An Ichigo Ichie Through Taste and Smell

Smell is linked to the learning parts of the brain. 

We roughly remember about 3% of what we see, 5% of what we hear, and 35% of what we smell, varying on what kind of learner you happen to be.

 

I think this difference is so great because we like to attach emotions to taste and smell. Thinking about it, when I smell chlorine, I think of swim class, trying to see underwater, being scared to do a correct dive off the diving board, lining up, and who could make the biggest cannon ball to get everyone on the side wet.

 

Another one is the smell of a landfill. I know it is strong and gross, but my grandfather lived near one, and we had sooooo many adventures in the actual junkyard, in the nearby woods, and that smell would let me know as a kid that we were there. So smelling that stench reminds me of how fearless my cousin and I were, just to keep from being bored.

 

Tasting in the physical is a great vehicle for experiencing new cultures and trying new things through food.

Taste mentally boils down to your personality, what you like and don’t like, your character and your integrity.

 

But overall, taste and smell evoke Ichigo Ichie by incorporating all the senses into that moment in time. Ichigo Ichie was achieved when you can look back and taste and smell the tea for instance, you’ll be about see the surrounding, and hear the conversation during that time, and know the warmth of how you felt from the tea, but also the sense that your mind and heart were touched too.

 

Look for an opportunity this weekend to experience an Ichigo Ichie to log in to the history of you!