Why Nostalgia Clouds Our Judgment

Our memories can play tricks on us. Good leadership needs to balance emotion and clarity.

Miranda by John William Waterhouse, 1875 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

“We are all sensitive to the splendors of beginnings, to the rare quality of those moments when the present is freed from the past without as yet letting anything shine through of the future that sets it into motion.” — Marc Augé, 2004

Nostalgia is something of a false prophet.

It feeds us powerful visions: memories of a glorious experience of the past—something that makes us long to relive it, like a first visit to a favorite location or a first viewing of a classic film.

Yet we can never reclaim it.

Therein lies the deceptive power of nostalgia. It’s able to create a deep and meaningful feeling within us, but it’s not the same as delivering an experience.

Especially at the holidays, when our playful memories serve up visions of sugarplums, snow angels, and laughter around the fireplace.

But it isn’t quite powerful enough to inoculate us from the cold reality of holidays past, present, and yet to come: recycle…