We aren't trying to convince ourselves that everything is good or replace difficult experiences with positive thinking. We are widening the field of awareness and allowing the brain to receive more complete information about the present. With repetition, new experiences can contribute to new neural learning and may begin to change some of the patterns through which we interpret ourselves and the world around us.

When you inhale the aroma of an herb, flower, essential oil, meal, forest air, or familiar place, tiny scent molecules travel into the nose and meet the olfactory nerve. This nerve carries scent information directly to the olfactory bulb, a small structure at the front of the brain that helps interpret smell.

We all hold within our brains a physical, real neural pathways, often referred to as the worry circuit, which plays a central role in how anxiety takes hold. There are three main areas involved in this circuit, although several other structures also contribute to how anxiety is experienced in the body.