my Metaphor

I'm using a tree to represent the relationship.

why?

o

oBuilding a strong relationship is like planting a tree.

o

oA tree needs sun light, oxygen/carbon dioxide and fertilizer to grow strong. Which is like a relationship, we need communication, understanding and care to make it strong. 

first app on earth

I feel that having good communicating with parent is important, because parent tend to get worried over their child and may have miscommunications with each other. So by motivating communication, helps them to understand each other which build up a strong relationship between them. When the relationship is stronger, more trust and freedom will be given to the child.

idea of my part b

since there are already Aromatherapy treatment for patients and alot source prove that smell do bring back memories, why not i create a aromatherapy base on smell that is important and memorable of the coma patients ? This may even stimulate the patient more and help then to stay strong and recover faster.

How Smell Works

A smell can bring on a flood of memories, influence people's moods and even affect their work performance. Because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain'slimbic system, an area so closely associated with memory and feeling it's sometimes called the "emotional brain," smell can call up memories and powerful responses almost instantaneously.

The olfactory bulb has intimate access to the amygdala, which processes emotion, and thehippocampus, which is responsible for associative learning. Despite the tight wiring, however, smells would not trigger memories if it weren't for conditioned responses. When you first smell a new scent, you link it to an event, a person, a thing or even a moment. Your brain forges a link between the smell and a memory -- associating the smell of chlorine with summers at the pool or lilies with a funeral. When you encounter the smell again, the link is already there, ready to elicit a memory or a mood. Chlorine might call up a specific pool-related memory or simply make you feel content. Lilies might agitate you without your knowing why. This is part of the reason why not everyone likes the same smells.

Because we encounter most new odors in our youth, smells often call up childhood memories. But we actually begin making associations between smell and emotion before we're even born. Infants who were exposed to alcohol, cigarette smoke or garlic in the womb show a preference for the smells. To them, the smells that might upset other babies seem normal or even comforting.

Aromatherapy

In recent years, alternative medicine has become increasingly popular as individuals search for an all-natural and more holistic approach to the way personal health care is managed. A study by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine indicates that between 50 and 60 percent of the population is using alternative medicine as a means to address health-related concerns. This includes everything from the integration of essential oils into daily life to incorporating yoga, tai chi, massage therapy, and meditation into standard living practices.

According to Dr. David Hill of Young Living Essential Oils, “People are finding that these alternative methods are working and it’s driving interest.” This trend is raising concern among Western medicine practitioners, who have seen a reduction in patient visits. In an effort to understand the movement, leading medical practitioners and researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other leading medical facilities have partnered with Young Living Essential Oils to study the use of therapeutic-grade essential oils through ingestion, topical application, and in aromatherapy. Learn more about using Young Living’s oils… read some of the scientific articles…

Michelle Perkins of Opelousas General Health System (OGHS) recalls one patient who directly benefited from the use of massage therapy in daily treatment. Sixteen-year-old Brittany Soileau of Port Barre, Louisiana, was celebrating a friend’s birthday when a truck struck Brittany and dragged her forty feet before hitting a parked car and coming to a stop. Her injuries included a broken pelvis and hip, broken left ankle, lacerated kidney, bruised bladder and lung, four broken ribs, and a broken nose. All the bones in her face were fractured as well.

In addition to the extensive traditional medical attention Brittany received, Mark Moses of the hospital’s Complementary Healthcare Awareness Team integrated daily massage with Young Living’s essential oils. After being in a coma for twelve days, Brittany woke up and remembered having her hands massaged while she was in the coma.

Jackie Harbour, Director of Intensive Care Services at OGHS, says, “With all of our high technology and capabilities and our intervention to save her life, she remembered the massage therapy we used as part of her care. Brittany was suffering from tachycardia (elevated heart rate) and we recognized that she would be a good candidate for this therapy and I called Mark.” The daily massage therapy appeared to calm her and significantly lower her heart rate.

Stories such as these are not uncommon where alternative medicine is concerned. “People are not only using these modalities, but these modalities are working,” says Dr. Hill. Young Living Essential Oils has made it a priority to educate the public about the benefits of nature’s living energy—essential oils—and inspiring individuals to live lives of greater wellness, purpose, and abundance.

Numerous massage therapists incorporate Young Living’s oils into their practice to help patients with various conditions including general discomfort, feelings of anxiousness, aggravated muscles, and weakened immune systems. Those who have not found total success with Western medicine often turn to therapeutic grade essential oils to help relieve symptoms that are not addressed satisfactorily by traditional means.

Young Living has fostered the idea that the earth has provided a good life for all mankind and that the answers to our medical needs can be found in the natural world that surrounds us. Because of this, Young Living celebrates the essence of essential oils in integrated medical treatment as well as in day-to-day living.

Why scent often triggers memories and nostalgia

How many times have you caught a faint whiff of a scent that immediately reminded you of the ‘good old days’ or long forgotten events in your life? Have you ever noticed how certain smells or fragrances fill you with nostalgia and revive feelings you had sometime in the past?

When it comes to bringing back old memories, scent is the most powerful of all the senses. The intricate aspect of human brain structure explains why scent is so intimately related to memory and why, despite not playing a major role in our daily lives, it can often trigger a strong déjà vu like sensation whenever we are confronted with specific scents

Because of the very close location of the olfactory bulb to the limbic system, associated with memories and emotions, scent can instantly trigger distant memories and a sudden feeling of nostalgia.
Though the way in which the brain is hardwired makes the close relationship between scent and memory physically possible, the connection materializes at a higher, more abstract level, through conditioned response. New scents are learned through association to the situation in which they were first experienced and are therefore, automatically linked to those memories. This complex process accounts for people’s different reactions to scent and the human ability to recall past events when exposed to particular smells.
So for example, a particular fragrance can be associated with a certain person or period in one’s life. Similarly, other scents can become associated with feelings of happiness or sadness and being exposed to them again will awaken the emotions that were experienced in the past. This can also cause people to avoid and dislike certain scents, or quite the opposite, to seek them out and enjoy sensing them on a daily basis.

Because each person experiences different things in life, the association between scents and emotions/memories is unique to every individual; however, there are smells that have been identified as triggers of childhood memories in most people. The smell of bakery fresh out the oven or the elusive odor of nature reminds many of their carefree childhood, towards which they look retrospectively with feelings of nostalgia and joy. However, their perception of the past is often idealized and in fact, many negative details are left out of their recollections.
Similarly, in many subtle ways that sometimes go unnoticed, scent continues to be relevant to our daily lives, even in nowadays’ visually driven society. Our sense of scent can subconsciously influence our choices through its association with memories and emotions and, though its importance is frequently overseen, it has contributed to shaping our perceptions of the world and our psychological makeup.

Making Scents of the Holidays

Our experience of the holidays just wouldn't be the same without our noses-in fact it would be sadly bland, and I'm not just talking about food. The scents that emanate from certain dishes, certain plants, certain candles and a host of other specific holiday items are intimately tied to our emotions and our past.Imagine yourself in the following scene: You walk into the warmly lit parlor and before you turn the corner to see the ever-familiar parental living room, you inhale and wafts of fire-place smoke, pine needles, sugary cinnamon, and roasted turkey all mingle together in your nose. You feel heady and happy, like a child again, and with a blend of elation and nostalgia turn the corner to see the holiday scene unfold as you knew it would. But what if all you could do is see this scene without the feelings that the aromas brought with it? Your holiday homecomings would probably be strangely empty.
Why are scents so deeply connected to our emotions and nostalgia? The answer lies in the unique connection between the sense of smell, our brain and our biology. The chemical profile of an odor is first detected by neurons in your nose. The signals then travel to the brain where they are decoded by two blueberry sized structures-- the olfactory bulbs. From the olfactory bulbs, an odor's signature is sent to other parts of the brain. First and foremost to the limbic system, where associative-learning and our basic drives comes from and most importantly where our ability to experience emotion originates-- a structure in the limbic system called the amygdala. When the amygdala is activated we experience emotion, and when the amygdala has been damaged our ability to process and remember emotional information is lost. In my recent experiments on scent-evokedmemory using neuroimaging techniques, I found that when participants recalled a significant personal memory to the smell of a special perfume, the amygdala was much more activated than when they recalled the same memory to the sight of the perfume bottle. None of our other senses have this direct and intimate connection with the areas of the brain that process emotion, associative learning and memory.
In addition to the distinctive neuroanatomical connection between our sense of smell and emotion, there is evolutionary evidence that the perception of smell was linked with emotional experience early on. The structures of the limbic system evolved from tissue that was originally dedicated to odor processing. In other words, the ability to experience and express emotion grew directly out of the brain's ability to process smell. I have often wondered whether we would have emotions if we did not have a sense of smell; I smell therefore I feel?
The feelings that holiday scents evoke have special meaning to us because of our personal associations with them. There is nothing inherently pleasing or nostalgic about the fragrance of pine needles, cinnamon, or sugar cookies. It all has to do with our past personal connections to them. Holiday scents are typically culturally determined but your personal ones may have nothing to do with North American traditions, and they could also be unique to you. If you come from somewhere where a wintry festival of lights doesn't exist then the scents of your holiday could be hibiscus blossoms or curry powder. Moreover, holiday scents don't necessarily make you feel joyous. If you are someone with unhappy memories of Christmas past then the scents connected to this day are going to make you feel bad, not good.
Scents have a singularly potent ability to instantly transport our hearts and mind to times gone by, but only if you have a history with that scent, and a scent can only transport you to your personal past, not a Hallmark ideal. Hopefully there are some aromas connected to your holidays that bring a special smile to your face, and if you can't wait until Christmas, Chanukah or Kwanzaa to experience them, go and get that special scent treat now for your own personal rush down memory lane.
Rachel Herz is the author of The Scent of Desire and on the faculty at Brown University.