Cats you can have. They make my eyes water and itch and my skin crawl, but a good faithful dog laying at your feel with his muzzle resting on your foot and his tail thumping is a whiff of canine that could be bottled and sold for only special times when missing dear old Rusty.

Cinnamon. Basil. Mint. Cranberry. I could go on and on. Interesting that as I’ve sat writing, I’ve had the heady experience of each fragrant concept, I’ve relived each olfactory moment. And now, for some reason, I’m hungry.

Think I’ll go whip me up some bacon and start the day right.

Find out more about inspirational smells…

For more inspiring thoughts, music you can download,
and information about Peter Link, please visit Watchfire Music.