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Finding Happiness Through Memories
By Gita Khais | June 11, 2007
Thinking of good memories can make people more cheerful and happier than if they think of their current lives. According to the psychology, memory-is the ability to remember things,, places, experiences from the past. It is well known that people who write about a nostalgic event are more cheerful after exercise compared with people who write about an everyday experience.
For every one of us the first teachers were grandparents and parents. And I ask myself: what I remember about my first “teacher”, my grandmother?” I remember the place where I spent part of my childhood: it was a very beautiful place, just like Bellevue. I usually spent my summer time there. The early summer days in the village are the happiest and fairest days of the year. Lilacs bloom and make the air sweet, and then fade. Early summer days are a jubilee time for birds. In a small two-room house I spent summer time with my grandmother; she was a sixty year old lady who worked her entire life in the field and with cows. She was very energetic, but very calm at the same time. She could peel a bucket of potatoes in about 30 minutes! I was always wondering how she could work for long hours under the hot summer sun, weeding the vegetable beds.
Every morning she woke up very early at about four or five o’clock and fed the cow, cleaned after her, and then milked her. When the sun was really high and already warmed the earth, I came out of the house and followed the winding path in the grass which led me to the barn. The fresh cool morning wind and the sparkling drops of dew on the grass gently touched my body and bare feet. It made me feel refreshed and completely awake. In the warm barn with (the) smell of a cow and milk, I had my breakfast: a cup of milk and a piece of bread.
And then the day began. I just roamed in the high grass, danced on the load of wood that was behind the barn, and nobody could see me. It was interesting for me to pretend that I’m a gymnast and tried to imitate the gymnastic movements. Then I went to visit my little forest which included about six birches and one bush of wild, pink rose. It was a lot of fun to sit on the birch and just listen to the trembling of leaves, the singing of birds, and simple noise of the working village: a strange voice on the field, lowing of hungry cows, and different sounds of domestic birds.
After checking my little forest, I went to my friend. she was six years older than I. However, we found common things to talk about. We had fun in the neighborhood gardens, and ate very sour green apples. We ate them with great pleasure.
The time flew by and it was time to go home. By walking at home, I like to listen to the frogs in the pond, hearing a very interesting sound of crickets, and observing how the red sky became darker and darker. After a “busy” day I always was tired. The most beautiful and interesting dreams came to me in all variety that only a ten-year-old child could have. They were filled with the different fragments of the day: my adventure in the forest, small warm house that had the smell of the earth, grandma’s cooking and fresh milk.
For many reasons I keep in mind this period of my life. First of all, because a lot of people think of a new arrival to a place who remembers good times with friends back home. Second, people who write about a nostalgic event are more cheerful and feel more positively about friendships and close relationships.
Topics: Student Living |
March 19th, 2008 at 8:35 am
It is a great article and touching memories, and it was very pleasant to read.