Compassionate Living Psychology

Nostalgia means recollecting memories of the past with longings in a rose-tinted manner. The good old times, as the saying goes. Old songs and old movies hold a special place in a lot of people’s heart, and probably all of us have the experience of spending hours looking at childhood collections and photo albums when you should be tidying up your room.

Psychology researchers found that asking people to think about good old memories can elicit positive emotions like warmth and connectedness. It is also argued that nostalgia helps to strengthen a sense of self that is continuous form the past to the presence. The focus on continuity may be particularly useful in times of life transitions. For instances:

1. Compared to a focus on the lost bond, thinking about the past with a focus on the positive memories of what happened in the past with the deceased was found to be related to better adjustment among bereaved individual.
2. It is also true for refugees’ adjustment. A study revealed that although nostalgic recollection of positive memories in home town could be a bittersweet experience, it was still related to higher meaning in life and social connectedness overall.
3. This is even true for young adults like university students. When asked to focus on the limited time left in their university life, students exhibited increased state nostalgia and a greater focus of the positive relationship one enjoys in university.
4. Older people high on nostalgia measurements were found to have a higher sense of mastery and a greater focus on positive relationships in life. It was suggested that people seek comfort from the past in face of the sense of having limited time left.

In other words, temporarily escaping to these rosy memories of the past can play a role in the presence by offering us a buffer against current stress and tension. There are ups and downs in life but we can remind ourselves that we are still the same person who had enjoyed positive happening and meaningful connections in the past and this part of us shall always be with us, regardless of the challenges we may face. As I read about these research findings, I mentally made a compassionate commitment that next time when someone repeat the same old story to me, I shall try to take it as a booster for their well-being and be a patient listener, even though it might be the tenth time that I have heard about it.

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