26 Features
The curious case of
We’ve all done it at some point. Deeply reflected on a favourite
past time and wished that we could relive it.
My favourite memories are of watching Disney
movies at my grandmother’s house while she cooked
me German dishes for dinner, while the memory of
playing retro video games with my cousins on the
weekends fills me with joy. This phenomenon isn’t
singular to my experience; we all feel comparable
emotions when recollecting on favourable
past events. It seems, though, we tend to
gravitate towards the brightest and most
memorable moments of our life.
The fact that I cannot return to these past
events makes me feel a powerful sensation
of bittersweet longing, known as “nostalgia”.
Often confused with “reminiscing”, the key
difference is that nostalgia is a strong yearning
feeling, while reminiscing is merely the recollection
of the past. Confusing I know, but if you think about
it, it makes sense. For example, when I recall the
events of going to school when I was younger, I
remember some major events, but have no yearning
to relive those events. But when I think about the
times all the times my dad took me on bike rides
when I was 5, I yearn to relive these events.
The curious thing about remembering past times is
the fact that you do not recall the actual event, but
the memory of what your brain has chosen to distort
into a recollection. To help clarify, Alan R. Hirsh
stated in his report “Nostalgia: A Neuropsychiatric
Understand” that nostalgia can be summed up as
“a longing for a sanitized impression of the past,
what in psychoanalysis is referred to as a screen
memory — not a true recreation of the past, but
rather a combination of many different memories, all
integrated together, and in the process all negative
emotions filtered out.”
In other words, nostalgia isn’t about the particular
memory that one thinks of, but rather the emotional
state within a particular moment in time. Take a
moment to think about that. That small, fleeting
emotional state then causes us to think “That
time when I was watching Disney movies
when I was little at my Grandma’s house, I
remember being so happy”, therefore it is
better than this moment in time. Although
to me, this memory recollection seems very
vivid, it is more realistic that my memory is
a compilation of memories all integrated into one
emotion. I couldn’t tell you exactly what movie I
was watching, or when this exactly happened, I just
know that I was happy. Overall, all past distorted
memories become displaced into sounds, smells,
inanimate objects and tastes that accompany an
emotion. This is why you may smell something and
be transported back to some memory in your past
and feel an intense emotion associated with that
memory.
Although you may think experiencing the
bittersweet feeling associated with nostalgia may be
bad for you, ever increasing research has highlighted
that feeling nostalgic has psychological and
physiological benefits. Nostalgia can help us cope
with our future by helping us feel more hopeful, and
finally, it can help boost our spirit. It is noteworthy
to remember that although looking back at our past
can be a pleasing process, the past is as obscure of
a fantasy as the future. Only one do we have total
control over, and that is our future.
WORDS: CHELSEA GRUSS
IMAGES: SHUTTERSTOCK