I don't really know how to concisely describe what a "mindset" is for me. If I were to try, I'd say it's not any explicit thought(s); rather, a sort of an overarching tone that frames my moods.
Both my music library and older fragrances I wore are a trip back in time for me, and I know I'm not alone in that one. Some music albums throw me into some older mindset depending on where I was in life when I was introduced to them; the same, if not more so with different smells people wear nowadays.
What smells and sounds take you back? And where do they take you?
Are there any you still cling to or visit often? Perhaps you listen to or wear a fragrance now as a remembrance?
Whenever I smell incense, it reminds me of my friend's house from when I was a kid back in Abu Dhabi.
My next door neighbour was Palestinian, and I would spent far more time in his house than I would in my own. It got to the point where I was pretty much an extended family member; and his mother (a typical mother hen figure) used to cluck about me as much as her own two sons... And scold me in the exact same way she'd scold her sons as well.
My sister (Jen) used to hang out with us quite a bit, actually, and I remember their mom saying "Oh my God, Jen, I'm so glad you're friends with Rashed and Kareem! You don't know how bad it is to only have sons! They fight, they're smelly, they're loud, Ya Allah!"
But anyway, they always had an incense stick burning in their house. So whenever someone burns incense I'm reminded of that time.