Lavender.
We all have a scent that brings up memories. These scents are typically scents from our childhood or scents from a very important period in out life. Lavender is that scent for me.
This is probably the only time that I will even hint to anything with my "day job." I work with children. During my training, we did an exercise about children in foster care. In the exercise, we read a story about a child who went into foster care and was moved around. We had to count the losses of the child in the story. The moral of the story was that you cannot really know how many losses a person has.
This story kind of struck a chord with me. My sister and I were in foster care for a very short amount of time when I was a teenager. When we were taken away from my family, a friend from my aunt’s church sent a gift with my social worker. In that gift bag was a bottle of lavender body wash and some body lotion. In a time where I felt scared, confused, and unwanted. That gift made me feel loved, wanted, and hopeful. I felt comfortable and safe.
Again, luckily, I was in a group home with my sister for a very, very short amount of time. My aunt and uncle stepped up and got custody of my sister and me. I was picked up by my aunt and uncle from school, so I didn’t get to pack my own things. Overall, I was okay with that, but they didn’t pack the lavender scented body wash and lotion. I was kind of sad and disappointed.
Since then, I love anything that smells like lavender. I typically have lavender oil on me at all times. It comforts me to have it. I, for some reason, always gravitate to the color purple. Typically, if you ask me, I will always say my favorite color is either red or pink, but if you look around at the things that I have, I have a lot of purple things. I guess it’s like a security blanket for me.
I’ve always heard that lavender oil is very calming, so I did some research.
The use of lavender has been used for centuries, tracing back to the times of the Greek and the Romans. The oil from the lavender plant is believed to have antibacterial and anti-fungal properties along with acting as a sedative and antidepressant. Lavender can also be used on burns and insect bites (Cavanagh and Wilkinson, 2002). I don’t want to geek out too much and go into the science of how lavender oil affects the brain (because trust me, I can), but there is a ton of research on the benefits and I definitely encourage you to do some of your own research.
Here are some other websites that you might want look at that shows the benefits and uses of lavender:
Again, I typically use keep lavender oil with me at all times. I also love to use lavender lotion. Anytime I soak in a bath, I like to put either lavender scented Epsom salts or drops of essential oils. I also soak my feet in lavender scented bath beads that my sister uses when doing pedicures. The brand is by Calgon and the scent is Lavender and Honey. It’s supposed to be ultra moisturizing with vitamin E and aloe.
What is the scent that comforts you? Have you ever really thought about it? It may be your mother’s perfume or the scent of your favorite meal that your grandmother cooked for you growing up. Try to take notice of the scents that make you feel happiest or makes you think of a time that comforts you the most. It may be a good idea to keep those scents around you for when you need to just breathe a little or when you may just need to feel loved.
PS: Please remember, I am not a doctor and these are just things that I have researched and things that I have found helpful to me. Namaste!
XOXO,
Kat
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