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I was surprised to see nostalgia in the list of positive emotions. I guess I don't disagree but I've never thought of it that way, and I've certainly never soug

I was surprised to see nostalgia in the list of positive emotions. I guess I don't disagree but I've never thought of it that way, and I've certainly never sought it out.

themodelplumber 5y ago
In my experience some people experience a very strong and qualitatively impressive sentimental connection to elements of their subjective past. It's amazing to watch in some cases. The details of the connection, its frequency, amplitude / subjective potency, and accuracy seem quite different from person to person. There have been attempts in some spaces of research to group people by the various characteristics of their subjective experience with their past, and how they metabolize (so to speak) nostalgia. I was kind of in the same boat as you in the sense that it was new to me (whether one is aware of it as a practice available to them is another differentiator) and I had to cultivate it. I started by making a timeline of my life in bullet points, and then found myself naturally expanding on my favorite parts much later in the experience. This was really pleasant. Also some chemicals seem to help. Personally caffeine brings this nostalgia-awareness to me quite easily after the initial spur of executive activity has worn off.
- Jeff_Brown 5y ago
  I wonder how easy it is to classify nostalgia as positive or negative affect. My grandmother seemed to simultaneously enjoy it and be saddened by it.
  - themodelplumber 5y ago
    Negative can sometimes be used as a marker indicating that the subject is obsessed with the "lack of" looking backward being everybody's problem including their own. They may view the suggestion of its use as a function of perceived deficit in other important things. Don't got enough (thing you want) in life? You aren't looking backward enough, or you're looking backward but bringing the "wrong" lessons forward (highly subjective variant). The positive by comparison would reflect a more flexible, demonstrative capacity with the same, including more frequent deployment of it as a problem-solving tool.
    - Jeff_Brown 5y ago
      > deployment of it as a problem-solving tool That's why I don't tend to look backward. I just don't see it accomplishing much. (If I felt like I needed more pleasure, and I were convinced nostalgia was reliably pleasurable and would continue to be even if I made a frequent habit of it, I might.)
      - themodelplumber 5y ago
        It's really heavily used in logistics and business stabilization. In the sense of don't get fancy, remember the founding principles, do what you know (your past). And celebrate what you know. Such businesses often do the gold watch, the pension, the career milestones celebration as part of this integration into the nostalgic whole. In other words, it's more like the psychological engine which powers the role and tool selection than the "specific way things are done" and the businesses turn into the big ones over time. Edit: It's interesting though, we could say that in your comments you are basically representing and promoting the best of your past, insofar as it informs your preferred way of doing things. The way you have learned that you like things to be, or be done, by you. So there's this overlap with nostalgia concepts and subjective perception.
        Jeff_Brown 5y ago
        > heavily used in logistics and business stabilization That's surprising and fascinating. Is there a formal body of work on nostalgia in business?
quesera 5y ago
Depending on the contentedness-over-time curve of your life, nostalgia can become pretty attractive.

I was surprised to see nostalgia in the list of positive emotions. I guess I don't disagree but I've never thought of it that way, and I've certainly never sought it out.

themodelplumber 5y ago

In my experience some people experience a very strong and qualitatively impressive sentimental connection to elements of their subjective past. It's amazing to watch in some cases. The details of the connection, its frequency, amplitude / subjective potency, and accuracy seem quite different from person to person. There have been attempts in some spaces of research to group people by the various characteristics of their subjective experience with their past, and how they metabolize (so to speak) nostalgia. I was kind of in the same boat as you in the sense that it was new to me (whether one is aware of it as a practice available to them is another differentiator) and I had to cultivate it. I started by making a timeline of my life in bullet points, and then found myself naturally expanding on my favorite parts much later in the experience. This was really pleasant. Also some chemicals seem to help. Personally caffeine brings this nostalgia-awareness to me quite easily after the initial spur of executive activity has worn off.

Jeff_Brown 5y ago
I wonder how easy it is to classify nostalgia as positive or negative affect. My grandmother seemed to simultaneously enjoy it and be saddened by it.
- themodelplumber 5y ago
  Negative can sometimes be used as a marker indicating that the subject is obsessed with the "lack of" looking backward being everybody's problem including their own. They may view the suggestion of its use as a function of perceived deficit in other important things. Don't got enough (thing you want) in life? You aren't looking backward enough, or you're looking backward but bringing the "wrong" lessons forward (highly subjective variant). The positive by comparison would reflect a more flexible, demonstrative capacity with the same, including more frequent deployment of it as a problem-solving tool.
  - Jeff_Brown 5y ago
    > deployment of it as a problem-solving tool That's why I don't tend to look backward. I just don't see it accomplishing much. (If I felt like I needed more pleasure, and I were convinced nostalgia was reliably pleasurable and would continue to be even if I made a frequent habit of it, I might.)
    - themodelplumber 5y ago
      It's really heavily used in logistics and business stabilization. In the sense of don't get fancy, remember the founding principles, do what you know (your past). And celebrate what you know. Such businesses often do the gold watch, the pension, the career milestones celebration as part of this integration into the nostalgic whole. In other words, it's more like the psychological engine which powers the role and tool selection than the "specific way things are done" and the businesses turn into the big ones over time. Edit: It's interesting though, we could say that in your comments you are basically representing and promoting the best of your past, insofar as it informs your preferred way of doing things. The way you have learned that you like things to be, or be done, by you. So there's this overlap with nostalgia concepts and subjective perception.
      - Jeff_Brown 5y ago
        > heavily used in logistics and business stabilization That's surprising and fascinating. Is there a formal body of work on nostalgia in business?

quesera 5y ago

Depending on the contentedness-over-time curve of your life, nostalgia can become pretty attractive.