I believe everyone has ever, at least once, been attracted on the street to sweet smell of new bread wafting through the air.
This smell of bread does not only stimulate people’s appetite but also make people kinder. The researchers at the University of Southern Brittany in France recruited eight volunteers and let them drop one of their belongings outside a bakery and a clothing boutique. As a result of about 400 times of experiments, they found out that when the volunteers dropped items outside the bakery, 77 percent of strangers stopped to help recover the lost item, but only 52 percent of strangers helped outside the clothing store. A similar experiment had taken place before, and it showed that pleasant smell like citrus or coffee also exerted a favorable influence on people.
An Indian teacher, Chanakya, once said, “The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.” Although it’s not a physical fragrance transmitted through the sense of smell, the goodness of a person that has a positive impact on people around you is like a pleasant scent. Perhaps it’ll touch people more deeply than a physical fragrance that stays for a moment.