So I did it…………not ready, not finished, not perfect – To Smell With It.
That is the life of this creative, I’ve got great ideas and a million of them, but not enough time, money or energy to pull it all together so it’s the perfection I am looking for.
Isn’t that a familiar story?
I find myself defaulting back to the one strategy and technique that keeps me grounded when emotions are running high, time is running out and there is no room in the budget.
5 senses back to common sense.
For nearly 20 years I relied on my sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste and smell to provide the clues and evidence that kept me safe, but they would also serve as a quick reminder and trigger the memories of a event or location that would make my body physically react.
So when I started putting together my radio show, The Hour To Empower in 2018 I curated the play list based on my theme of the day. It was my favourite task in preparing and I enjoyed it even more as it streamed live over the airwaves. Each song brought back memories of events, people, locations and conversations, good, bad and everywhere in between. Fast forward 12. months after finishing my 52nd and last radio show in September 2019 and I couldn’t believe the catalogue of content I had created. I’d interviewed hundreds of people, downloaded thousands of songs and researched the hell out of why music and lyrics has such a huge impact on our mood and memory.
I’ve literally come full circle, in my twenties I used essential oils in my sports massage therapy to help the body heal and soothe the mind understanding the olfactory system was an important and vital component of the five senses that created a pleasant or unbearable experience. In preparation for this podcast, I took all that I had learnt about meditations and mindfulness, aromatherapy and association to create an experiential process for self awareness, self care and self development. Yep….. it encumbers everything I’ve learnt about being human from friends, family, life coaches, energy healers, yoga instructors, health professionals, psychologists, randoms on the street, mentors, teachers, facilities and my children.
The Elements of Empowerment Podcast comes with an Empowerment Pack that is available for subscription. The candles will also be available for individual sale.
It is a 52 part podcast series. But we are currently offering the first 12 as monthly Empowerment Packs.
The Empowerment Podcast is about Self Care, Connection, Alternative Health, Self Talk and Sustainability: Caring for Our Environment (that includes doing it for ourselves, our circle of people, our home and our community including the land we live on)
The Podcast is about building and valuing our self worth.
I will also be publishing an online magazine called – The Universal Issue that looks at the common human experiences that rob us of joy. The first issue is Shame.
For this series I have designed a range of scented soy wax candles with a unique scent according to each element. It works on the olfactory system.
Smell and Memory
he sense of smell is closely linked with memory, more than any other of our senses. Those with full ofactory function may be able to think of smells that evoke particular memories, the scent of an orchard in bloom conjuring up recollections of childhood picnic for example. This can often happen spontaneously with a smell acting as a trigger in recalling a long forgotten event or experience.
Marcel Proust in his Remembrance of all things past, wrote that a bit of a Madeline vividly recalled childhood memories of his aunt giving him the very same cake before going to mass on a Sunday.
Smell is one of five ways we can connect with the world, the association and absence of it can have a profound impact. Those without it suffer Anosomia and feel cut off from the world around them, experiencing a blunting of emotions. If can affect ones ability to form an maintain close personal relationship and can lead to depressions. The important issue here is the fact that smell loss is invisible to all but the patient. – You really don’t know what you have got until it is gone.
Smell loss occurs with Parkinsons diseased and Alzheimers and can be an early onset of both conditions occurring years before motor skill problems develop.
Smell and Emotion
Smell is also highly emotive. The perfume industry is build around this connection with perfumers developing fragrances that seek to convert a vast array of emotions and feeling from a desire to power, vitality to relaxation.
Aromatherapy is also an alternative health therapy or practice in which certain scents have practical and sensory effects.
On a more personal level, smell is extremely important when it comes to attraction between two people. Research has shown that our body odour, produced by the genes that make up our immune system can help us subconsciously choose our partners. For more go to
It is likely that much of our emotional response to smell is governed by association. Something which is borne out of the fact that different people can have completely different perceptions of the same smell. Take perfuse, one person find a particular bran powerful, aromatic and heady with another person describing it as overpowering sickly and nauseating. Despite this however there are certain smells that all humans find repugnant, largely because they warn us of danger.
The Smell of smoke and rotten food.
Memories and Emotions
How we smell, the air we breathe through the front of the nose (orthonasal olfaction)
Through the back of our nose from our mouth when chewing food.
12 million olfactory receptor cells that can detect approximately 10000 odours.
and would love to put your credit on the jar or label and look forward to creating a unique collaboration and product that helps people become who they want to be and the local businesses in the community
Each Empowerment Pack is colour coded and has Element Candle has a different coloured label and a different scent (will leave that with you to decide which suits) It’s not revealed until they get the pack. The packaging is based on the Table of Elements.
The Empowerment Pack also includes 4 empowerment cards, 1 Question, 1 Inspiration, 1 to give to a friend and 1 challenge for the month. A postcard designed by a local artist to send to a friend to create connection.
Include sustainability information and recycle process. A downloadable ebook or work sheet in creating a plan and the steps to build confidence and strategies to rebuild after a knock back.
It is a great gift for others or for oneself.
What I do know is that When people feel better about themselves they invest in others, there is a ripple effect through the community.
Let’s do this and I would love to create a quick sponsorship/advert to put in the podcast of you sharing why you created Eliza Jade, About the sustainability factor and the best thing about running a small business.
The set date for release for the Empowerment Pack is July 1, with promotions started ASAP. I’ve included some of the images below. We have two options to sell the candle via promotions of the podcast – or in the pack.
I like the concept of the Jar – A jar of confidence. Also I wrote a book ages ago called ’Shake a Jar of FireFlies’ – watch them glow!
I’m hoping it’s a product and project that is both profitable and sustainable for all involved and promotes our community efforts. If you have any other ideas or feedback, I appreciate it.
Us creatives have to stick together.
to FIND YOUR IDENTITY