Recently our family lost a young friend and I personally found myself reeling from the effects of this tragedy and falling back a huge part of my life: music. Music has and always will be one of the most transcendental forms of art and is inherently part of being human. It can transport us to memories of the past, pull us back to the present and open us up to the possibilities of the future. So here are the three ways I have used music and how it can affect all of us.
1. Music is one of the most powerful way to change your emotional state.
We understand that the three pillars of our emotional state consist of: our focus, our language and our physiology. Now music — music can change all three of these in an instant. Have you ever noticed how when a song you associate with amazing memories comes on, you immediately change your focus to a feeling of gratitude and one of presence. It grounds you and it powerfully changes your focus, which in turn changes your emotional state.
Where focus goes, energy flows. -Tony Robbins
Not only this, but music and singing along to music, can unconsciously change your language in a heartbeat by radically changing how you converse with others. Music can also immediately change our physiology. It can make us sit up straighter, breathe deeper or dance like a lunatic, and all in turn positively effecting our emotions. Music directly affects the three areas which makes up our emotional state, and we can use it to instantly change us into a state we desire when we need to snap out of a vicious cycle of undesirable emotions.
SO USE IT…. tap to the beat, hum to yourself, sing loudly and out of tune or dance and all the while use it as a pattern interrupt to impact your life for the better.
2. Music connects you to others
When I found myself, along with my brother, confronted with this recent tragedy, we found ourselves recalling our favourite songs with a profound impact. Music brought us closer together. From the inspiring and uplifting scores of Hans Zimmer to the comic classics of Flight of the Conchords to the music that brought up old memories, all of them brought us closer together. Music allowed us to connect to our incredible memories of the past, it made us grateful for the present and it made us realise what the future could hold. Music in all its forms gave us a medium to express our emotions and relate to each other.
3. Music makes the silence more vivid
What I’ve noticed is that moment of silence that occurs when the music stops, when it echoes in your mind and slowly fades. When it leaves you in the intense silence. Music transcends us to the present, to the spaces between the noise, it makes the silence utterly encapsulating. It teaches us to value silence and crave the peace of the present. Music teaches us to listen without judgement and engage with the silence, not avoid and fear it. Music shows us that we really do only have one mouth but two ears, and it opens us up to the beauty of the silence and the skill of listening.
So make a playlist with the songs that inspire you, use music to connect to people both old and new, and let music show you how to enjoy the silence that it makes so vivid.
To listen is not to hear, but rather to engage with the silence and to learn the value, the gravity, the power of words.
P.S — Here are my top three deal breaker songs:
1. Lovers in Japan — Coldplay
2. Holocene — Bon Iver
3. Last night on Earth — Lemaitre
Originally published at liveoutstanding.wordpress.com on November 20, 2016.
Originally published at medium.com