Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to take a little time to dwell
Speaker 1: in the past. This phrase often has a negative connotation,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't mean to Consciously recreating pleasant memories can
Speaker 1: make life in general feel rich and full. If you've
Speaker 1: gotten together with old friends recently, you know that it's
Speaker 1: fun to catch up on life and chat as if
Speaker 1: you have never been apart. But one of the major
Speaker 1: reasons such experiences are so pleasant is that we and
Speaker 1: our old friends share a lot of history. Together. We
Speaker 1: talk about that history and conjure up that history, so
Speaker 1: of the positive feelings of those initial experiences get reflected
Speaker 1: in the current moment. Life in general can always be
Speaker 1: a bit oh hum. Getting together with people from past
Speaker 1: peak experiences allows us to experience a little bit of
Speaker 1: that joy even on an average weekend. Dwelling in the
Speaker 1: past for a little bit lets us enjoy the present more.
Speaker 1: But getting together with friends or other folks like cousins
Speaker 1: isn't the only way to bring up good moments from
Speaker 1: the past. You can take other actions too. For instance,
Speaker 1: you probably have some old photo albums sitting on a
Speaker 1: shelf somewhere. They may be gathering dust. If you've got
Speaker 1: an open fifteen minutes or so, you can wipe off
Speaker 1: some of that dust. Choose a period of time that
Speaker 1: you still feel positively about. For instance, if your marriage
Speaker 1: is still in a good state, you could look at
Speaker 1: your honeymoon album, pull it out. Recall gazing into each
Speaker 1: other's eyes on the beach, or how you spend hours
Speaker 1: sitting at a little cafe, or whatever it is you did.
Speaker 1: Don't you feel better about life now? Don't you feel
Speaker 1: better about your spouse now? You are dwelling in the
Speaker 1: past and it is making you glow in the present.
Speaker 1: Songs can also immediately conjure up memories. Maybe you listen
Speaker 1: to a particular song over and over again on a
Speaker 1: trip you took as a young adult. You loved learning
Speaker 1: about the world, and that song feels like possibility. Why
Speaker 1: not listen to it right now? You'll find yourself smiling.
Speaker 1: Even sense can bring back memories. If you've got great
Speaker 1: memories of let's say, dinner at your grandmother's house, make
Speaker 1: her recipes. The smell of her pot roast will transport
Speaker 1: you to childhood and sitting round her table plant lilacs.
Speaker 1: If you remember how they grew in the garden near
Speaker 1: where you went to camp, and summer camp was the
Speaker 1: highlight of your year. You can consciously use these artifacts
Speaker 1: to bring back chosen memories. Now, of course, the keyword
Speaker 1: here is chosen. Probably most of us have negative memories
Speaker 1: from past times that we already spend too much time
Speaker 1: dwelling on regret shame. Who knows memory can be a
Speaker 1: tricky place, but you probably can't forget those memories. Instead,
Speaker 1: you can train your brain to consciously think about other ones.
Speaker 1: That's the reason. To identify times in your past that
Speaker 1: you know felt positive. Then you can think about exactly
Speaker 1: which people or pictures or songs or smells will bring
Speaker 1: these times to the forefront of your brain. You can
Speaker 1: write about memories in a journal to focus the experience.
Speaker 1: This can keep your mind from wandering and help bring
Speaker 1: back more details as you reflect. We sometimes speak disparagingly
Speaker 1: of people who dwell in the past, say the middle
Speaker 1: aged person who can't stop talking about his high school
Speaker 1: sports experience, or maybe an empty nester who can't seem
Speaker 1: to move on from those days of intense child raising.
Speaker 1: We do have to keep living our lives and making
Speaker 1: new memories now. But there is no reason that old
Speaker 1: and new memories can't weave to gather to make a
Speaker 1: lovely tapestry. You get together with your old high school
Speaker 1: sports team, but you also go camping with them and
Speaker 1: their children and build new experiences together. We can dwell
Speaker 1: in the past and the present and have a richer
Speaker 1: mental life in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the moose of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Do get
Speaker 1: idea