Music is powerful. Music can influence you in good or bad ways. It can create calm and peace, joy and happiness, sadness and despair, or chaos and havoc. Music is energy and its abilities are endless. What we choose to do with it is key to how we live our lives.
I reflect on a time way back in the day when I was a young man navigating adolescence like a drunk sailor. I listened to all kinds of stuff but during this period in my life, I listen to Heavy Metal music and hardcore punk. Riding skateboards and listening to tunes was the way of life. Fast and aggressive beats made for better skateboarding! Or so I thought.
The power of influence
I am by no means a psychology major, but I now understand that for me music is/was infectious with my way of life. For years many people had their preconceived notions about music and its message conveyed to frail and fragile minds. I stood my ground and said that they were the crazy ones because it’s just music right?
I don’t believe that music by itself could cause someone to go crazy and do unspeakable acts, but I do believe that based on someone’s way of living and mental state at the time could be a contributing factor.
If you are down in the dumps and mad at the world with hatred and rage, then listening to angry music may be a recipe for disaster if left unchecked over time. It’s just adding fuel to the fire.
Positive or Negative
The lyrics in music can contribute to whichever current mood you are in or get you out of that mood. Positive or negative, you decide. For me, I realized that there was a period in my life where I wasn’t in a good space, and during that time the music of choice wasn’t really uplifting or inspiring in any way shape or form.
I usually have music on overnight as I sleep and one morning I woke up listening to a song. The song that was playing was really negative and just made me think about the fact that a good percentage of the music I was listening to really didn’t have a good message.
Think about the lyrics
I then imagined that all the hours I was listening to those types of songs even in my sleep could possibly play a role in my unhappiness. After that I decided to change things up by playing more uplifting music and during the overnight hours, I played only good soothing music with no lyrics. I also removed a majority of the negative music off of my playlists to see what would happen. Let the music inspire you!
The personal experiment worked really well for me. My moods were happier and this complimented my new-found positivity on such a grand level. Don’t get caught up in dogma, realize your daily patterns.
BONUS
Listening to certain types music can reduce pain and stress.
Additionally they could help in memory retention.
Some examples are:
Classical-
Mozart
Chabrier
Bach
Nature Sounds-
Rain
Waves
Thunderstorms
Cinematic Movie Music-
There are many different ones available. Find some and add them to a Concentration playlist.
Conclusion
Music can recharge the soul or deplete it. (In my opinion of course) Find music that keeps your spirits high with good and positive messages to keep the goodness going. Try an experiment with the different styles of music that you listen to and see how it contributes to your mood.
Do you feel your mood changes when you listen to different types of music? What type of music do you listen to?
