Memory Triggered by the Senses

Proust’s Enduring Lesson

For Marcel Proust, it was the madeleine dipped in lime-blossom tea. For me, today, it was the smell of cedar wood and old wool in a trunk I hadn’t opened in years. The senses are the “short circuit” to memory. They bypass the logical mind and take us directly into the heart of a moment.

We often try to access memory through the intellect—trying to remember names, dates, or the order of events. But the body remembers differently. It remembers the specific coldness of a rainy afternoon or the smell of oranges on someone’s fingers.

In your writing, use these sensory triggers to ground the reader in time. A smell is a time machine. A flavor is a biography. Today, try to write a memory triggered entirely by a food or a scent. Don’t worry about the plot; just follow the sensation and see where it leads you.

The Monroe Minute Write a memory triggered by food or scent. Focus on the sensation first.

Until the next page,
Sloane S. Monroe

Sloane Shay Monroe

I don’t write to idealize love, but to explore it honestly, with emotional precision and depth.