Funny How Your Brain Associates Things

[RHNewfie]

I find it amazing how your brain can cause an old physical response to a current situation.

I have 4 cigars in my humi that turn my stomach to look at. I picked them up on a trip to MI where I picked up the stomach flu.

I had never been hung over in my life until one fateful day when red wine and I got along far too well. The next morning I was making Folgers coffee when I got sick. To this day the smell of Folgers turns my stomach... Only Folgers.

Anyone else have a similar story?

[Mugen910]

I can't look at rotisserie chicken because it got me sick one day. And by sick I mean I lost 15lbs in a weekend. *shudders*

If I get up really early in the morning for golf in Spring, the smell of the morning dew brings be back to when I was in boot camp. Then I start thinking about all the *fun* I had there



I know from experience that if I'm making nuggets and fries in the oven for lunch my coworkers tell me the smell brings them back to High School cafeteria lunch

[Apoco]

Spaghetti-O's. First time I remember being violently ill as a kid.

OFF! Bug Spray puts me in Skymont Boy Scout camp that I went to every summer from 12-17.

My cousin has an old book from my grandparents basement. It smells like a mixture of my grandfather's cigars/pipes and mildew. Opening it and smelling it takes me right back to that dilapidated old house that I went to for Thanksgiving every year up until last year. Good times
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A Certain shampoo smell brings me back to summer camp! Flip flops in the outside showers...

Anytime I smell Jack Daniels makes me sick and Takes me back to my high school prom

I could go on and on.....but it is funny how we associate smells to memories

[RevSmoke]

My mom died back in 1994 and she never wore much perfume, but she did have this orange blossom cream that functioned that way. I haven't ever smelled it except for my mom. I was at an event about two years ago when I smelled that exact same thing - immediately make me think of my mother, and I felt like I was about 13 years old.

Most people don't realize it, but smells can trigger memories better than many other things. Don't know why, but it is true.

I light up a certain pipe tobacco and my boys comment, "Reminds me of fishing for salmon in Kewaunee."

Peace of the Lord be with you.

[Emjaysmash]

Originally Posted by RevSmoke

Most people don't realize it, but smells can trigger memories better than many other things. Don't know why, but it is true.

From what I remember from Bio class, this is because when the olfactory nerve fires, it has far less synapses to travel through to reach the hippocampus, as opposed to the other senses.

I have a bottle of Hand Sanitizer that used to sit on my desk that has been used off an on the past two years. It reminds me EXACTLY of when I started smoking 2 years ago, and those feelings of excitement as I lit up a new stick.

[shark]

Pipe tobacco always reminds me of my Dad. He used to smoke a pipe on occasion. Diesel smoke brings me back to working on our company's vehicles in the motor pool while I was in the Army.

[Skywalker]

Originally Posted by RHNewfie

I find it amazing how your brain can cause an old physical response to a current situation.

I have 4 cigars in my humi that turn my stomach to look at. I picked them up on a trip to MI where I picked up the stomach flu.

I had never been hung over in my life until one fateful day when red wine and I got along far too well. The next morning I was making Folgers coffee when I got sick. To this day the smell of Folgers turns my stomach... Only Folgers.

Anyone else have a similar story?

This would explain why the sight of Mean Darrell turns my stomach!!!

[shilala]

I can't even get a Coca Cola near my nose as a result of my rum and coke experiment when I was around 19 or 20. Every time I got tangled up in that stuff I got sick during and after.
I'm just starting to eat fish again after a 30 year layoff. We lived on a lake and I had to filet buckets upon buckets of near-frozen panfish from our ice-fishing forays. After just so much grossness, I just lost the taste for fish. Heck is, I really like it. It's just the connection, ya know?
When I was a kid, I always got fed jello when I was sick. Then I'd go to the nursing home or hospital and there it was, more jello. I still can't eat it, I doubt I ever will. Once again, I actually like it. The association is just too strong.

There are countless smells that put a smile on my face. Ones that "bring me back" or just make me happy. Bread baking is probably the second biggest one. If a woman wants to catch a man, she should either get bread baking perfume of slab of pig on a smoker perfume. That'd get the job done every time.
The biggest one is how my wife smells. It absolutely drives me out of my mind, in a good way.

[Apoco]

Originally Posted by shilala

If a woman wants to catch a man, she should either get bread baking perfume of slab of pig on a smoker perfume. That'd get the job done every time.

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[Eleven]

Gin. Smells like a Christmas tree and tastes even worse.

It ruined me in the 80's and I can't stand it to this day.

Every time I smell it, I go back to New Years Eve 1983 (wasn't old enough to drink...) and the horrible New Years Day I had trying to sleep off the brutal effects of Gin.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Eleven

Every time I smell it, I go back to New Years Eve 1983 (wasn't old enough to drink...) and the horrible New Years Day I had trying to sleep off the brutal effects of Gin.

My story in a nutshell, except Scotch, and NYE 1979.

Ruined myself for good Scotch later in life for an under-age pint of Cutty Sark.

[Sauer Grapes]

Originally Posted by icehog3

My story in a nutshell, except Scotch, and NYE 1979.

Ruined myself for good Scotch later in life for an under-age pint of Cutty Sark.

A pint of scotch? Well done.

Mine was Gin and Juice. Only took me a handful of months before I could stomach orange juice again.

[Tio Gato]

My wife spends all day on her computer, she and I were driving along one day. She asked "What's laugh out loud cheese?" I glanced over to a sign outside the local deli. The sign read LOL cheese. I had to tell her that meant Land O' Lakes.

On day I happily pulled into the lot of the new Polish Shop in town. Visions of kielbasa and peirogis filled my head. As I approached the door I saw a sign, "Mani Pedi $29". Doh!

Whenever I hear the Mama's and the Papa's I'm transported to my Mom's Ford LTD station wagon with the fake wood sides. For what seemed to be hours on a road trip my baby sister sang "Dream a little dream of me" over and over. My mom was not pleased. It was like yesterday, not 40 years ago.

[Bill86]

Originally Posted by icehog3

My story in a nutshell, except Scotch, and NYE 1979.

Ruined myself for good Scotch later in life for an under-age pint of Cutty Sark.

A pint sounds like a good amount, but admiral..... cutty?

Sorry to hear, scotch is good..

Jager - I can look at it but if I smell it......Probably have a hard time not getting sick
Goldschlager - I can smell it and look at it but cannot drink it
Fireball - The smell is vile......
Absinthe - If I smell this $hit I will seriously vomit.
After shock - Drinking a full bottle of this stuff...bad idea.
Cuervo - Same goes with the above.

I think that's about it, I've gotten sick off a BUNCH of other stuff but it doesn't turn my stomach. The time when I drank 3 120 minute IPA's in a row comes to mind. 21% each, 36 oz's total. It was probably within 5 months after I turned 21. Good times.

[awsmith4]

Just today I was at Kroger getting a few things with my son. He had to pee and after he finished I was helping him wash his hands when all of a sudden the smell of the soap took me back to when I was 15 and worked at Kroger. Its weird, I only worked there a month 15 years ago but as soon as I smelled it I was back in time.

[dannyboy]

Originally Posted by Bill86

After shock - Drinking a full bottle of this stuff...bad idea.

This is a very, very bad idea - the smell of cinnamon turned my stomach for years after that night! It was combined with lots of other stuff, but the taste of this dominated everything else.

I can still get a wave of nausea from the alcohol smell in hand sanitizer, my guess is it reminds me of the cheap vodka I used to drink?

[kaisersozei]

Yep, the three things that turn my stomach due to bad past encounters are gin, spaghetti-o's, and my ex wife.

[jjirons69]

Cropped tobacco in 8th grade (nearly 30 years ago) and suffered nicotine poisoning nearly every day (lots of puking in the hot sun). Even now the smell of diesel smoke from a tractor almost always gives me shutters.

My biggest associations come from music. I can hear a song and be instantly transported back to a certain time, event, or moment. Heard one this morning that made me remember listening to a small radio while staying with my grandma during the summer - "Baker Street", I was 9.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by kaisersozei

Yep, the three things that turn my stomach due to bad past encounters are gin, spaghetti-o's, and my ex wife.

That there made me lol for real. Thanks Gerard.