Looking, and Feeling Good

When we fixed up our current apartment I realized that that much of the 'should' when it came to aesthetic decisions was about bringing back elements from my childhood home. I thought about this again recently when I read the New York Times article about nostalgia and the new study which contradicts a past belief that nostalgia was "a neurological disease of essentially demonic cause". This just in! People who engage in nostalgia reap the benefits of the happy feelings that come with recalling the past. What makes us like to look at something? Feeling good when we look at the thing. What makes us feel good? Nostalgia. Of course, this isn't the the full story when it comes to creating beautiful spaces (or psychology) - but it's much of the story when it comes to making personally meaningful spaces. And, it brought clarification to the happy feeling that I get when I look at my bathroom tiles that match the ones from my childhood home.