Music * Emotions * Experience'ing * Movies
“When you really pay attention, everything is your teacher.”
-unknown-
If your a facebook user you've probably seen all the 'memes' being made, liked and shared around. The above quote is something I found in a facebook meme and it really resonated with me. It brought to mind a scene from the Karate kid where the 'sensei' says to the student that "everything is Karate" He goes on explain that 'it' is in how we move through the world, it is how we interact with people.. or in waxing a car..
This made me think of a quote I heard somewhere that basically said something to the effect that.. if you truly master one thing, you will have mastery of all things.. (fractaly' speaking this can make sense)
"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water... be like water my friend."
-Bruce Lee
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It is likely that your ability to intentionally hold a particular thought in mind or feeling within your heart, that the mind can tend to wander or the feelings can seem to fade. If there is repetition or a ritual in the way you condition your ability to retain intentional thoughts and feelings (be it meditation, religious practice, or daily routine) then you can more easily hold the experiences for extended periods of time.
Whatever emotions we strongly experience they will have a lasting effect because they actually resonate throughout your entire body. And our emotional states are like windows that frame our experiences in validating way.
This is why if you are stressed, worried, or frustrated.. Lets say you get into a fight with a family member or friend, it is not so easy to just immediately change your emotional state to a more desired one. This is because the emotional refractory period frames our perception of our experience to continue a search that says, “this is why I feel this way.”
Equally so with your more desired feelings! I’m sure there are times you can remember when you had an amazing day! When everything just seemed to go perfect, to go your way, everything just fit so naturally into place. People often describe some of these experiences as being in the zone or being in tune.
People say that negativity outweighs or has a stronger affect over the positive experiences for people. You might begin to wonder if this can simply be because of repetition and conditioning. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Thought there is always room to improve when talking about something perfect, the point is if your practicing incorrect techniques for any discipline then you are building less than optimal patterns of behavior.
Interestingly you can find these things reflected in statements such as, “time flies by when your having fun” and time slows down when you are not. This is a fascinating phenomenon called “Time Distortion” and if “time is relative to the observer,” then can’t we reverse these experiences so that,
Time slows down when you’re really having fun and enjoying the moment, and if you’re having a less than positive experience time just quickly passes by?
Have you had experiences like this?
These are usually associated with “being in the zone” whether it is in playing base ball and you see the ball coming your way, you can feel your heart beat as you clench the bat and automatically naturally move all the muscles in your body in perfect precision to meet the ball with the side of the bat your swinging.
Or snowboarding, if you’ve ever been skiing or snowboarding then you know what I’m talking about here. There is nothing in the world like screaming down a mountain face at 60 plus miles an hour floating above the top layer of snow. In slow motion you can feel the perfect symphony of balance, speed and gravity all playing their part. Seeing things along the peripheral vision jetting by as you keep your gaze fixated ahead, the shimmering arrays of sparkling sunlight reflecting off of each snowflake along the blanketed sea of a brilliant White Mountain face. There is nothing like it.
But as I’m not much of a baseball fan, or if you’re not much of a skier or snowboarder, how might be your experience be of these kinds of “time distortion” phenomena?
When I first intended to start writing this post I set out use music and movies to carry across the embedded meanings here. This is because whether you play a musical instrument, love to go to concerts, or just listen music. People love music. People are music. People love movies. We love stories. Your life is a story.
Are you the “actor” you want to be in the movie/story of your life?
The other day I was my skipping through my Ipod and a podcast (basically talk radio show) came on which really caught my attention. The guest on this talk show posed the question, “what is your media diet?” He went on to explain that just like food, the media we allow to entertain us has a big impact upon our bodies and lives.. From music to television programs or movies. What if some of the media we are consuming is to our lives like black tar is to a smoker’s lung?
What if we are constantly learning when we watch movies, would we want to learn or have integrated into ourselves what we are being entertained by?
I consider my tastes in music, movies and more to be eclectic.. I don’t know about you but I do like entertainment that I know doesn’t have the most positive effect on me in the general sense. Though there is always something positive you can find in anything negative and visa versa. I believe effective learning is an intentional choice.
Anyways, the speaker was John Raatz, he is a guy who partnered with Jim Carrey and Eckhart Tolle and their attempting to create a community of transformational media that serves as an uplift-ment and a catalyst to changing the world in a positive way through media. As I sat there and reflected on this speaker’s message I thought, “What inspires me? What gives me a sense of awe-mazement? How can I intend more of these experiences and emotions into my life simply through observing my media consumption?”
So I’ve come to find a good list of awesome uplifting, and inspiring videos for which their message really has changed or added color to the way I look at things. I want to share a few quotes about music from just one of these videos.
August Rush.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you go buy it! It is a really captivating movie whose story plot and message is really emotionally impactful. It is about a boy separated from his parents yet he imagines that he shares a connection to them through music. He attempts to connect and reunite with his parents in a way he isn’t to sure of how it will work out, but he strongly feels that music will aid him in this.
Here are some of the quotes I found that resonate with me and I wanted to leave you with them, hope you enjoy.
“Listen… can you hear? ..The music? I can hear it everywhere.. in the wind, in the light, it’s all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do is listen.”
“where I’ve grown up they try to stop me from hearing the music.. but when I’m alone it builds up from inside me..”
“..sometimes the world tries to knock it out of you, but I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tails..”
“Do you know what music is?
It’s Gods reminder that there is something more in this world. It’s a harmonic connection to all that is, even in the stars.”
“Do you know what’s out there (as they gaze up at the brightly lit starry night)? It’s a series of higher tones.. its an overtone.
So only some of us can hear it?
Only some of us are listening.
What movies inspire you? What music uplifts you? What quotes do you live by? I want to thank you in advance for it is because people like you who share these things that positive thoughts and ideas can continue to spread through you, be it a Facebook post, like, share or comment here.
:)
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