Strong Memories

How many of you have a smell attached to a memory... Some people will smell a cigar and it envokes such powerful memories of their long deceased grandpa who smoke a cigar every day that they will be overwhelmed with emotion and be forced into sobbing. Some people smell bacon cooking and think of saturday mornings at the family breakfast table and will feel compelled to call mom to just say hi.

I've always been fascinated by the power of the mind, and one powerful influence that brings on such powerful memories for me has always been music. And because I tend to listen to the same songs repeatedly for a given period of time they become more strongly attached to those memories than they might for others who prefer greater variety.

I suppose you could say my life has its own soundtrack... Here are some examples of what I'm talking about.

When I was 19 I was working hard at beating an addiction. I did this on my own. I basically was locked in a room with my new album Home by the band Sevendust. The song denial off of this album became my anthem. I reserve this for my worst days where I need strength to carry on. As some added insight into me, this time in my life is also where my handle and avi come from I had nothing better to do than to play a video game and sleep.


Just about three years ago I moved out of the home that my wife and I shared for about 6 years. My daughter was one year old at the time. This was one of the worst times of my life. I sat in my new apartment, with just a chair, and my laptop and my iPod. I had just downloaded a new album by Serj Tankian who is the lead singer for System Of A Down. After I slowly crawled out of my spiraling depression I listened to this album repeatedly while unknowingly writing what became a book that I had bound in leather and am saving for when my daughter is old enough. This song sticks with me in particular and when I listen to it I think about those lonely days, missing my daughter and just wanting some normalcy back in my life.


There are other events and countless other songs which have become inextricably linked but I'll save some space in this thread for you guys...

Anyone else experience this? A deep psychological connection between music and milestones in your life?

----PoB----

Yeah Man,

I think we all have some sort of these things in our lives! Comend u on your recovery! I some how have just prgrammed my brain to block out the shit times. The real bad ones amy way. Problem is it also had an affect on the good ones I'd like to recall. I went threw a similar thing with my Ex and son he was just over a year! That was the one single hardest time in my life. Nothing from the past or the present compared to that for me. I made a vow to stay in his life no matter how rought ig got.

It got damn ruogh I was not even alowed to see him until court gave her full custody a court date that Ironicaly did not know about. I will say 11 1/2 years later my son is Dad boy sadly he has even figure out the truth about his mom at this point. I sucks to see but all I can do is be his friend and try to explain in such a way he will understand yet not put her down.

I do have a cool song that reminds me of my first wife (the Boys mom and I were never married)
The smell of a pipe is the most pleasent smell to me nice and sweet! Brings back Memorys of grandpa.

I hear you on all of the above. First of all PoB, Home is an incredible album. I still listen to it regularly. I have incredible strong memories attached to smell, which is strange. There was a girl that I was incredibly in love with, but it was never meant to be. Long story short we met in the Army while I was attached to Group. She was working for the NSA and was running Signals support for HUMINT. We instantly felt an attraction like I had never felt before and continue to talk to this day, but she was so focused on her career that we were unable to really pursue anything beyond short periods of time together when she was back in the United States. She and I still talk regularly, but she is out of country often and unable to talk about what she's doing. The moments I spent with her are burned into my brain and I will NEVER get past them.

Every time we were together she wore the same body lotion and whenever I smell it I get an incredible lump in my stomach.

Dammit I love that woman.

Sappy Spongy.