Why is nostalgia such a powerful feeling?

[JMalin]

Discuss

[popup_menace]

It is human nature to want to operate within a defined parameter, and the past provides such definition. While some are excited by the unknown, visions of agreeable circumstances in the past are what they wish to replicate in the future. Thus, nostalgia serves to remind us that there are sources of happiness that can be replicated. In essence, it is an adaptation which allows prolonged happiness.

[Catarina]

For me its like a punch in the stomach, it really gets my attention

It makes me stop what I'm doing, forget about everything else, makes me appreciate everything, makes me proud, makes me remember family members who worked hard to make my life easier (even if I didn't get the chance to meet them) It brings me back to earth, makes me humble, and it makes me look up and say Thanks for everything.

Doesn't matter if its an old photo, an old hammer, or a wore out boot. A 30-30 rifle, rusty piece of equipment, or a piece of land that's been passed down. When it comes to my family history etc. I get pretty sentimental

[Hamshire]

These two ^ ^ ^

[kumathebear]

The older you get, the more it dominates.....It's when you start every sentence/comment with "I used ta'." You young ones will get it someday,

[buckmastertexas]

It pulls on the heartstrings.

[PSD Ryan]

Because nostalgia is like selective hearing.

When I look back on my military career...boot camp, 3 deployments, all the training...I remember all the good parts. There were a lot of really crappy parts too, but my mind has let go of that, and I look back on it fondly. I think of the friends, the laughs, and all the other good things.

Then you compare it to the present, and you see all the bad with the good going on currently. It seems like those really were the good 'ol days.

[JMalin]

It is human nature to want to operate within a defined parameter, and the past provides such definition. While some are excited by the unknown, visions of agreeable circumstances in the past are what they wish to replicate in the future. Thus, nostalgia serves to remind us that there are sources of happiness that can be replicated. In essence, it is an adaptation which allows prolonged happiness.

****! End thread. There's probably a bunch of psych majors that couldn't have answered it any better than this

[super_dave]

Some great answers, but for me, it takes me to a generation that the ones closest to me were raised in. Things of my grandparents days are special because it was special to them. His guns, her dishes, their house. It brings them back to me in a way that nothing else can

[popup_menace]

****! End thread. There's probably a bunch of psych majors that couldn't have answered it any better than this

Thanks. I enjoy intellectual topics and those who appreciate such answers

[jerp]

Experience from tonight - For some reason the tv was on an infomercial for a set of CDs - "Pop goes the 70's." They showed clips of all the bands playing the hits from my formative years - age 12 to 20. Almost every song brought back a specific memory of some kind - girls I had a crush on, cruising with my buddies in our muscle cars - some of those songs produce a deep gut reaction. You remember where you were and more importantly how you felt at that exact moment. Nostalgia in its purest form. Nostalgia is a rememberence of the good things that define your life and the things that turned us into the people we have become

[popup_menace]

Late night bump to keep at the top until morning. I really want to hear more differing perspectives.