Christine Arony-Sine in her book The Gift of Wonder writes the following about memories and nostalgia. “In Brain Rules for Aging Well, molecular biologist John Medina documents the surprising research that shows how important reminiscing and nostalgia are for our bodies. “Nostalgia promotes something called self-continuity, linking who we are in the past with who we are now.” It increases our social connectedness and sense of fulfillment in our accomplishments as positive memories rise to the surface. When we immerse ourselves in memories of our younger selves, we become healthy, our aches and pains are reduced, our weight and posture improve, our dexterity increases. Even our eyesight improves. According to the researchers, “The key turns out to be multi-sensory immersion.” It makes me wonder what it does for our spiritual health too.”
I was wondering why I was feeling so great these past couple of months. No more aches and pains, I no longer need my reading glasses and though I haven’t been on a scale I must have lost some weight. We were not thinking of the relative benefits of these get togethers when we started this, but each time has been a gift.