Discernment: Knowing What Belongs and What Doesn't

More is not always better.

That can be surprisingly difficult to remember in wellness, aromatherapy, skincare, and even education. We are surrounded by recommendations to add another ingredient, try another oil, follow another routine, or look for one more solution. With so much information available, it is easy to assume that better results must come from doing more.

Discernment asks a different question: what actually belongs here?

In aromatherapy, that may mean choosing a simpler blend because every oil should have a clear reason for being included. It may mean deciding that an essential oil is not necessary at all, even when one could technically be used. A thoughtful recommendation considers the purpose, the person, the method of application, the concentration, and the wider context rather than adding ingredients simply because they have useful properties

The same principle applies in skincare. An ingredient may be popular, well researched, or appealing on a label, yet still be unnecessary in a particular formulation. Good formulation depends on understanding what each ingredient contributes, how it interacts with the rest of the product, and how the finished formula will perform. A product does not become more sophisticated simply because its ingredient list becomes longer

Animal Aromatherapy offers another important example. Working responsibly with animals requires attention to their behaviour and response rather than assuming that a chosen aromatic material should continue to be used. An animal may show interest, move away, lose interest, or respond differently than expected. Those responses are part of the information guiding the next decision. Sometimes the best choice is to continue. In other situations, it is to change the approach or even to stop.

The same attentiveness applies when we work with people.

An aromatherapy intervention rarely arrives in a neutral nervous system. It arrives in someone with a particular history, particular associations, and a particular level of activation in that moment.

In practice, each of these matters because it can influence how a person responds. Research has found that aroma-evoked memories tend to carry strong emotion (Herz, 2004), and that a person's expectations can shape their response to an aroma more than the aroma itself (Howard & Hughes, 2008). Discernment includes noticing whether someone is settling, becoming more activated, or showing little change, and adjusting to move toward the intended goal. 

Discernment is not about becoming hesitant or suspicious of every recommendation. It’s about developing enough understanding to recognize when something is appropriate, when it needs closer examination, and when it may not be needed at all.

This matters because many decisions in aromatic and botanical practice cannot be reduced to a universal rule. The same essential oil, ingredient, or technique can make sense in one context and be less suitable in another. What changes is not necessarily the material itself, but the individual, the purpose, the formulation, the concentration, or the way it will be used.

As knowledge grows, this kind of judgment becomes increasingly important. Learning gives us more possibilities, but experience teaches us that having more options does not mean using all of them. The goal is to understand those options well enough to make choices that are purposeful rather than automatic.

At Essence of Thyme, our October theme is Discernment. 

Throughout the month, we will explore how this idea appears in Animal Aromatherapy, Skincare, foundational aromatherapy education, and professional certification. Each area has its own science, skills, and considerations, but they share an important principle: good practice is not simply about knowing what you can do. It is also about knowing what the situation actually calls for.

References:

Herz, R. S. (2004). A naturalistic analysis of autobiographical memories triggered by olfactory visual and auditory stimuli. Chemical Senses, 29(3), 217–224. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjh025

Howard, S., & Hughes, B. M. (2008). Expectancies, not aroma, explain impact of lavender aromatherapy on psychophysiological indices of relaxation in young healthy women. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13(4), 603–617. https://doi.org/10.1348/135910707X238734