Nostalagia

I suppose that it is the feeling of loss of loved ones, and loss of childhood, that makes me seek religion. Unlike some people I don't accept what preachers usually preach and I don't expect to find any 'proof'. I hope, and I seek reality.

MargaretX I agree we can not change the past but by thinking of it hopefully it makes us more aware of the good and the bad things in life, the wrong and the right. It may make us not so guilliable, niave, stupid or selfish, it may help us avoid making mistakes in the future. Most of us can not just most forward and forget our past life no matter how much we want too.I agree that no one knows if there is an afterlife, but it would be lovely to think that our loved ones are waiting for us

Me too - and I hope they aren't too upset by what they see .
They've probably seen a lot worse.

I am with DanniRae.

Post proof there is no afterlife.

And is it not possible to post your opinions without mocking the faith of some posters.

Science does not have all the answers

Afterlife? Dream on. You are entitled to imagine what you like but at the same time you cannot ignore science and even your own death. Our brains are amazing organs yet they die with us. There is no magic bullet here; no mysticism; no out of life experience. Then just where is this 'up there'? Over centuries we have been subjected to so much nonsense all in an effort to control us and to get us do the bidding of others who have acquired control. Religion, all of it, is man made, and when you examine just how people have been abused in the name of religion by those who have control it amazes me that there are still so many people who accept that control.

I am amazed that some declare there is no afterlife, no proof which supports this.

How do you know MargaretX that the people who we love aren't up there looking down on us? I feel very strongly that no one knows what happens to us when we die. When we do die it all becomes obvious and, as I have said, NO ONE knows until then.
So if people wish to think that their dearly departed parents are 'up there' that is fine by me - for all we know they could be right.

I understood it as being a longing for something in the past-perhaps to times when parents were alive and you were not the oldest member of a family.
I'm amazed to read that some on GN feel their parents are 'up there' looking down.

I sometimes feel my mother could have had a better life than she did, but accept that she is really no longer there and don't indulge in nostaligic feelings about her.
Life is for living. What is past is past and we can only move forward.

Of course I love to look at photos, but understand that nostalgia is a feeling that those times were better, and in my life they were not.

Nostalgia is a perfectly normal feeling. I believe everyone can reflect on their life and remember something good that they miss today.

I usually enjoy looking back at happy times but last night I dreamed about my mother -she was coming to see me perform in a concert and I was so pleased to see her. When I woke up I was quite sad. But she died a long time ago when my children were little and in the dream they were all grown up and coming to the concert too which really doesn't make sense! If she were still alive she'd be over 100 now but in the dream she was about my age and I was younger!!

Anniebach thank you for that link. It seems to me to be similar to the Portuguese word ‘Saudade’ which describes a similar longing or yearning which is very familiar to me.

bystander.homestead.com/Portuguese_saudade.html

kathyd I understand that feeling.
I’ve spent (wasted perhaps) many years of my life looking back and longing for my early years to have been different. I’m in a better place these days and try to look forward not back.

So much so that having nurtured a notion to live in a different town for a long time I finally decided to make it happen. Within the last month I’ve reserved a plot on a new build in the town, and put my house on the market. I’ve had a couple of offers so it will go to a closing date next week.

Onwards and upwards.

Best wishes to you Anniebach. Your life is full of experience.

Happy memories for me but very happy with my life now

For me looking back is upsetting, I think of school days and childhood then get a flash back to my school and the street I grew up in destroyed by a disaster. My first romance was murdered in S.A. Marriage was bliss but two babies died and husband died. My darling daughters growing up , elder one now dead. Seems happy times ended with grief.

Reading these posts. Is it good for health to understand exactly which loss one is grieving for?

And is it good for health to believe that grief may feel horrible but that grief is nevertheless good? I think so, as how could we be fully conscious if we could not grieve.

Kathyd, is it perhaps your childhood that you are grieving for?

Christina Rossetti wrote " It is better to forget and be happy than remember and be sad." Ever since my father died when I was 17 I have followed this advice and found it helpful.

Ahhh nostalgia, I remember that!

Just reading these posts is bringing tears to my eyes, nostalgia is sadness, to reminisce is to be happy.

DD and SiL bought a house on the street where my mother and I were both born and grew up. My mother had many siblings, who all lived nearby, so growing up there meant so many family get togethers, big and small. Happy days. I can't walk down the street without yearning for those days. It sometimes brings tears to my eyes. It is nostalgia - and it's bittersweet!

I agree with many posters but especially pinny4 saying nostalgia is actually a very painful thing. I think how much it hurts depends very much on the losses one experiences in life. When I was younger I loved talking about the old days - golden days of childhood and teenage years, the newly married years and being blessed with a wonderful daughter, the fab music and clothes and such a zest for life but now having lost so many loved ones I find it impossible sometimes to listen to something beautiful without that piercing sense of loss assailing me. And though my life is good and I have many many things to be thankful for nostalgia, for me, is very bittersweet .

Me too Teetime!

I was a young child during the war and it must have been a very tense and frightening time for everyone.
A couple of years ago we went to Bletchley Park. In the first room you're suddenly hit with sounds and visuals of wartime - I burst into floods of tears. And I don't normally cry much.

Remember:: nostalgia ain't what it used to be.....