Scents can unexpectedly open the door to memories. For example, one day while walking down the street, the scent of flowers may suddenly waft through the air, bringing to mind vivid memories of a garden you visited many years ago, or the smell of fragrant bread may bring back memories of breakfast as a child. Many people have had similar experiences. This phenomenon of scents evoking memories is due to the workings of the brain, and is also known as the "Proust effect."

Unlike other senses, olfactory signals reach the brain directly to a part called the "limbic system." This limbic system is the part that controls our emotions and memories, with the "hippocampus" and "amygdala" at its center. When a scent reaches us, it brings back memories of past events and the emotions felt along with the scent in a chain reaction. For this reason, memories evoked by scent are often stronger and clearer than those evoked by sight or hearing.

"Scent" is something vague and invisible. And yet, it has a powerful power to appeal to our sense of smell. Just by smelling a certain scent, we can feel a happy moment or the warmth of a person we miss residing in our heart. The power of scent transcends time, drawing us back to a specific moment or feeling. It is engraved deeply in our hearts, like a piece of poetry woven over a long period of time.

Understanding this relationship between smell and memory may change the way we choose scents. The scents we smell every day have their own stories to tell, and each one etched a small memory in our hearts.