Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: April 30, 2023

Issue 53

Hello Weekly Muse Readers!

Would you describe yourself as being a nostalgic person? Do you think most writers and artists view nostalgia as a possible source for inspiration? And, what exactly is nostalgia? According to Merriam-Webster, nostalgia is defined as a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. This description isn’t exactly positive.

Current neuroscience research is taking a second look at nostalgia and coming up with some surprising results. You may experience a wave of nostalgia each spring when you are outdoors, and you catch a whiff of blooming daffodils—you are immediately a child again, playing in your backyard and all is happy and right with the world, not a problem in sight. Neuroscience has found that the experience of nostalgia is a complex cognitive phenomenon involving many parts of our brains, including some that regulate our self-reflection, autobiographical memory, emotional regulation, and rewar…