Do we love nostalgia? One of human mind’s most interesting features is that we tend to remember good things and events and forget bad ones. Science says that this happens to keep us from traumatic experiences that would, otherwise, hold us in the past and harm our plans for future.
This is probably why nostalgia is even more sweet than bittersweet mental phenomena. From my experience, I can confirm that bad things go away and bright, positive memories mostly stay.
Fails, problems, bugs, and losses from the past? Yes, I do remember them, but they now look blurred to me, or completely forgotten. Instead, I remember great moments and miss some of them. You just can’t hate this feeling! You must love it as it keeps you joyful, positive and afloat.
The bitter part about nostalgia is that we understand that you can’t get it back as the time passed. It’s all gone…
But, wait! Sometimes good things pop up from our past memories. I have a perfect example to show. In 2002, during my first time in Japan, I visited Takao-san, or Mt. Takao, a beautiful mountain and national park with fantastic scenery, the ancient temple and legends of demons guarding it. In 2010, I got back there.
Then, it was a long-time hiatus. Sometimes, I was thinking about Takao-san and its beauty as my power spot, but with nostalgia. Without a real hope to get back there.
Well, miracles happen. This September, I went to Japan once again, on a business trip this time, my sixth overall. After all the work was done in Nagoya at the tourist expo, I got back to Tokyo. I had two free days there, and my last days was fully devoted to Takao-san.
Once again, I dived into its beautiful greenery with mighty Japanese cedars halfway to the top. Once again, I rode the ropeway uphill, floating among the tree tops. Once again, I walked by Yakuo-in, a thousand-year old Buddhist temple with iconic long-nosed Tengu demon statues guarding it. Once again, I went to the same small cosy restaurant on the slopes to enjoy a glass of Kirin beer on the way back and look at the faraway Tokyo view.
Sometimes, nostalgia can appear from the past to materialize in the present.
And this is magic. And this is why we love it.
A Very British Affair
As part of our soft spot for the past, we British tend to treasure our history and our heritage. We think there’s always something comforting about looking back, from hearing the famous children’s TV show “Blue Peter” theme tune, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTHwLzJGOw8
to spotting a red public phone box down a side street.
Nostalgia lets us revisit those moments when everything felt simpler; you know, summers lasting forever, corner shops selling farthing sweets, (a farthing was a quarter of a penny or one- nine-hundred-and-sixtieth of a pound sterling) and the biggest worry being whether the outdoor television aerial, attached to the chimney of our house, needed adjusting. It’s like a warm cup of tea for our souls.
The past feels safe, steady, and full of charm. And it’s not just about us old folks reminiscing, either – younger generations are getting in on it too. Vinyl is making a comeback, 90s fashion is back on the high street, and everyone is suddenly obsessed with Polaroid cameras again.
So why do we love nostalgia? Because it’s ours — uniquely British, quietly comforting, and full of stories that never really fade. It’s not just looking back; it’s finding warmth in the echoes of what made us who we are. That’s nostalgia doing what it does best — wrapping you up in a big, comforting British hug. If you’ve never felt it, you sure have missed out!
Why we love nostalgia
While I didn’t suggest this week’s topic, I’ve wondered about it. We see the past through rose colored glasses and romanticize times that really were not as great as we remember. In the US, we have a bunch running around shouting that we should make America great again. Having seen a chunk of the world, I can tell you America is already a pretty good spot.
Television commentators often ask these folks when they would like to go back to and the answers are all over the place. People pick some random year out of thin air and announce that was when America was great. The truth is that the country has been a real superpower less than one-hundred years. Most of that time was spent trying to prove to the planet that we were the most advanced nation while the Soviets were equally determined to show that we were not.
Russia, among many others, suffers from a similar ailment. My parents lived in Moscow during the late Soviet period and I have no clue what place these Russians are talking about. Everything was in short supply and folks would get into a line and have no idea what was being sold in the shop they were trying to get into. Yet many, maybe most Russians have a deep nostalgia for the period.
I doubt many of us would be happy if we got our wish. Nostalgia for the past is great as long as it doesn’t come true. Consider just a quiet evening at home; your TV is black & white and has a screen the size of a desktop monitor. I suppose that’s alright because you only get four channels anyway. Which reminds me, that’s something else you don’t have; the Internet. No microwave oven and the AC comes from a noisy window unit. Music? Mono AM radio, complete with crackling static.
I’m sure I’m in a minority but I really don’t want to go back. In every last sphere, we continue to advance; equality, technology, environment, it would be difficult to think of an area where we have stagnated. Of course, I’m assuming you want to live in a cleaner, more just world. Maybe that’s the point… maybe some people wish for a world on the edge of World War, where minorities “know their place”. Is that when things were great?