Aroma Therapy

Is aroma really therapy? Have you ever walked into one of the specialty stores and looked at the aroma therapy displays - picking up a few samples to inhale their healing scents. Many claim to help the symptoms of anxiety, stress, irritability, mental fatigue, panic attacks - just to name a few of our ills. Most of the scents I have tested make me either nauseated, gag, or cough. Now, I don't mind a small spurt of the lavender scent but that's about it. In other words, I don't find most of those scents therapeutic. They definitely don't make feel calm and serene.

Have you ever been in a movie theater and sat next to someone who decided that rather than take a bath with soap and water - they would soak themselves in a bottle of perfume or cheap cologne? It makes my eyes water and my nose stop up and sometimes get a little queasy. How does some one's cheap cologne affect you? Here's another example - has this ever happened to you? I have been standing in line waiting to board an airplane and all of a sudden - there it is - the "loudest" perfume I've ever smelled. I think - Oh No! Please don't let this person be in the seat next to mine! And guess what - that person is three rows up and my eyes are still watering. That doesn't make me feel calm and serene either.

Now, I will share some of my favorite scents: freshly plowed fields, grass right after it has been mowed, the smell of the air after an April shower, popcorn at the movie theater, and of course - what could be better than the smell of chocolate? Now that's aroma therapy!