Nostalgia?

[outlandish]

Do you ever look back at something in your past that was so good that it makes you feel kind of sad?

It's so strange because there are some very special times from long ago in my life, that when I look back at, somehow feel sad, or heartache or something. It is such a strange emotion, because it's not like I miss that time and want to go back to it. If I had the choice I would not. I feel like nostalgia is meant to be coupled with a desire to return to that time, which isn't really the case. This "sad" feeling isn't really unpleasant or depressing either, but sometimes it's so strong I could almost cry, and it's painful in a way.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm trying to ask here, perhaps just trying to understand the nature of this feelings. Why would it make you feel a sad down feeling to revisit something from the past that was very good and special?

[DrewNows]

Perhaps it is a beautiful kind of sad, so much appreciation, mix of various perspectives, in love with every one of them ?

sort of like a feeling beyond words, beyond feelings 

Edited August 2, 2019 by DrewNows

[RickyBalboa]

Sounds like you are talking about tears of joy. Maybe I misunderstand. I guess I can sort of relate. I'd go as far as to use a word that really isnt part of my vocabulary but... perhaps a feeling of being 'blessed' you actually got to experience something so profound. I don't really have that feeling for much of any of the events of my past involving other humans. My tears of joy or feeling blessed are always revolved around moments of profound insights. I cry over psychedelic experiences that changed my life more than anything else I can think of. Maybe sometimes a piece of music that reflects those moments as well. 

Edited August 2, 2019 by RickyBalboa

[Leo Gura]

I love that nostalgia feeling.

[Knock]

By remembering an emotionally charged event, you get emotional

[mandyjw]

Yes, often it's a time that you were really connected with your true self, or else really challenging yourself in a positive and thrilling way. That connection exists now. It's always very moving. 

Feelings like that get really strong as your awareness increases, because you are seeking and opening up to that Love/Source connection. 

[Inliytened1]

@outlandish you may be romanticizing your past.  Making it out to be much better than it really was from your present.  It's just a concept in your mind now and your ego will try to torture you with the map and not the territory.   Not that it wasn't good - but your mind only remembers the good.

When it happens try to bring yourself back to the present - because that's all you have.  The rest is illusion.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Inliytened1

[Danioover9000]

   As long as the experience isn't negative to you it's ok. Sounds like you were experiencing tears of joy about those moments in the past that you had.

   Also, I learned from R.E.B.T ( rational emotive behavior therapy) about experiencing doubled emotions. For example, feeling guilty about feeling pleasure, feeling fear about feeling proud about your success. In your case it may be that you're feeling sad about feeling nostalgia because that moment is special and somehow you're feeling guilty about revisiting the event that triggered the nostalgia.

   Furthermore, it seems you're denying the feeling of sadness. First you mention that you had a special moment, then you normalize the memory to not feel that first feeling more so than the second feeling of nostalgia feels more strongly than the sadness, leaving you scratching your head as to why you're feeling sad about feeling nostalgia in the first place. This is all normal and nothing to worry about.

[Elham]

8 hours ago, outlandish said:

Why would it make you feel a sad down feeling to revisit something from the past that was very good and special?

Maybe it's because your feelings are mingled with the feelings of lost!

You know the thing that you have experienced and was extremely good is not going to be repeat again and it makes you sad.

[kag101]

Yea, I get those.

And it usually happens when I am in a depressive episode, in which I am much more prone to belittle the present moment, and instead fantasize about how "amazingly perfect" the past was. 

Nostalgia is a melancholic feeling. It is neither good nor bad per se. But ultimately it is, like it or not, an illusion that draw us away from the present. 

[JustThinkingAloud]

Maybe part of you wants to experience it again, somewhere deep inside. It doesn’t have to be the actual experience that you still want, it could be that great emotion that you had and want to feel like that again.

[Ampresus]

If only times were so simple as watching Pokemon on a Saturday morning with 0 stress  

I still kind deal with this, but I used to sit hours somewhere on a chair thinking about my life in general. Missing my old self. Cried a lot and stuff. 

The trick really is either grounding yourself into the present (actually giving you a chance to experience everything in the same way as you used to when you were younger) or focus on the future. In both ways I haven’t succeeded at all, but sure a lot of people out there recommend it. 

Reality is often disappointing.

[Dan502]

I love the thought that I could... bring that feeling here, now.

Then I reflect upon the fact that it's a feeling.

Can we create it?

And what is it? Where is it?

 

[kieranperez]

@outlandish all the time. ALL THE TIME. 

It’s like a leaving a loved one you know you can never see again. 

I think though that’s a sign of a life well lived though sometimes and that you feel you can reflect on the beautiful lessons you as a person have learned from the actual events in your life. I look back at my life even just 24 and remember all the TONS of crazy stupid I’ve done, the stuff I’ve gone through, memories, people I’ve had the privilege to let in and experience deep care and even hatred for, feel those feelings again but from a different altitude of perspective. 

It’s like remembering the life you had with a loved one that passed away. You remember the good and bad times and of course, you miss them of course and there’s a feeling of sadness because you know you’ll never ever experience them/that again.

That’s one of the hard things when you go through enlightenment work too. Freeing yourself from that stuff too (in a sense) and letting go of even that. Also with the truth of impermanence. 

“Everything is on fire.” -  The Buddha

[JustThinkingAloud]

Things change. Just because the same experience doesn’t make us happy doesn’t mean that we can’t ever be happy again or that the memory is not a great memory any more. There’s new things that we can do and can get. So getting what we want or progressing towards what we want should be celebrated, appreciated and be grateful and thankful for these moments. These moments show that life can be the way we want it and that’s great!

[Aeris]

Not really. I loved my gaming life as a teenager ( Guild Wars ost give me the goosebump ).

I hated every second at school from 5 to 20. Soo. It was ok not at all 'movie'

My best years although my mind suffered a lot.

was those last 5 years of hard work and love.

And since this one.

of my best day was yesterday

Looking up the stars

Sayin I love you

Edited August 4, 2019 by Aeris

[fewrocker]

I had a curious experience with nostalgia.

When I was 20, I had so much nostalgia from 12-17 years. I just thought they were the best in so many aspects. And I realized that for 3 years I had this nostalgia, and I asked myself: "is there going to be a better time, or was that it, and from now on, everything can be good, but not as good as those times". Such a big attachment!

I thought: "I want to produce a new moment in my life that in 10 years, that will be a new moment I will be nostalgic about". Producing moments that I would be nostalgic about in the future was a new goal. If I could do it, it meant that I was producing meaningful moments.

And then, boom! When I was 23, I made an exchanged program and lived abroad for 1 year. And there it was. This was not worse or better than 12-17. It was just different. Different and immensely powerful. Now I'm 25 and I'm already nostalgic about 23. And looking forward to create my reality in a way that when I am 28, I will be nostalgic about 25, when 32, about 28, indefinitely...

 

 

[nistake]

And what about those times when you feel nostalgic towards an era where you weren't even alive? For me personally, the 80s are just like that. For example, when I listen to 80s synthpop or modern synthwave, I tend to feel a little bit of sadness/nostalgia even tho I was born in 1990.

[Michael569]

We often don't appreciate the beauty of a particular moment until its completely gone. We spent it arguing, looking at phones and judging everything where all the perfection was just there in the moment. I often feel regret for such moments not because they passed but due to lack of participation from my side. 

I sometimes like returning to those moments in my meditations and re-living them again. Often that helps to deal with the regret a bit

Edited August 5, 2019 by Michael569