“I remember that time when…”
So begins many a session of reminiscence therapy.
What’s reminiscence therapy? It’s using guided communication (and, often, objects from the past) to stimulate memories and help someone reconnect with her personal history. But that makes reminiscence sound more complicated than it is.
Picture this: searching for a pencil, you reach deep into a desk and your hand brushes across a seashell that’s somehow found its way into the drawer.
You pull it out, feel the ridges and the smooth inside.
As you hold the shell and touch the surface, memories of a long-ago trip to the beach flood your mind. You can hear the ocean and the wind and the birds. You feel the sun and salt on your skin, taste the sea in your mouth. The smell of waves fills your nose and you are almost transported to the scene, the feeling is so visceral. Walking in ankle-deep water looking for a perfect shell; your foot sinks into the sucking sand, a slight sunburn flushes your shoulders as another wave rolls in and tumbles the shells. You bend to pick up a nearly perfect one and the flash of the sun on the water momentarily blinds you…
Just touching that shell brings it all back. Continue reading
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