Tapping Into Creativity

Going through a box of books looking for one thing I came across another. My original copy of Julia Camerons The Artists Way. I was not one of those folks who jumped head first into the pool, as many began to offer creativity workshops and the  like based on principals found in the book. I read it, found it inspirational and then went about my business. I have never had a problem tapping into my creative side. It seems more often than not all I have is a creative side.
But it did get me to thinking. I can't say how often I have been approached to teach classes in perfumery, but the number is high. It isn't my thing, just as it was never my thing to teach art classes. What I am finding IS my thing is the desire to introduce folks to their sense of smell. Not in regards to perfumery, but in general. This is the main reason I have been creating the Olfactory Installations at my studio in the city.  At first I was shocked at how little people were actually wired into their sense of smell. That a simple universal smell like vanilla could be so hard for them to identify. I realized after a few rounds of this, it wasn't that they didn't recognize the smell, it was that they were not allowing themselves to feel what they were smelling. It was all superficial like a game. And in many ways this is how we approach smell. We have been bombarded, almost whacked over the head with it. From room sprays, household products, personal care products. Everything has a smell. The same thing has happened with food. We eat drive through food, that at some level all tastes the same. We do not invest in it. We just eat it and go on our way. We spray, shampoo, do the laundry and go  on our way. We are investing nothing. And when we invest nothing, nothing is what we get in return.
How do we change this, how do we connect to our senses in order to have a more brilliant life experience. I am thinking that for my part in this I am going to begin offering Olfactory workshops. Not perfumery, no way perfumery. But rather create an environment, like my installations where people can get up close and personal with smells.
The most important aspect of my work is my personal relationship to the smells that I encounter. My ability to allow them to move me and teach me. I feel there is great value in this, so am going to work out a way to make it a reality for others. LZ