Someone here

Why do we feel nostalgia?

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Why do we often lean towards the past and think that the good old days were better than the present moment? 

Edited by Someone here

"life is not a problem to be solved ..its a mystery to be lived "

-Osho

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It is easier to remember times when you were happy then to be creating your own happiness right now. 


The how is what you build, the why is in your heart. 

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Because often they are lol. It's also the inability to be grateful for the things that are good in our life now. We are attached to things that are not going to happen ever again. We can't accept change and the loss of anything (friends, relationships, youth etc.) 

We want the world to become and remain as we want it but at some point everything will die and that is inevitable. Changes and loss in whatever form are scary and threatening for the ego because we avoid thinking our own impermanence as organisms or personalities. 

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Because 20 years of past present moments is more than just 1 present moment.


Foolish until proven other-wise ;)

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5 hours ago, Someone here said:

Why do we often lean towards the past and think that the good old days were better than the present moment? 

Because suffering only exists in the present moment.

When you recall a past event, the suffering and disatisfaction are mostly stripped out. So all you're left with is joy.

This assumes it's not a traumatic event.


You are God. You are Truth. You are Love. You are Infinity.

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I've always mostly felt like I've had a very full, blessed life and have lots of great memories but also wouldn't want to actually go back and relive ANY of it. Nostalgia is always a longing for the past in the future or an appreciation of what's present. Mind mixes up images, places, people, circumstances with happiness and believe happiness is a state that can be caused by them. Happiness is actually uncaused, so a memory could seem to cause it in the same way an enjoying ice cream cone in the present might seem to cause it. Both are false causes. 

Edited by mandyjw

My Youtube Channel- Light on Earth “We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the Secret sits in the middle and knows.”― Robert Frost

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Nostalgia moved towards reverence as the emotion is directed towards the present. We can, in a very real sense, feel nostalgic in the present moment without craving or clinging.

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@Consilience

That will literally be like feeling like a child and looking at reality as magical and having your senses more powerful

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The frequency of nostalgia can also have a useful and deeper significance on the spiritual path. As in nostalgia for and a remembering of your true home. Like God whispering to all it's parts, there's rest here.

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In addition to Leo,

When you go back to the memory, there are no thoughts and all the constructed beliefs about reality.

When you see a scene from a movie.. there is no background thoughts that construct reality, which give it some oneness feel. and it points to Truth.. and that of course feel good.

That's what I came to understand from my direct experience, although I never became conscious of Truth..

Leo if u can make it clearer than me.. thanks

 

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12 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Because suffering only exists in the present moment.

When you recall a past event, the suffering and disatisfaction are mostly stripped out. So all you're left with is joy.

This assumes it's not a traumatic event.

Interesting. There's something to that. 

15 hours ago, Gesundheit2 said:

Because 20 years of past present moments is more than just 1 present moment.

?


"life is not a problem to be solved ..its a mystery to be lived "

-Osho

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“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come.”  - Jelaluddin Rumi

Once upon a time all was grey and all was possible, all was magical & fresh, just there & waiting to be explored. Nostalgia is a going home, the arising of home within you. Allow it, welcoming the friend that it is, receive it, encourage it, cherish it, revel in it’s realness. Put on that album that moved you. Walk down the streets you grew up on. Bless the one who broke your heart open. Breathe to breathe. Sing to sing. Ride a bike to ride a bike. Flag down that ice cream truck. Play in that sprinkler. Open your eye for the first time. Smell these flowers for the first time. 

 

“Sing like no one is listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like no one is watching and live like it is heaven on earth.”
― Mark Twain


MEDITATIONS TOOLS  ActualityOfBeing.com  GUIDANCE SESSIONS

NONDUALITY LOA  My Youtube Channel  THE TRUE NATURE

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Our memories are very flawed and stripped from a lot of detail. With that mostly everything that was unpleasant as well.

Also thinking about the past is a distraction from the present moment. Which some people may welcome.

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