How Can Smell Change Your Decisions?

Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived... Helen Keller

The sense of smells enters into your decision making far more than you might think. For instance, it can influence your choice of a mate, home or other purchases or even decisions to hire.

Interestingly, the sense of smell played a big role in the lives of our earliest ancestors since it impacted their existence. In fact, people's emotional, physical, and even sexual lives are intensely shaped by both their responses to and interpretations of different scents.

Here're findings from Rachel Herz's newly published book, The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell, that show how much the sense of smell influences our lives...

1. Connects to memory and can be used as a memory aid
2. Vital to sexual attraction
3. Crucial for survival of our species
4. Loss of this sense drives some folks to suicide
5. Newborns and mothers recognize each other by scent
6. Influences people's choices
7. Affects sales and marketing strategies

Here's why... The sense of smell's hard-wired deep into the brain's sensitive areas, that process emotion [amygdala], and, motivation and memory [hippocampus].

Smell Affects Sales and Marketing... ''People judge a product based on the way it smells,'' said Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. ''If it smells good, we perceive it as good.''

For instance, "most people like the aroma of a new car for a variety of reasons, including smell-induced nostalgia." Tim Moran notes in today's New York Times.

Some realtors advise folks selling a home to bake an apple pie in the oven when they bring a potential buyer because the "homey scent" can evoke pleasant memories in the heart of a customer. And other methods such as vanilla candles, or even carpet cleaning can make the difference.

Be sure to keep calm in an interview because if you sweat too much, the odor can turn off the manager and others involved. People get aggressive and move quickly from offensive odors. Can you imagine too sweet perfume... a whiff of bad breath... a car showroom that's not fresh?

Your homework ahead really counts!

OK, take it from here.... Thoughts?

First Book Report in Her Own Words and Syntax!

For all of you Charlotte Mason kindred spirits, ChildLightUSA just posted the Fall 2007 journal. Click here and click journal to retrieve it.

This week we finished reading The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum, a book with a wonderful message about forgiveness and self-sacrificial love. Because Amazon does not have text statistics for this book, my second trick to determine grade level is to go to the official Frustrated Reader site. While Renaissance Learning does not offer official quizzes for this book, I searched online to see at what grade level most schools place the book--half-way through the sixth grade in terms of reading comprehension. I majored in statistics for my master's degree and I just cannot help but pore over statistics!

And, here is Pamela's first book report in her own words and syntax! I followed the process we always do for guided written narrations. First, I recorded her oral narration of the entire book. Then, I made the sentence strips and worked them. We broke up the book report into four writing blocks, which she did one after another: Title/Author/Character/Setting, Beginning, Middle, End. Except for the title and author, she wrote the rest of the report without assistance. A major praise report follows the pictures of her first book report, so read on!





I am very excited for Pamela for the following reasons:

Positive Trend - I posted the first four narrations Pamela did at her page. Using Word, I did a spell check, which reported these narrations to be at a grade level of 2.7. I typed up Pamela's book report, which was measured at a grade level 4.0. Obviously, I will have a better handle on trends by the end of the year, but she increased the grade level of her writing.

Independent Writing - I left Pamela alone while she was working. She wrote everything, with no access to other material, from her memory! This illustrates the importance of narration: We Narrate and Then We Know.

Cursive - I did not tell Pamela how to write the report; I just said that it was a very important report and she could type it if she wanted. She opted to write it on the porch. Based upon that information, she chose cursive.

Because - I have not officially taught Pamela how to use the word because. But, whenever I make sentence strips, I add because to a few sentences. She used that word appropriately in several instances.

Thinking - I originally snapped the following picture of the report's first page. Notice that, after writing the middle and the end, Pamela had thought about what she had already written and added more names to her character list.



She has plenty of room for improvement in her style, which comes across as stilted. Keep in mind we reached present tense verbs in June. We have not done past or future tense yet, much less helping verbs. She used several syntax units I have not formally taught.

Reduce Stressors, Boost Mind-body Performance

Are you feeling tightness across your shoulders and neck as you work? Stressors can tighten their grip daily and don't go away. Stress actually takes away your ability to focus and pay attention. The hormone cortisol floods your brain and body when you worry, panic, fear, feel anxious or pressured, or run the fast track too long. Here's how stress affects your brain...

Older adults who experience high levels of cortisol, perform poorly on memory tests and their hippocampus, the seat of learning and memory, literally shrinks. For younger adults and teens, an acute increase in cortisol can lead to reversible memory impairments.

"This explains why some older adults show poor brain function while others perform very well," Dr. Sonia Lupien, of the McGill research team conjectures. "Perhaps, through early interventions, we can modify the cortisol levels and enhance brain function of the at-risk individuals."

Good news is that recent research reveals that Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) works effectively against stress. So how does IBMT work?

The technique avoids struggles to control thought, relying instead on a state of restful alertness, allowing for a high degree of body-mind awareness while receiving instructions from a coach, who provides breath-adjustment guidance and mental imagery while soothing music plays in the background. Thought control is achieved gradually through posture, relaxation, body-mind harmony and balanced breathing. The authors noted in the study that IBMT may be effective during short-term application because of its integrative use of these components.

Interestingly these techniques help shift your brain's focus by using musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial and intrapersonal intelligences. Since it takes very sharp concentration to fix your mind in four areas to do the IBMT exercises, you can use the same technique to change focus immediately when a stressor hits or keeps nagging. Here's how...

Musical... play an uplifting song on your iPod
Bodily-kinesthetic... Get out of your seat and walk down the hall, breathing deeply and concentrating on deep breaths
Spatial... Picture in your mind your very favorite vacation spot
Intrapersonal... Ask a question of yourself... "What can I do during lunch or even the next break to be good to me?"

Choose any one of these strategies to cut down your stress.

What strategy do you use to quickly move out of stress's tight grip?

Dynamic Puzzle Building and Another Praise Report

Every Tuesday morning, we attend our youth group's prayer breakfast at Hardee's. This morning, Pamela did something completely new! Usually, she just has a meaty breakfast and, if she wants carbs or fruit, she will eat them at home. Today, she heated some pancakes we made last Saturday and packed a Styrofoam plate, fork, pancakes, maple syrup, and gf/cf margarine in a plastic shopping bag. My brain can barely make it to the car before seven in the morning!

Pamela does not usually interact much in a large group. When it was time to go, Pamela turned away from the table, getting ready to leave, too. The pastor leaned over and said, "Bye, Pamela!" Pamela turned to her, waved to her, and said, "Good-bye!" This was a striking enough difference that the paster looked at me and said, "Wow!"

My parent goal for myself is to try to be more clear in my signals that we are finished so that Pamela does not bolt. The other one is to foster more declarative comments, especially ones focused on emotion, but keep them short with plenty of pauses for Pamela to add her comment.

I have been thinking our puzzle-building has gotten a little static, and today we had a great time. My role is to hold the box and lift it up so that she picks a random piece (simply because it affords more opportunity for productive uncertainty and for her to read my face for information). The puzzle-making was more lively because we were making declarative comments while building the puzzle. At one point, she tried peeking in the box, so I began to shake it, saying "Earthquake!" She laughed and thought it was hilarious (unknown to me, we have been working on flexible thinking for years and she likes unexpected things most of the time). Then I had a tidal wave, bumper cars, and bunny hop with the puzzle box. I tried to only spill out a couple of pieces at a time. She laughed and thought it was funny. I did not do this all the time because it would get stale. But, I did it enough that there was some anticipation of fun every time she had to pick a piece.

My father is really helpful, too, because he is so random (which he passed onto David). My dad is working on our front porch and heads to the back yard from time to time for wood or some other supplies. He knows that Pamela loves watching people with broken VCRs and DVD players on You-Tube. She stims on one in particular in which a teen-aged boy breaks a video tape by slamming into his head. Juvenile, but Pamela thinks it is funny. She is too smart to do it herself, except for the time she drew a picture of a videotape, cut it out, and imitated the clip.

My dad has picked up on that, so today he walks to the sidewalk, picks up a flower pot, and says, "Hey, Pamela, I'm going to break this flower pot on my head." She yells out, "No! Don't do that! You're joking!" She was smiling, so I could tell that she knew Opa was playing a joke on her.

A Luxury Tent opens my Window to the World!

Two-Footed Questions stir adventures in the mind. When Joanna Young asked, "Have you ever thought of your life as a building?" I hadn't. But her question helped me dream a little. Since the question opened a full range of possibilities , my thoughts soared, as if on a magic carpet. I wanted a structure that let me be a nomad, but provided luxury at the same time... So here's my building...

Exquisitely furnished luxury tents are designed for solitude and serenity. You easily fall asleep under the canopy of your tent [protected from insects and the like] and wake to your own private view of the sun rising over a breathtaking vista. A luxury tent best represents my architecture. Here's why...

A luxury tent opens flexibility I require in life. Since I'm a global citizen, a tent provides opportunities to both wander and wonder. Luxury takes the front seat because I don't like to "rough it." A luxury tent opens unmatched lifelong learning opportunities since I would be closer to the land and nature I love so much.

The framework of my tent's inspired by Rosa Say's principles of Joyful, Jubilant Learning:

Listen, Laugh, Learn, Link, Love, Live, and Leap to Wonder

Listen — welcome new ideas..., listening fully opened
Laugh — with positive and uplifting joy
Learn — with childlike curiosity
Link — use lessons learned as springboards, sharing knowledge freely
Love — tap into deep passion for learning from nature and others
Live — be a shining example of the Lifelong Learner; “Be the learner you want to see in the world”
Leap — to new experiences, stretching past the familiar, accepting leaps of higher intuition.

Does this tease your brain just a bit to choose a building to represent you? If so, please do consider yourself tagged for this meme. Robert Hruzek started the action so be sure to link to him and me and Bob'll compile all the contributions...

I'm tagging:

Jackie Cameron at awareness, choices, change

Anne at Brandsizzle

Anna at My Only Photo

Jim Walton at Black in Business

Steli Efti The Supercool Principal

Tags so far include:

Joanna Young at Confident Writing
Troy Worman at Orbit Now!
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
Dawud Miracle at Healthy Web Design
Pete Aldin at Great Circle
Brad Shorr at WordSell Inc
Emma Bird at HowToItaly
Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business
Laura at Writing Thoughts
Robyn McMaster at Brain Based Biz

OK, you now have the baton. Mull over the two-footed question.... What building best represents you? Dream a bit....

And Now, for Something Completely Different!

I love the Jane Austen novels, which I did NOT read until six years ago, well into my marriage. Don't you think Steve and I are well-matched? Although, I do take issue with the calm life! Can life be calm with a teen with autism and another teen with a concrete-random kinesthetic learning style? I think not!

Take the Quiz here!

You scored as Edward Ferrars, Your husband is like Edward Ferrars of Sense & Sensibility. He is quietly impulsive, with an understated hint of romance. But once you get to know him, he's very affectionate, caring, and faithful. The two of you enjoy a calm, joyful life. Who is Your Jane Austen Husband? created with QuizFarm.com

More on the Video and a Praise Report!

The praise is first! Our church has a pad that we pass around and sign to help them figure out attendance. Pamela signed her name in cursive very neatly. The lady sitting next to her is a schoolteacher, and she marveled at how beautiful Pamela's handwriting looked. Her mouth dropped when I told her that, when Pamela was seven, she screamed when I handed her a pencil! The teacher smiled and said, "You would never know by the way she writes now!"

I have been getting some helpful feedback from friends, so I thought I would share for those of you lone rangers like me! First, I need to think about balance in terms of the amount, length, and pace of my speech. When I make one comment, I need to give Pamela plenty of time to make one comment. By doing so I allow her to be competent in the conversation and hold up her end of the conversation at a pace that makes her comfortable. Nonverbal statements like a head shake or nod count as a comment. That may mean that I have to pause and wait patiently.

Second, I need to make sure to say how I was feeling when I am sharing my perspective to foster episodic memory. The emotional aspect of episodic memory is the area of greatest challenge for many people with autism.