DIVI9 CHAT

SMELL THE ROSES

BY RAQUEL WALKER

Scents possess the powerful qualities of impacting our emotions, tapping into our memories, and improving our sense of well-being. The simple routine of smelling your tea or coffee before that first sip, notice its impact; this may be how you typically start your day. We often focus on the caffeine entering our system to get us going, overlooking the comfort of its familiar scent. As a massage therapist, I enjoy the careful curation of scented candles. It warms and welcomes each client, bringing them to a calm meditative state before even experiencing the balancing aura of touch.

SMELL THE ROSES

Stop and smell the roses. It is such a comforting cliche. A singular reminder of the importance of solitude; rest, reset and recharge. My middle sister hopped into the car two weeks ago, and as she did, her message to me was, “slow down, it came to me to tell you to slow down” I had no idea which way to process that statement. We continued to pick our sister up and were on our way to celebrate the month of birthdays, our middle sister’s day in particular. As we ate, I mused over this message to slow down. I drove slower, and I ate more deliberately. I tried to absorb small things I may have usually missed as I muttered “slow down” between mouthfuls of cauliflower wings and beer.

SCENT AWAY

I’m sure every family has a collection of odd phrases they toss around humorously. Mine is like a call and response. The kids ask, “where are you going?” when they see me hustling about the house getting dressed, I respond, “crazy” sometimes, I ask if they want to come other times, I don’t. This day as soon as I replied, my sixteen-year-old replied, “I’m coming!” This was the first time either of my boys had ever taken me up on my shenanigans, and I was on a mission. I wanted to get out of the house quickly, to enjoy each moment at a slow pace. It had been a long emotional week of the full moon, feminine, and life cycles. It was almost overwhelming, and I was seeking and creating my healing. I smiled at my son in the passenger seat. He had no idea what I was up to, and that just punctuated my excitement.

In less than 15 minutes, we were parked and crossing University Ave to enter Design Scents. I heard about this candlemaking experience, but this would be my first time. We enter and get the rundown. There are over 100 scents! I wanted to get right to candle-making, so I grabbed my clipboard and began to write down all my favorite scents. I had a theme in mind; I wanted to create a smell that took me back to my childhood, a time in life that things moved much more slowly. The present complexities of life were then masked in the title of adulthood that I had neither desire nor reason to explore or understand. I had heard about the cannabis scent, and that was a must on my list. We would need to narrow it down to three for the candle, no matter how many I fell in love with. They helped with that by creating pathways using my list, highlighting what would work well together. I selected a few favorites from my childhood: cloves and mango. I smelt the coconut, but it wasn’t comparable to my childhood memory. I continued choosing; summer lawn, bamboo, rosemary, and rose petals. We were each given a plate with our top two or three oils; my top three were cloves, mango, and cannabis. My son chose burnt sugar and mango. We were given measuring tools to pour our oils into. As we progressed through the process, we ‘sniff tested’ our oils to determine if they were formulated in the direction that we liked. I ordered a two for one Mimosa and began to craft my scent. I started with cannabis oil. My root chakra, my island home, my father, mangoes for my mother, and my many feasts in the backyard, and cloves, which remind me of the pimento spice used generously in many island dishes.

The business owner explains that the olfactory nerve is responsible for the way our sense of smell takes us back to moments and memories and that the definition of smell is said to be the first to develop. The variety of things I do to maintain a healthy balance has an entourage effect; each element works together for our highest good. These elements, tools, or experiences serve as our reminder to not only stop and smell the roses but also skip through a few puddles and unburden ourselves of this thing of adulting. A warm, familiar scent makes a short trip of this at any moment or location. It whisks you away, alters your present reality, and leaves you feeling a bit more whole.