Nostalgia

IndigoSensor

IndigoSensor

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Nostalgia is an emotional response / mental state that has been a sort of fascination to me for quite some time now. I have noticed that it is seemingly impossible for any one person to define it or describe it in a way that everyone can relate to. Nostalgia is highly specefic and very personal for everyone. At times it can even be diffucalt for one to describe or understand nostalgic feelings to themselves, they must resort to saying "this is a very nostalgic feeling". The ways at which things trigger nostalgia then is even hard to describe. It sort of just happens. It makes sense to everyone, but at the same time nostalgic feelings are quite intriniscly irrational, in the sense as they can appear out of the most trivial things.

So, my question for all of you, is what is nostalgia like for you? How do you experience it, how would you describe it, can you describe it? Discuss.
 
I agree. I derive immense nostalgic pleasure from Big Band music from the 1930s and 40s. Benny Goodman, etc. Why? Is that really nostalgia?

I grew up in the 80s, and while I like the latest dance-pop trend, I don't really like most 80s music. So is that anti-nostalgia?

The whole thing confuses me to no end.
 
I would define nostalgia as the memory of happiness. It can be an object, a friend, a place, a routine event, or an isolated experience.

Nostalgia feels to me like a yearning over memories that I'd like to relive, or want to somehow bring to the present time, simply because I miss them, which is rather like love in a way. :)

Sometimes there is a feeling of belonging with that thing in the memory. Sometimes it feels more harmonious with my values than the corresponding things in the present day.

Sometimes it is about noticing what has changed, and even where something has changed for the good, we are often aware of subtle qualities that were lost when that change happened.
 
For me those are those moments when something or someone triggers flow of memories and emotions that I felt at some point in life. For example, when I was a kid I used to read comics in one of the workshops that was not used by anyone for years but me, in our back yard and I remember one afternoon when I was sitting there with a pile of comics, it was a worm summer and suddenly the storm came, and it started raining. It didn't last long but it was beautiful and the smell of freshness was divine. And sometimes when I see some comic books they remind me of that day, or if there is a storm that resembles that one I can remember the smells, the sounds and even how I was feeling that day.

The other example is nostalgia for a particular feeling (for me nostalgia is almost always connected to some feeling that I'd like to feel again). It was the second day of bombarding in '99. We spent the whole night in basement since when the bombarding started we didn't have the time to reach the shelter. First part of the night was filled with sounds of explosions and trembling, and the rest of the night with voice of the radio speaker informing of other sites that were bombarded and the damage. When morning came and we heard the sirens that sounded that danger has passed at least for sometime that day I got the duty to go to the store and get some groceries if the store was working. It was beautiful march morning, warm, and everything smelled of spring coming, everything was so peaceful, people were mostly afraid to come out of their houses or were asleep after the night spent in basements and shelters. I was so filled with humbleness that I was fine, and that I had an opportunity to welcome that day. When the stories of possible bombarding started about a month before it actually started I imagined it quite differently than it actually was. That morning was the one that made me feel everything around me more profound and stronger than ever. When the first signs of spring show, they remind me of that day and I usually feel a little bit nostalgic for what I felt that morning (I wouldn't want another bombarding, that part wasn't fun at all), for all that love of life that I felt then.

Sorry if this was too long, I just felt that I couldn't explain this any shorter than this.
 
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Synchronicity again - I was thinking of nostalgia just this morning - but for me, it was the nostalgia of an innocent world view. I think Jasmine85 said it perfectly as the memory of happiness!
 
It's odd. Though I think and write about the past a lot, I'm rarely nostalgic. I'm pretty firmly rooted in the present and irl looking forward to the future.
 
It is feeling that puts me in strange mood. Mostly it's provoked by music that is attached to some moments of my life. Feeling that makes very physical sensations in my inside. I can be rather overhelmed with nostalgia (see my last two posts in What are you listening...). I always think that it is warning for me, to rethink and reflex some things that can be related to objects of nostalgia.
 
I get nostalgic both for times, friends and (less often) things past, and those that might have been past, had I done things differently.
 
Nostalgia always feels a bit sad to me, like you're remembering something that has been lost forever, that you can never go back to. It actually is a bit frustrating when I have to focus on it; I'd much rather focus on what's yet to come.
 
TheLastMohican said:
I get nostalgic about things from before my birth year. How weird is that?
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You don't get nostalgic about paleolithic stuff, though. So, for example, you relate to the way older people think, who relate to even older events / art. Since you are very mature for your age, it makes sense that you are influenced by cultures that would interest people who at this moment are much older than you.

We can also relate to much more ancient events / art, but not at this same way as we do, when we personally have communicated with people who have some relation with the time. At most, such effect lasts a few generations. The hyper-nostalgia which goes long back in history is usually only achieved through depictions in contemporary art, or through admirable living figures, recommending ancient art as valuable. If none of this influence existed around us, we wouldn't be fascinated with such cultures.
/
I am certainly nostalgic about how the world was, when I was a kid. I suffered a lot, in some ways, but I was very happy nevertheless. Now I don't suffer that much, but I can't say I'll ever be that happy again. Well, let's hope.. Why nostalgia occurs? Because the brain forms circuits of pleasure, which begin to stabilize with age, and become harder to rewire. Since the environmental and cultural stimuli from youth are gone, the brain is dissatisfied and looks back..
:m192::m169::m142: So the happiest at later age are those, who have formed their satisfaction on patterns of interaction with people, not patterns in the surroundings. For example, winning, or providing, or criticizing, or cooking. Since whatever happens, there will always be people around, to battle, to criticize, to please, to cook for - then such brains will remain more satisfied throughout life. The brains that rely on non-human communication patterns will get more dissatisfied, because of the rapid ways those patterns are changed. It's ironic, because those are the brains that probably do the hardest work out there.
 
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IndigoSensor said:
Nostalgia is an emotional response / mental state that has been a sort of fascination to me for quite some time now. I have noticed that it is seemingly impossible for any one person to define it or describe it in a way that everyone can relate to. Nostalgia is highly specefic and very personal for everyone. At times it can even be diffucalt for one to describe or understand nostalgic feelings to themselves, they must resort to saying "this is a very nostalgic feeling". The ways at which things trigger nostalgia then is even hard to describe. It sort of just happens. It makes sense to everyone, but at the same time nostalgic feelings are quite intriniscly irrational, in the sense as they can appear out of the most trivial things.

So, my question for all of you, is what is nostalgia like for you? How do you experience it, how would you describe it, can you describe it? Discuss.
Click to expand...

remember the "memory feel" thread you started Indigo? i've always thought of nostalgia as the memory feels you describe
 
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