^{Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash}

Looking back on the past makes people feel warm and fuzzy. But ultimately, this also helps with personal improvement.

It’s unhealthy to dwell in the past.

If one wishes to move forward, then it’s best to direct their attention ahead to the future, where their goals and ambitions lay. It’s a logical ideology. No person or matter progresses forward if their attention or gears aren’t directed forward. For people to walk, their feet aim where they wish to go. For any means of transportation to move, their gears are calibrated to move onwards.

Between the past and the future, the latter has always been favored with ample reason. But should this automatically mean that the former should be avoided like plague?

In looking onwards, people ensure they don’t get their priorities and objectives messed up. This entails being motivated, ambitious, and progressing. Hence, it’s the better option and perspective people should take. On the other hand, looking back on the past has been typically associated with regret or sorrow. After all, why else would people linger in the past if not for the desire to alter these events, hoping it’ll change something in the present? The “what ifs” and “what could be” that haunt people’s minds.

This is why it’s commonly discouraged for people to be nostalgic because this would only lead to self-reproach, doubts, and a tinge of shame. However, beyond these consequences, one can’t deny the magic and sentiment memories bring. Regardless of how terrible some memories are, people still look back at them with fondness and lightness blooming in their hearts.

Why is this so?

Perhaps it’s a little less about the memory or the context behind it but more about the fact that it once happened. The past was once the present that people have grown out of, a period in their lives they’ve endured and triumphed over. There’s happiness in knowing that these specks of events happened as a reminder of how capable and strong they are to overcome this period.

A perfect example of how memories don’t always have to be good to be pocketed and reminisced is laced in the wars that once occurred. Although they don’t deserve to be romanticized and recalled with joy in their hearts, they do provide a sense of meaningful ascendancy and victory to some.

For instance, in Those Were The Days by Kenny Harmon, the author traces back the vibrant history of the 1950s to 1960s – decades ago. It recounts the chaos when several wars broke out, the colorful history of drag racing, the NFL, and the story of one of the greatest athletes in the world. These events may not be the best or most impactful for most people, but they still contributed to how the world has been molded now. Looking back at these events, people better understand the changes in society and how it came to its present-day conditions. Weaved in the past can be patterns and solutions to current problems, the key to how these circumstances may be improved.

Indeed, the book traced everything memorable during those years, a means of treasuring these events for future generations to learn from. In this instance, it’s not for shame or regret that people reminisce. Instead, it’s to get information from previous experiences and apply whatever wisdom was gathered from them. Nostalgia then not only cultivates some sentimental value or a feeling of longing. But it also can be a primary means of surpassing the past and improving society.

A song. A scent. A word.

Many things can awaken memories, transporting people back to a special time when everything aligned for their happiness or success. Memories make people feel warm and wistful. Their past selves become someone close to a companion, a friend they think fond of upon looking back.

However, personal happiness or strategic insights for society isn’t the only influence nostalgia brings. Jogging memories and playing them back in the mind also triggers positive well-being.

It’s a means of improving people’s self-esteem and solidifying their sense of self. Reminiscing memories can be a means for people to review their values and morals. Was there a time when they practiced this, choosing one decision over another, and what was their reason for doing so? These make them realize what truly and consistently matters, establishing their interests and principles.

The past can also be people’s motivator for change.

Reminiscing allows people to realize how much they’ve grown and changed. Whether it’s positive or negative changes, looking back gives them access to know what went right or wrong. This leads to the opportunity for growth and correction. They’ll know the values they must further develop and practice or behaviors they must change.