Connections Matter More Than Cells: How the Brain Works and Why Scent Is the Key

How does the brain work — and why is scent so powerful?

New research shows that what shapes us is not the number of brain cells, but how they connect. This dynamic network, known as the connectome, holds the key to memory, emotion, and perception.

And among all the senses, scent plays a unique role — activating the brain’s ancient structures and reshaping internal patterns through direct, nonverbal connection.

How the Brain Works: From Neural Connections to the Power of Scent

Imagine a forest.

Not just trees, but the hidden paths between them.

These paths allow movement, return, orientation.

The brain is much the same:

what matters is not the number of neurons,

but how they connect —

how pathways of meaning, memory, and emotion are formed.

🔗 The Connectome — A Living Map of the Brain

Our brain contains around 86 billion neurons.

But on their own, they’re just isolated trees.

The true power of the brain lies in the connections between them — synapses.

There may be up to a quadrillion of them.

The science of mapping these connections is called connectomics.

It’s not just brain anatomy — it’s a musical score:

who interacts with whom,

in what rhythm and frequency.

And the richer and more complex this network is,

the more potential we have for depth, insight, creativity.

It’s not the number of neurons that shapes us, but the pattern of how they communicate.

🌬️ The Brain as a Network, Not a Center

For decades, we believed in functional “centers”:

a speech center, a memory center, a fear center.

But today we know:

even a simple feeling lights up a network of areas.

Take the example of scent:

• The olfactory bulb recognizes the smell,

• The amygdala adds emotional tone,

• The hippocampus links it to memory,

• The insula evokes bodily awareness.

Every breath is an orchestration of networks —

constellations igniting within us.

🔬 What Research Reveals

Recent neuroscience shows:

• Connections are more important than quantity — richer networks allow for greater flexibility.

• Each connectome is unique — like a fingerprint.

• Trauma, stress, and emotion can weaken or strengthen these networks.

• Mental states like anxiety or depression often stem from disturbed connections between key regions — not isolated damage.

✨ Scent — A Key to the Invisible

Scent is a special kind of messenger.

It bypasses logic, language, and conscious filters.

Its route leads directly to the deep brain.

It enters — and connects.

That’s what makes it so powerful.

Scent can:

• retrieve forgotten memories,

• awaken long-dormant emotions,

• reanimate areas that have gone numb through pain or suppression.

In the 613 Desires project,

we treat scent as a living language — subtle, ancient, nonverbal.

It doesn’t just help us feel —

it helps us build new inner roads.

💡 What This Means for You

When you breathe in a scent —

especially with intention —

you engage your internal network.

Not through thought,

but through connection.

You can:

• re-pattern internal responses,

• gently soften trauma,

• create new “bridges” to emerging states within.

🛤️ Breathing as Pathmaking

You are not only your memories.

You are how your memories are linked.

And every breath with a scent

can become a step toward a new inner architecture —

without force,

without analysis,

without drama.

Meaning is born in the connections. And scent is one of the oldest architects of those pathways.

🌬️ Would you like to try?

Choose a scent that calls you.

Close your eyes. Inhale.

Don’t focus on the smell — focus on the movement within.

And that is already a new beginning.

📚 References

• Sporns, O., Tononi, G., & Kötter, R. (2005). The Human Connectome: A Structural Description of the Human Brain Network.

• Van Essen, D. C., et al. (2013). The WU-Minn Human Connectome Project: An Overview.

• Herculano-Houzel, S. (2009). The Human Brain in Numbers: A Linearly Scaled-up Primate Brain.

• Finn, E. S., et al. (2015). Functional Connectome Fingerprinting: Identifying Individuals Using Patterns of Brain Connectivity.

• Menon, V. (2011). Large-Scale Brain Networks and Psychopathology: A Triple Network Model.

• Rizzolatti, G., & Craighero, L. (2004). The Mirror-Neuron System.

• Herz, R. S., & Engen, T. (1996). Odor Memory: Review and Analysis.

• Soudry, Y., et al. (2011). The Olfactory System and Emotion: Common Substrates.