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During a full week in Myspace, I changed my mood from mischievous to nostalgic. Once done that, I started to receive messages from readers asking me what was wrong – given that some considered that being nostalgic was a bad thing in itself.
But I don’t think that being nostalgic for a week is such a problem.
So, here is the question of the week: how do see nostalgia?
P.S : For the next weeks, I shall be posting here the questions of the week under written form given that I will be travelling.
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Can I be the first to say that it’s not what it used to be?
[gets coat]
Thank you Jelly for filling my heart with lovely music. Yanni is a true genius. Some of the songs a heard and liked is Nostalgia reminds me of one of your books, The Storm and World Dance. His music reminds me of Balkan music like Goran Bregovic and Tose Proeski, my angel…
Yanni by the way reminds me of a friend who also is a genius in ingenering, he also plays the piano!
The Show must go ooon…”Queen”
Josephine i am very glad u liked it :)
I agree with you about the say ”your home is wherever ur heart is”…I have a permanent nostalgia for one place where i used to spend the summers during my childhood , I feel it’s the most beautifull place on earth (maybe half of it its true,but the other half is coz my roots belong there :-) )
I can talk about my nostalgic moments for very long…but anyway i think all of us share more or less the same opinion on this subject…
Kisses to all of you!
Jellie – thankyou for that link! wonderfull :-)
Something I too don’t understand. It seems so much these days we hear how we aren’t supposed to be nostalgic because it means we are living in the past instead of the present, and that we are “attached” to times long past. I don’t understand this. I’m still living here and now. Visiting with the past to me isn’t something “wrong”, even when I visit some of the sadder places. Which sort of brings me to an interesting thought…it seems to me more and more people are trying so hard to find ways not to feel…even if you were feeling kind of sad in your nostalgia over the week, what’s wrong with that?
I would say nothing.
If there are people writing to you wondering what’s wrong it might be because they have a problem themselves with their own past or old times.
In everything it is good if there is a balance. Too much or too little always makes it bad. What is too much or too little is of course different from person to person.
I loved what you wrote about reinventing your past, to give the moments which empowered you and led your forward more attention.
You are the living proof it is possible to live with a lot of scars and not be blocked by them.
I can feel nostalgic about old places where I have lived, feel a slight longing back to certain days and moments. But I once choosed to leave and live somewhere else. My memories goes with me.. there’s a saying your home is where your heart is, but my heart belongs to many places – so I guess I have a home at many places too.
*smile*
Josephine
Today’s quote on asking yourself ‘why am I doing this?’ when people travel why do they travel? why do people seek to see famous art pieces? I think it’s to see the beautifullness of what is left of the creation. People seek nostalgia everyday, in all they do. It’s what gives us hope of a better tomorrow.
Nostalgia is comprised of several mixed emotions! We cry, we smile, and we cherish our past moments. We cry remembering the unfortunate or bad moments we have passed through; we cry even remembering the extreme joyous, buoyant moments of our past life. Every now and then I love going nostalgic. I like analyzing my past faults as well as my achievements. Remembering them gives me a lot of strength. Some live in past, some go ahead in life keeping nostalgic moments in the deepest core of their heart. Even hard-nosed, pragmatic persons can’t help remembering their past moments of love, joy or celebration. Nostalgic moments and moods are indispensable in everyone’s life unless one is suffering from amnesia!
Being nostalgic is ok but everything must be normal.If u make it much more than normal it will be shown as u r everytime romantic.You must be different cuz if u won’t everybody will know only one way of you.Lucky people who can be different and understand everybody!
I think that nostalgia can be an emotion to let flood over you and take you over completely and i do believe that sometimes for whatever reason we need to succumb to that… but i am a person who is quite nostalgic and probably too often and i can lose myself in it sometimes….. it becomes painful… and it drains me.
feels like a mourning.. for something, someone, another time…. if it takes you over completely.. if you feel the nostalgia but dont “become” it then it feels like a nice warm blanket….a painful or a pleasureable nostalgia….xxx
When I hear the word ”nostalgia” the first thing i remember is this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U79esEAO7kk
For someone to create a so breathtakeing music and name it ”nostalgia” he must live it as a gift.
Being nostalgic for me is a gift…if you have nothing to be nostalgic for – u have lived ‘nothing’.
If i have to describe the feeling with simple words, i would say it’s ”happy-sad” .
To be honest, this is the first time i write to this blog, and first time i open it i see ”nostalgia”…something that i am living right now…and the past days.
I am very connected to this track, it’s a part of me and someone that has recently gone from my life, someone who is the reason for my nostalgic mood right now.
Is this only a ‘mind game’ or it’s some kind of a sign?! ( I guess i will keep on wondering.)
Love for everyone!
I personally think that it is beautiful to be nostalgic at least sometimes, to be completely overwhelmed by certain feelings about someone or somewhere can be wonderful and can motivate us to do things we wouldn’t usually do. I think it’s very necessary to feel this way because it helps us to remember and cherish the life we have lived, and this is what we have in the world that is completely ours!
Love from down under!
Dear Thelma,
“Each one of us carries a whole world in our minds and memories and ‘nostalgia’ are our treasures.” This really touched my Heart. What a beautiful say.
Big love to you.
Nostalgia for me is when i regret leaving a certain thing behind me..
When i feel like i want it so much.
Its often because i messed things up in it back then that led to a departure.
I dont like that feeling.. Because it makes me dont like myself nor my actions..
nostalgia for me is regret.
nostalgia is for me romance
Nostalgia, memories we don’t want to forget and want to relish….part of our past….I wonder if these memories would have become a part of our present would we still be able to relish those? I guess not….
And I believe in some moments of life it is not possible to just go on without these sweet memories of the past…..
as i see most of you think theres nothing wrong with being nostalgic… but who knows what to do if someone cant stop dreamin about yesterday,and thinks the precious things all belongs to the past, because the things what happened will get a gold frame,and be the thing what we call : “our life” in our mind..
its so easy to say “live your life and dont think about the past” ,..yes ..it sounds easy and nice but how to avoid the past the memories what made us to what we are now…? does anybody knows? …
Paulo,
Não existe absolutamente nada errado em sentir nostalgia. A língua portuguesa é a única que conheço que tem uma palavra linda que define a nostalgia, “saudade”. O que em Inglês a tradução, em minha opinião, seria “ longing for’. O que é muito diferente de sentir tristeza. Gostaria muito de ler o seu novo livro, espero que algum amigo solidário me envie um exemplar do Brasil.
Beijos
Joana
Houston. Tx
Hi,
That’s funny because you talk about nostalgia… and I met a guy with whom I have a extraordinary day and he forgot his book in my purse, The Zahir… He told me to look at a page that he marked, one that speaks about liberty. Now, no more news… that’s not cool to take Paulo Coehlo that way. ;)
Well, I dont know if what I feel is nostalgia or the consideration that being a woman with big dreams is sometimes harder to live… than being a man. Same if times have changed…
Paulo,
I think that people often mistake nostalgia as ‘missing”sadness’..
When we are nostalgic, we are tender. A walk back into memory tends to leave us softened, brimming with love. Hindsight is 20/20 right?
Those doorways that find us and show us our younger selves are gifts indeed. I don’t think that it’s ‘missing’ that we feel but perhaps the magnitude of ‘how far’ we have traveled to here.
Blessings~
Nostalgia is sad when it brings up the realisation of loss, when there is nothing in my present life that brings me joy. It can be painful then. Perhaps nostalgia can teach me maturity – because surely it is foolish to feel pain over the loss of experiences that were right for their time, but are MEANT to be over. Perhaps all I need to do is to look back and be happy that what was, was.
Some people confuse nostalgia with sadness. Nostagia is more like being in touch with a memory or a feeling, or maybe seeing an object that triggers things that make you feel like going back in time, for that matter it could be an incident or an experience that triggers nostalgia, I find that it could be romantic.
I mean that nostalgy came from in side of you.You decide to do something and try hard .If its not like u imagine it breaks your neck.Maybe I ll give a simple example you want to say hi to boy that you like or maybe you want to say person who is important for you how much means for you .But you didn t say it because you are afraid about something.than the days go on and you are still with your plan in your head .one day you ll whake up and you know that is too late for everythink the boy have another girl the person is dead .Than it came .Why we are always afraid to do and say what we feel .The life is too short and we have a long letre in ours heads.
I ll tell you The mistake what people did you its later ok but the your mistake on your own self stay with you forever.
Nostalgic
I am the person who try to fight all the time of my lif e.I am 25 and always nostalgic .Because always I try to be good mood but finaly after heard work I fall down again and again .I fall down in to my nostalgy and give my self questions .Why I didnt do what I want and fall from step nine to step 1.I have feeling that my life is ruined by me.I cant help my self I always return what I do wrong but I am on the same line I want to live I love life .Every morning I woke up I thank a god that I have legs and hands .I dont know how I start to live like I want .
being nostalgic sometimes is part of being human, living in nostalgia is of course fruitless. till one is in human form, no harm ‘enjoying’ all the plethora of emotions it offers.
In her scheme of things, the divine mother has allotted special place to humans. free will and mind, puts man at cross roads; resulting in such a wide range of expereinces that sometimes Gods too descend on earth in human form to ‘enjoy’ this roller coster ride of human life. Nostalgia is part of the plethora. excessive of anything is bad. long before my guru had told ‘ati sarvatra barjayet’ extreams of everything is forbidden, even nostalgia.
secondly, as u grow old, u tend to become more nostalgic, so paulo dear check out u may be growing old.
love
aditya
Nothing is definitely wrong with being nostalgic…we can be nostalgic without being sad, maybe it just connotes sadness in a way, but in fact it is a state of being in deep thought, reminiscing…so to speak. It’s the same as being alone and not feeling lonely.
First, i just want you to know I really admire you as a great author and an inspirer of people like us(book lovers)…and i am glad you have this site. second, to answer your question regarding nostalgia…Isn’t being nostalgic a prelude to another great book?
I have been nostalgic for 2 months now..
there is nothing with it at all..
just the fact of missing things that can never be again..and for my part, having a good feeling about it..
Olá Paulo,
Uma vez perguntei a um namorado o que ele tinha,e ele me disse que estava nostálgico.Fiquei triste a pensar o que seria nostalgia,logo fiquei com ciúmes do que desconhecia e sequer havia perguntado.Perguntei o que era nostalgia a ele e diante da resposta ao invés de ciúmes pude confortavelmente recordar bons momentos e flashes de minha vida tal qual ele estava fazendo.Quem não tem o que recordar não viveu.Não há nada errado em ficar uma semana em imersão da nostalgia.Além do mais somos livres.
Um grande e gentil abraço
Mônica
Nostalgia can be understood as something other that fondly remembering events in the past. It can be understood as a special kind of remembering which involves an idealization of past circumstances — Focussing on the ‘good’ associated with a set of events — thus remaining out of synch with reatlity. This idealization evokes pain by comparison with the current state of one’s life. ‘algos’ is translated to english as pain. Thus nostalgia is a painful return to the past. Painful because it is distorted by remembering only the perceived good of an experience — painful because current life circumstances cannot measure up to this kind of idealization.
Again not all memory review is nostalgic in this sense and current usage of the term is usually associated with reviewing fond memories. However, I believe it is the kind of nostalgic pursuit discussed above which causes people concern.
When I googled the word “nostalgic” I got following definition-
“a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time”
The desire of being in the past or former time in one’s life. Many people go in that phase, and most of the times I become nostalgic too.
It is the wish of going home, reaching to the past very good memory one had and now in the present he cannot find such memories again. Being myself so far from the experience which I had achieved is asking me to become nostalgic too.
Too much of everything is bad, that is true. However, I think I like being nostalgic many of the times in my life. I remember old days and want to go back in those days or remember going back in time.
It has nothing to do with being sad, being sad is different then being nostalgic. Sad is just like feeling unhappy, sad is not in the present, sad is something related with worry but nostalgic is remembering the past or want or desire of going through the moments in the past.
We always want to remember our past and want to go back in our past simply because it is good for us too, to learn from our past and see what is going on in our present moment. It gives an impression to the people that being nostalgic the person is feeling sad but eventually that is not true.
Having sad that nostalgic is not being sad, I would rather add that, When a person is being nostalgic he goes in the moment of silent and thinks or remembers his experience about the event that happened, he sometimes may even remember those memories; it can also result in the laughter, it can also result in pain, it can also result in smile.
Sadness is always with us, it is the integral part of our day to day life. Happiness is something which a human will dream to achieve except me. I have the proud feeling that, I am some kind of happiness but again, that is wrong.
Being nostalgic is true to many of us, and we go or become nostalgic which does not mean we are sad but it means we are feeling little bit about our past and we want to cherish those memories once again in the near future.
La nostalgia fa parte della nostra vita!Proviamo nostalgia per i tempi passati, di solito per le cose belle che ci sono successe….arrivano i ricordi ed ecco che arriva la nostalgia. Io spesso provo nostalgia per delle persone che non sono più con me, per delle belle esperienze vissute, per dei momenti che rimangono indimenticabili e che vorrei rivivere!!
Un bacio
BArbara
Dear Paulo
I think you´ve got quite a few answers here..some quite similar..so…I would also have a question..can you be nostalgic about the future? I think you can..
Anyway you can write at least one book about that – the result will be good as usual!? I discovered your works just a few months ago and you make me think of the great Eliade – my favourite writer in school
Love
Nicole
Oi, Paulo! Uma mensagem em português, pra variar. Li a matéria na Caras e vi o endereço do blog lá. Adorei a frase: “meu maior luxo é ser dono do meu tempo”. De fato, esse é o maior luxo de todos, creio.
Eu também tenho um blog que me dá muito prazer! Chama-se A pausa do tempo. Quando puder, dá uma olhada.
Seu novo livro está em pilhas e pilhas nas livrarias, já vi o primeiro capítulo amarradinho com a nova Caras, também. E semana passada saiu matéria na Playboy, muito boa!
Um grande beijo em vc e na Cris, volta e meia vou entrar aqui e comentar.
Quanto á nostalgia, bem, ela é sinal de que a gente viveu coisas boas, que merecem ser lembradas com saudade. Até!
Dear Paulo,
I love moments of nostalgia, when they come I live them as any other moments in life but i do not keep them, I let them go, anyway they will come back.
They are sign of the precious past moments in time !
With love,
Luce
Dear Paulo:
On Monday, I started to think about the past. Why did certain things happen to me. Why did I make the choices I made? During this process, I entered a state that I really couldn’t describe. I usually call it my “blah” mood.
I’ve been reading your new book Brida, which amazingly enough came to me at the right time. I find myself searching for a soul mate and undertaking a spiritual journey. While reading about the tradition of the moon and the tradition of the sun, I got to thinking about what that meant.
I came into work and immediately googled “tradition of the moon”. To my surprise, it brought me to your site and this notion of nostalgia.
I was feeling bad about my reflective feelings and the past. Then a friend, Jeff, who happens to visually impaired (although he sees the world better than many of us can even begin to imagine) said something to me that stuck. “Laticha, we have to go through these feelings. Feel the sadness, even just for a bit. You are a human being…with emotions. These feelings help us to reflect and learn about our path. Only then can we release our fears for the new things to arrive.”
I think nostalgia is an ok feeling, as Paulo pointed out, just for a week. However, for me, it usually only lasts a day. I truly feel the emotion, let it go and feel better about me.
So, Monday I felt Blah…Tuesday I had a break though, this morning, Wednesday, I looked in the mirror and said ” You are so beautiful.” Then I gave myself a big hug!
Safe trip Paulo and all…
Love,
Laticha
I have ellaborated the subject in my blog http://lifeprobabilities.blogspot.com/
I think that nostalgic feeling by itself is not bad. If you feel nostalgic about something, it means that you miss something good, a feeling, an event, people, places etc…
If you miss them it means that you have been lucky enough to experience, feel and appreciate. So if you look at the nostalgic feeling from the global point of view, it’s a view and rememberance of a very positive feeling projected into the present. Hope my thoughts were not too complicated.
Hello!
To Mr. Paolo:
Good Day!
I am a high school student having a novel report for on of your famous books, The Valkyries.
I am having a hard time finding its historical background.
As the author of the book itself, I believe that you will be able to provide me the true historical background of the novel.
Would you be kind enough to e-mail me its historical background?
My greatest thanks has been given to you!
Again, Thank You!
Nostalgia is Saudades so no problem there for us portuguese speakers.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being nostalgic. there’s just that feeling of longing.. that strong desire to go back to your past where everything was less chaotic.. like your childhood.
sometimes, no, each time i feel nostalgia, it makes me want to cry, i don’t know where to hide, i want to scream, most of the time it makes me awfully sad. but then, i’d realize soon after how much i should appreciate life, my family, all the blessings from God. being nostalgic inspires me to move on, it actually fires me up and gets me to focus on my dreams..
hi. firstly i must congratulate you over the tremendous success of all you books. the one i read first was THE ALCHEMIST and absolutely enjoyed it.i liked it even better after reading THE SECRET by RHONDA BYRNE.there is a strong underlying principle in both the books – about the soul of the world and realizing your dreams.thank you so much for all that your books have taught me and inspired me.cheers
When I’m nostalgic, I’m deeply appreciating and celebrating the past moments, that still touch me no matter how long ago they happened. This often seems to happen when I’m in a restaurant with my boyfriend. My mind travels to the other times I’ve been to restaurants, cos they are always some sort of special moments and usually abroad during memorable travels. I’ve always visited home for some time every summer since I left 4 years ago and during those times I often go back to my old habits of the years of being a youth, sitting in front of my window, writing in my notebook, longing for the adventures of the future and for more creativity to hit me. It gives me room to dream. …And then comes the time to act.
In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with being nostalgic from time to time. This is somekind of a force that makes you be grateful for the life you have lived, the people you have meet, makes you apreciate the person you are at the moment, and clarifies the person you want to become in the future. To me, being nostalgic makes you understand the purpose of life: live it to the fullest and make the best of it!!! After the magic nostalgic moment, which many people migth think that is when you are in a weak and vulnerable position, a more secure and determine person derrived from whithing yourself to continue the journey that awaits, the one God planned for you!!!
I cherish those moments of nostalgia. They bring a nice chill, sometimes little butterflies in my stomach. Certain smells, food, music from home… from my childhood, my adolescence.
Looking through old pictures remind me of places I haven’ been in a long time, and bring some unforgeable memories.
A lot of people those days are scattered all over the globe; looking for a better living, a good job or to be with a loved one, for one reason or the other, we leave the familiar places, the familiar faces… the original home. We make new home, new friends and new family, but always somewhere inside there is a beautiful place that we carry, we are not always necessarily aware of it, but from time to time, we get little reminders, and get that beautiful nostalgic feeling, and some times it is sad, but not for long, because we know that we have it good right here.
Thanks for posting the sound of music on myspace, it reminds me of those times when i was watching films with my grandma. I realize now that those times with those movies, that seemed to be more realistic than our “reality”. So i tend aswell to be a little nostalgic, but it strengthens me for bringing those healing moments in nowadays trouble and weaknessdriven times
Thanks for your post again
Greetings from Germany
Georg
Hi,
There’s nothing wrong with being nostalgic. Sometimes it can be a wonderful feeling to live again the magic we lived before.
BTW I think that in nowadays there’s no much space for it, anyway. We have to live today, and be ready for tomorrow, always looking ahead, never looking back.
This is silly because if you forget about the past, you can also forget about the mistakes that you did, and do it all over again.
Have a nice day!
Drika
I’m a nostalgic person. And the others thinks that i’m wrong… maybe i am, because i don’t know why i feel nostalgic. It’s a status in my life. And when I realize about that it’s when “other lifes” thoughts became stronger in my mind.
And, I like to feel nostalgic… In this way I can observe world in other ways…I can feel the air breathing through my skin…I can touch the universe…
I see nostalgia as a sense of longing. It is this strong sense of sentimental yearning that sends us back through our memories to search for ___?___ (each of us must fill in the blank as it’s different for us all). One thing that I’m a bit nostalgic for at times is when my daughters were little and all the fun things we used to do together. We still do many things together, but it is all scheduled around their “grown-up” schedules of jobs, vacation time, money, etc. I guess I would even say that my nostalgia is for just a “simpler” time.
Take care and have a very relaxing vacation full of memory-making events and places that will have you adding them to your “nostalgia collection.” :-)
Olá, Paulo!
Assim como muitos, também vi sua entrevista no Fantástico e fiquei sabendo da existência do seu blog. Achei muito interessante, só é uma pena que nem todos possam entendê-lo.
Escrevo-lhe para dizer que li uma de suas peças, Diário de um Mago. Gostei muito. Já percorri o caminho de Santiago de Compostela (mas de carro, hehe) e gostei muito depois de tê-lo visto em seu livro. Mas também quero mostrar-lhe uma coisa, afinal, o blog é um sítio eletrônico público onde as pessoas possuem única e exclusivamente para mostrar sua opinião.
Perambulando pelos blogs de conhecidos (sou aqui de Foz do Iguaçu), achei esse http://www.escritoamao.blogspot.com, e vi que há um poema onde cita o nome de vários escritores, inclusive o seu, mas não de uma forma tão agradável assim. Nada pessoal. É uma crítica e acho que todos elas deveriam ser bem-vindas.
Admiro seu trabalho, assim como o do colega que escreveu este poema. Afinal, não há diferença nenhuma.
Um abraço, Gabriela.
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