Reminiscence, Nostalgia, Sentimentality, Living Vicariously

Reminiscence

• Definition: The act of recalling or telling stories about past events and personal experiences.

Nostalgia

• Definition: A bittersweet and sentimental longing or wistful affection for a specific period, place, or person in the past.

Sentimentality

• Definition: An excessive, shallow, or tender emotional response triggered by thoughts or reminders of the past.

Do you ever find yourself living through the lives of other people instead of making a reality for yourself?
If so, you're living vicariously.

While some people experience nostalgia and others experience vicariousness, there are also people who experiences vicarious nostalgia.

Vicarious Nostalgia is a psychological phenomenon where an individual feels a sentimental longing or deep emotional attachment to a time period, event, or cultural era they never actually lived through.

If you can relate to these and have personal stories you want to share about having these experiences, please join us for the discussion!

Questions to ponder:

• Have you reenacted a scene from a movie or TV show, especially at the filming location just to feel what its like to be that character?
• Do you often reminisce about a certain point in your life?
• What are some parts of your life that wish to relive over and over and why?
• What aspects of a certain point in your life do you remember the clearest?
• Why do we reminisce?
• What are your favorite memories?
• Do you believe in "the good old times?"
• Do you go to places where something happened in the past just to be in the moment to relive it?
• What feels good about being nostalgic?
• Is nostalgia a way for humans to combat the harshness of the present?
• What era in Earth's history do you wish to be living in and why?
• Have you ever felt like you relived a moment from other people's experience that never happened to you?
• Do you live vicariously because you wish to be that person or is because you're too afraid to take the lap of faith to make it your reality?
• Is living vicariously through your children as a parent a form of selfishness?
• Can you live vicariously in a healthy way?
• Does living vicariously mean you hate your own life or can it also be because you're genuinely happy for someone else?
• What are some indicators that you're living vicariously?
• Is living vicariously a mental health benefit or is it destructive?
• Are you a procrastinator?
• What's so good about another person's life that attracts you this much?
• Do you have FOMO? (Fear of Missing Out?)
• Do you wish that you can experience everyone's life instead of just living your own?
• What causes inaction?
• Are you a sentimental person?
• What are you usually sentimental about?
• What senses during a certain events gets triggered for you to be sentimental?
• Why is it so hard to be in the moment?
• How do technologies like the video camera & social media amplify our yearning for nostalgia, reminiscence, and sentimentality?
• How do cultures affect nostalgia, reminiscence, sentimentality, and vicariousness?

Guidelines:

• Hand raises are required. There are no limits on how many times you can raise your hand.
• There will be a 2-3 minute timer for every person depending the size of attendees. However, in this group, I do allow a brief back and fourth interjection from others if it's something that's related to the person who was just speaking. This is a way to prevent the group from feeling too "robotic" in style and get your pressing question asked to the speaker and get the answer right away without waiting all the way back to your turn again.
• Be authentic & civil!
• Please refrain from using Ad Hominem (personal) attacks. This includes in voice, in meeting chat, and in the comments section below. Instead, please attack the points from others. Severe Ad Hominem such as racist behavior will result in being removed from the meeting.
• Zoom link is posted well before the day of the meeting but you will not be able to join until 10 minutes before the meeting start time.