LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD

Nostalgia is often touted as an unhelpful emotion, but recent research suggests reminiscing about the past can enrich our present and guide us towards a more fulfilling future.

- Jo Jukes

When we engage in nostalgia, we are not moving toward the past. We are bringing the past to the present to help us plan for the future. Nostalgia pushes us forward, not back," writes nostalgia researcher and psychologist Clay Routledge in his book Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life.

We've all experienced nostalgia: a whiff of perfume, a familiar song, a faded photograph. These things can spur deep waves of longing for the past, for places, people or a version of ourselves we wish we could return to.

Although looking back might sometimes be seen as unhelpful, a way of keeping you "stuck in the past" instead of living mindfully in the present, an increasing body of research suggests that embracing nostalgia actually boosts your wellbeing. Nostalgia can evoke joy, make you more creative, strengthen social bonds, increase your problem-solving abilities and help you feel more connected with your sense of self and purpose.

The pain of returning home

From the Greek word nostos, meaning to return home, and algos, pain, nostalgia translates to "the pain of returning home". The term nostalgia was first coined in the 17th century by Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer, after he observed returning soldiers exhibiting symptoms including persistently thinking of home, bouts of weeping, anxiety and insomnia.

Hofer and other physicians at the time viewed nostalgia as a neurological disease and it was later considered a mental health condition. It's only in the late 20th century that nostalgia has been recognised for its positive and therapeutic benefits.