The smell of a freshly mowed lawn on a summer evening is a whole memory waiting to happen. Breathe it in.

Smell attaches to memory more firmly than almost anything else, which means some of what you are breathing in now is being stored whether you cooperate or not. Years later it will come back without warning and arrive whole, with the evening and the light and whoever was there. You do not get to choose which ones stick. You can at least be present for the storing.

Next time you catch a smell that belongs to this part of your life, stop and take it in properly for a few seconds. Cut grass, chlorine, rain on hot pavement. You are building something you will be glad of later.