The good old days

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As time moves away from the date of our birth, we invariably become different. We believe, and want to think, that we're not, and that everything changes except us.

That's not true at all.

I realize from day to day that I find myself thinking about how “things” were when I was younger... And often, a feeling of nostalgia ends up taking over my spirit. But are the memories we have of the situations and experiences we went through aligned with what really happened?

The other day I heard an interesting explanation for this “phenomenon” of making things “more golden and brighter” than they were. The explanation is very simple... We never like to think that we've made bad choices and we always try to see the better side of what we've already done and can't change. That's why we tend to look back on old times as good times. Times when life was easier, when the games we played with our friends were truer and more fun. That we had better musical tastes than the current generation. That we were able to experience more of life than current generations do.

In short, that everything was good in the good old days!

Of course, there are certainly some things that our generations, or that each generation has better than the previous and following ones. That's a truth we can't intelligently disagree with.

But does that mean that one generation is better than another, or does it just make us humans who associate a certain era with experiences that have marked us, and for that reason we have such a romanticized view of everything?

Memories are in fact the things we have that make us who we are today, what we think, what we decide, and even how we act towards situations and people. However, there are no memories that are only advantageous or less so for us. Even the memories we have, which can be traumatic, always end up contributing to our survival.

A decision that we once made, and which was immediately met with a response or outcome that was not to our advantage, is imprinted on our amygdala.

As much as we would like to, if we go through something similar, the memory and recollection of the previous outcome will plague us.

That said, it's important to look at the new generations with some degree of acceptance of the differences that will always exist. We too were once children and young people. We too once had these ideas, in one way or another, about our parents' and grandparents' generation.

I hope you enjoyed my little reflection for today.

Bem Hajam!🍀

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