Nostalgia is a Muse

The University of Southampton researchers Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut have spent the past decade studying the benefits of nostalgia. Not only do they disavow its disease status, they have conducted numerous studies (5) that suggest that nostalgia can make us more creative, open-minded, and charitable. The definition of nostalgia used by Sedikides and Wildschut as a “sentimental longing for one's past” is based on the contemporary usage by laypersons across many cultures. This time-based definition of nostalgia also represents a departure from its original geographical or cultural coinage by Hofer who viewed it as a longing for the homeland and not one’s personal past.