Last time we talked about (re)connecting with some old friends: books.
Reading is an activity nourishing empathy, supporting a change of perspective and enhancing gratitude. Moreover, it is also a way to create a calm experience where we are not overmuch stimulated.
There is another activity that provides a calm space: actively listen to music!  We are all used to have some kind of background noise around us. In films, for example, music is often unnoticed, vaguely pleasant, part of the decor. Often, we don’t put much attention to it.
Listen to music actively is another calm activity where the number of inputs is reduced, the body can relax, and our attention can focus on the perceptive sense of hearing. In addition, our eyes are, for once, not involved. They can be gently closed 🙂

Music may provide also a special experience that is not at all trivial: it triggers emotions. So the action of actively listen can be a commitment to create a space to feel.
When we are busy in our daily activity, this kind of space is limited. Our attention is engaged in doing or in planning. To take a moment to listen not only to the melody and to the lyrics, but also to what the music triggers inside us, may be a quite intense and regenerative experience.

Last year I was offered an inspiring list of songs (*) which aim is to reconnect and enhance positive emotions. At the bottom of this article you will find some of them. Of course how we perceive music is personal and influenced by our state, our history and our surrounding.

This is why I recommend:

• To create a list of „your“ music that can support you in connecting with positive/intense emotions.
• After you selected your list of songs, plan regular moments of active listening in your daily life to notice the emotions that music triggers in you.

And remember: music has been with humans since the beginning of our history and probably is a greater way to bond between people than language (°). Today it is probably too rare to have the chance to sing together. But we can still enjoy the vibes and the connections with this energy, also individually.

(*) Armand Amar, Poem of the Atoms  / Ennio Morricone. Gabriel’s Oboe / The Yuval Ron Ensemble, Under the Olive Tree from the book  Biologia della gentilezza – Immaculata De Vivo & Daniel Lumera 

(°) The Master and his Emissary by Iain McGilchrist

Picture taken in Internet