Recently, I finally got to watch the ending of the philosophical comedy The Good Place. Without giving away any spoilers (the show is worth binge watching), the gist of the narrative is that we are able to enjoy our lives and derive meaning from them because we know that they will end.

Somehow, knowing (aka believing) that you’re going through a motion for one of the last times pulls you gently into the present while you’re doing it. Not that the motion takes on any greater meaning. But you’re here for it. And you’re calmer, too.

Maybe part of our appreciation of perfume is the acknowledgment that it’s very temporal. A spritz barely lasts a day.

But while it’s on, it can transform the day.