How to Thrive with Depression Series: Stop and Smell the Roses.

Welcome back to the Thriving with Depression Series! Thank you for joining me on my adventure!  

To view the full series, check out our archive! As a reminder to new readers, you can start anywhere, even here as articles do not need to be read in any particular order. 

Welcome to Part 4 of How to Thrive with Depression Series: Stop and Smell the Roses. 

Congratulations for making it this far! Here is a recap of the series to date:

A Tale of Two Evenings: How to Thrive with Depression Series (Part 1). Part 1 discussed reframing your point of view by writing positive thoughts down on old-fashioned pen and paper. (Yes, they still sell these historic devices.)

Moving Forward: How to Thrive with Depression Series (Part 2). I discussed barriers that may be stopping you from becoming a glass half-full person and/or from starting the How to Thrive process. I explained step two: Reading aloud the positive thoughts you wrote down in step one. By activating your auditory sense (hearing/listening), an idea can become ingrained into your mind. 

Baby Steps: How to Thrive with Depression Series (Part 3). I provided additional information regarding steps one and two. I also mentioned the idea of baby steps. It takes time to develop a new habit and master a new skill!

Last week I interrupted our series with a special holiday edition. Holiday Edition: How to Thrive with Depression Series (Part 1) and (Part 2)

This week is part 4 of the series where I introduce step three. Stop and Smell the Roses: How to Thrive with Depression Series (Part 4). Step 3 is really fun and easy. You may be surprised to learn that it involves the sense of smell. Sound silly? It might but let me explain more about it. The olfactory part of the brain (the part involving smell) connects more strongly to the memory areas of the brain than other senses. (Please click the link above to read this article of Psychology Today by Christopher Bergland).

Smell is an overlooked tool that can be used to help us remember an idea or piece of information. An aroma can take us back to a time in our lives. Do gingerbread cookies or Christmas trees remind you of past holidays? Does the smell of coffee remind you of your aunt who always had a pot brewing? Do tacos remind you of a fun birthday party at a Mexican restaurant? Or does the smell of the sea remind you of an enjoyable vacation? You get the idea. By connecting a smell with a thought, we can instill an idea into our minds. And THAT is the aim. This whole process of writing down positive thoughts, reading them out loud and now, associating them with a pleasant smell is to transform you into a depressed, glass half-empty person to a joyful, glass half-full person. You can become more like Tyler rather than like Lisa. (Remember back to the article A Tale of Two Evenings?)

Different scents can change your mood, transport you back to a distant memory, and may even help you bond with loved ones. Your ability to smell also plays a key role in your health. If your ability to smell declines, it can affect your diet and nutrition, physical well-being, and everyday safety. I recommend the article below from the August 2016 National Institutes of Health newsletter. It discusses how critical the sense of smell is to our everyday life and health. There IS a reason we have this sense!

What Your Nose Knows: Sense of Smell and Your Health

So, how do you so this? That’s the fun part; any way you want. While performing step two, reading aloud your reframed thoughts, you add a pleasant scent. You can add a scent that brings back positive memories or just a scent you enjoy. Here are some ideas of implementing step 3 to stop and smell the roses:

• You can use candles

• House air fresheners

• Car air fresheners (which you can put in your car once you are done 😊)

• Make some food

• Visit the beach

• Go outside and truly smell the roses

You may be tempted to skip this step as it does not seem as serious as the other steps but don’t dismiss the importance of smell. As mentioned above, small is an important sense. Why else would we be born with it? I know it may seem unusual and it may feel silly. But when you go to do this step there is a very good chance you realize that you do this automatically. Stop what you are doing right now. What do you smell? Probably cut grass, the air or food cooking nearby. We associate “scents” with stores that sell flowery body lotions, bubble baths and perfumes aimed at women. Yes, these are scents. But they aren’t the only ones. 

Anything you can detect with your nose is a scent. The leather smell of a new vehicle or a baseball glove, a campfire, pipe smoke, charcoal, firewood, and let’s not forget the scent of bacon. One of my favorite childhood scents is not bubble gum or strawberry but gasoline. The scent of gasoline brings back memories of going in the car with my family (prior to all the smog requirements we have now), riding the Autopia ride at Disneyland, and a now deceased close family member who was into muscle cars. (See smells can be masculine, neutral and feminine.)

Enjoy this step. What OTHER process is this easy? Writing, speaking, and smelling the roses is probably one of the less stressful things on your plate this week!