Longing

tanith

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.

I don’t travel now, but I used to for work. I live in South West Wales. And without fail as soon as I passed over the Severn Bridge and head home …it starts Raining!
There was no ‘longing’ attached to my returning! 🌧️

When studying my family history I discovered that an eighteenth century Swedish ancestor was shipwrecked in the Outer Hebrides. He survived and married in North Uist. When I first visited the the little hamlet where he and his family had lived overlooking a quiet loch I had that feeling that is described here and I frequently get it when I think about that area. It was like coming home.

There is a place in Devon where as soon as I am in it, I feel like I’ve come home. This is not a holiday….. It is utter peace. I shed tears when I leave, nearly every time…and last time, I was quite inexplicably unwell when I was at home again. Im sure I would live there if I could. It is a feeling of longing and be-longing that I can’t explain. I recently learned that a relative of mine bizarrely feels the same.

Hiraeth, is the Welsh word for a longing for home, or another time or place where you no longer are.
I feel it often especially looking st old family photos

Singing the Messiah in church when my brother was a choirboy and I was alto with some of the ladies. The choir was well attended and I had that wonderful feeling of belonging.

I'm very fortunate. Some music gifts me that feeling. That mixture of connection, belonging, acceptance. (it was the mention of the Messiah that brought that on, as we did it at school and I'd say singing in the choir brought that connection for the first time. You don't have to "Be Religious" - because it addresses those deepest things within us.

But for others it could equally be a popular song that has echoes from its particular resonance to a time, a place: a person, when things were both poignant and "the right way up".

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.?

JamesandJon - what a touching and evocative post. I felt and saw the things you described. Longing and Nostalgia are I think closely linked. I had that for years when I lived in a place I disliked far from Europe.
The bittersweet longing you describe - the sudden onset - yes I know what you mean. A piece of music, the sound of a rustling in the breeze, a child calling "look mummy!" And you turn quickly - thinking it's your own little one on the swing or doing something "amazing" even they're now grown adults. Some people don't feel it. They might be better off but I don't think I'd swap. This is a lovely, thought provoking thread.

@sassenach512 . What a lovely description. I experience this sometimes and I like it x

What a lovely thread. Oddly, paintings of snow scenes evoke a strange longing in me. Strange because we almost never get snow where I live, but I know that deep snow brings a stillness that I love.

I was driving past an old hospital a few days ago where I had worked for many happy years and I drove in to look at the surrounding grounds as I gazed across the duck pond I felt a very strong longing and felt very emotional. I have felt this at other times also in my life. There are some lovely descriptions on this thread.

I’m not sure what I feel could be called longing but yes there are times when I feel something I can’t describe. A sort of peace and calm.
Certain music, a place in Cornwall that feels like home , when I see all my lovely family together and some scenery. Even if I just take a quiet moment to recall these things I can still get the feeling.

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.?

I get this feeling quite often at the changing of the seasons.

I'm a Celt with very strong Cornish heritage, I've lived here all my life. When I go to a particular carnival in my birth place, the Celtic music with pagan roots really touches me with a sense of something deep, maybe longing is the word.

I know this feeling well. When I visit my parents grave in the village I was born I feel this every time. It is a beautiful church yard and is right next to the primary school I attended. I get such a powerful feeling of my very happy childhood and it brings back so many wonderful memories.

Thank you for this J&J33. I know exactly that feeling and usually have had it when I am near a place which had lives or emotions of the past there that were very special to me. Sometimes, a smell can do it, or even a sound (like the bagpipes in my case) The comments too were very moving and then I clicked on the music - I am now sobbing. Very good thread though.

It is our spiritual side revealing itself. When I mentioned these experiences to my mother when I was a child, she said it was God. I’m an atheist ( I think!) now, but I can feel that this is about spirit, not flesh.

As I gruw older - so many memories flood back .
Unfortunately , though I have some very happy ones I certainly have had some horrendous ones .
I long for a Tardis and would not have made such poor decisions in relationships.
There's a deep sense of longing .
Many of my older friends reminisce about the past a great
deal sometimes over and over again.
I think that it's very natural to do so .

JamesandJon33. Yes, I understand this feeling and experience it fairly often and it began in my childhood. I call it The Home Sickness. It starts in the solar plexus region and feels like a pining or longing for somewhere or something, which I have known in the past and will know again in the future.

It can be initiated by a solitary walk in woodland or around a lake, or by a piece of music, a poem, the sight of a skein of geese in flight, rooks going to roost for the night, the depth and beauty of a certain painting. It’s and amazing feeling and is always uplifting afterwards. The piece of music for me: youtu.be/oiZFF6NRDEs?si=5zAPtxaDVZmMQWwD
❤️

I am from a very large family, parents long since passed away. I recently met up with one of my older brothers. He presented me with a Black and white canvas of my mother as a young 18 year old, before she left Ireland. She was so pretty and looked full of hope and anticipation. Her life was so very sad as it turned out, and I feel such an overwhelming connection to her in that photo, I cannot explain. It is nostalgia with melancholy and sadness, but I treasure the picture.