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Longing

(44 Posts)
JamesandJon33 Thu 26-Feb-26 17:25:47

We were out early this morning; the sun was not up. Houses we passed were brightly lit as people got up. I wondered about them. The blackthorn all along the road was in full bloom and looked ghostly in the light. I felt a great sense of longing…what for I cannot say. Has anyone else felt a sudden , quite overwhelming emotion like that.?

Witzend Thu 26-Feb-26 17:33:13

I remember a similar feeling when I was much younger, well before I was married - a longing for I knew not what.

However I later experienced a ‘rush’ of a very similar feeling that would happen at the start of breastfeeding my babies! So I had to deduce that it was hormonal, though why it happened when I was so much younger I have no idea!

Wyllow3 Thu 26-Feb-26 17:34:38

Oh yes.

Some sudden perception of beauty, a trigger for the might have beens, the probably wont be able too's, loss and gain being a reality of life, a sense of completeness, rightness in the world:

would we want to be without these pangs - no..they can be a guide, they have their own richness

Nuttynanna2 Thu 26-Feb-26 17:35:46

Yes. Driving through a village, I felt a real feeling of longing when we had to stop for a moment outside a little cottage. It was such a strong feeling.

Wyllow3 Thu 26-Feb-26 17:37:05

here is the music to go with, but it is redemptive in the end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450

JamesandJon33 Thu 26-Feb-26 17:55:33

Thank youWyllow

NoodleNut Thu 26-Feb-26 17:57:27

Wyllow3

Oh yes.

Some sudden perception of beauty, a trigger for the might have beens, the probably wont be able too's, loss and gain being a reality of life, a sense of completeness, rightness in the world:

would we want to be without these pangs - no..they can be a guide, they have their own richness

Yes!
So beautifully worded.

sassenach512 Thu 26-Feb-26 18:59:03

In Wales there is a word used for this feeling- Hiraeth (pronounced Heer-eyeth)

"A spiritual longing for a home which maybe never was.
Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return.
It is the echo of the lost places of our soul's past and our grief for them.
It is in the wind and the rocks and the waves.
It is nowhere and it is everywhere"

JamesandJon33 Thu 26-Feb-26 19:09:27

Yes I know that word, I live in Wales and am Wel sh born

Gran22boys Thu 26-Feb-26 19:27:15

I feel like that in churchyards where ancestors are buried. I just want them all back again.

AGAA4 Thu 26-Feb-26 19:44:24

I felt like that standing by a lake with water lapping gently onto the shore and the reflection of the trees as I gazed into the lake. It was ethereal and I felt something I didn't understand.

Tuliptree Thu 26-Feb-26 19:57:58

Oh sassenach. How beautiful. Another word I associate with this is yearning

Dickens Thu 26-Feb-26 20:17:25

JamesandJon33

We were out early this morning; the sun was not up. Houses we passed were brightly lit as people got up. I wondered about them. The blackthorn all along the road was in full bloom and looked ghostly in the light. I felt a great sense of longing…what for I cannot say. Has anyone else felt a sudden , quite overwhelming emotion like that.?

Yes - and also in the early morning before the rattle of the day began, and I also found it overwhelming.

Dawn has a specific smell - and a feel... an 'anticipation' of something. What this evoked for me was a longing for the intensity of the past in the knowledge that I am looking at the fading light of the future.

keepingquiet Thu 26-Feb-26 20:17:54

I have had this feeling on and off for most of my life- now I feel it on a daily basis.

I thought everyone felt the same but never talked about it...

Joanofarc99 Thu 26-Feb-26 20:29:30

Yes i have this too. I feel a warmness through my body. Almost a nostalgic feeling. It's the sense of being part of this earth and thoughts are with those gone before and their lives.

Wyllow3 Thu 26-Feb-26 21:02:49

I feel also a sense of shared humanity in those times - conflict, for a time, can fall aside. Its probably in a lot of poems that I'm not aware of...

Bellanonna Thu 26-Feb-26 21:18:04

I often feel this too, but it’s been explained here far better than I could have done. It’s a kind of spirituality.

tanith Thu 26-Feb-26 22:14:01

I get this feeling on driving into Wales to visit my sister it’s like coming home although I was born in London. My mother was Welsh born in the Rhondda.

Allira Thu 26-Feb-26 22:56:09

JamesandJon33

Yes I know that word, I live in Wales and am Wel sh born

Especially when sung by a Welsh Male Voice Choir

Allira Thu 26-Feb-26 22:59:12

Some sudden perception of beauty, a trigger for the might have beens, the probably wont be able too's, loss and gain being a reality of life, a sense of completeness, rightness in the world:

would we want to be without these pangs - no..they can be a guide, they have their own richness

Lovely, Wyllow3

mumski Fri 27-Feb-26 12:15:55

Sometimes, when I am glazing out of the window at my garden, I get over whelmed by a feeling of really needing the comfort of the past. Lately it's been around our old family farm house where my Gran lived. It always represented love, security and lots of freedom.
It was knocked down when I was 14 years old.
It's strange how this happens.

4allweknow Fri 27-Feb-26 13:41:26

Wyllow Thank you, beautiful.

Dickens Fri 27-Feb-26 13:43:36

mumski

Sometimes, when I am glazing out of the window at my garden, I get over whelmed by a feeling of really needing the comfort of the past. Lately it's been around our old family farm house where my Gran lived. It always represented love, security and lots of freedom.
It was knocked down when I was 14 years old.
It's strange how this happens.

I get over whelmed by a feeling of really needing the comfort of the past

That resonates with me. Not just my past tho' - I feel that humanity itself was in a different place... but I can't articulate what I mean by that...

The fact the family farm house was knocked down will definitely heighten your sense of loss - I can almost even imagine it myself.

I recently returned to my earlier home-town after leaving decades ago for a visit expecting to take a trip down the proverbial 'memory-lane', but was disoriented by the number of buildings that no longer existed, and the changed landscape. Nothing emphasis more the fact that life continually evolves than actually becoming lost in a once familiar environment.

when I am glazing out of the window... your device obviously doesn't understand emotion and can't 'think' in the abstract! grin.

NannaFirework Fri 27-Feb-26 14:05:02

Reading this thread, so beautiful ❤️

Secondwind Fri 27-Feb-26 14:09:55

Wyllow3 Thank you - it’s lovely. The choral arrangement is particularly beautiful.