The Incredible Power of Nostalgia
“Nostalgia is much more than mere reminiscing; it’s a feeling. “Nostalgia is the warm, fuzzy emotion that we feel when we think about fond memories from our past… It often feels bittersweet – mostly happy and comforting, but with a tinge of sadness that whatever we’re remembering is lost in some way.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/benefits-of-nostalgia.The text above comes from this wonderful article in The Huffington Post, by Jeanette Leardi. The article discusses the benefits of nostalgia, how nostalgia can help to connect people and give them a feeling of being loved when they are lonely, that’s if they use nostalgia in the right ways.
Sometimes it can be so easy to sit and get lost in old photographs, old diaries and old letters from when you were young. What this article questions is how beneficial is this process? Is it therapeutic to reminisce? Does it help you to relive what once was, through reminiscing?
Our books absolutely link to this idea of the benefits of nostalgia and reminiscing. and we have had heaps of positive feedback regarding the books and the effect they have on the reader. One reader said, ‘It was as though I was walking through my old town at the age of 8. I could almost remember my outfit on that day, the smells that came out of the bakery as I walked past. So many memories came flooding back by looking at one photograph.’