Music as mood supplement

In search of flow, a state of optimal experience, I have found one method to be consistently reliable and virtually free: music.

The nature of music brings a certain rythm to our moment to moment experience, and since we can pick the music, we can choose the rythm. And yet – how intentional are we in your daily use of music to shift our state?

It’s not only about getting into flow. There are four fundamental types of music I use to get into four different states every day: rising, working, working out and winding down.

Rising (Gratitude)

If you hold a daily gratitude practice such as journaling 5 minutes to appreciate what is good in your life (research on benefits abounds), you may notice that over time it can become mechanical. To prevent this, I have found an enormous difference in how much my heart opens while I count my blessings if I have the right music in the background: does this melody elicit love or peace?

Music tends to elicit emotional response, and if the experience is strong enough, it gets stamped in your memory. Every time you listent to the same song, it triggers that emotion. So I continuously revert to a few songs that have that effect for me. I recommend you find your “5 to rely on” by looking backto blissful memories or films that moved you:

Here are four of mine:

• The beatitudes by Vladimir Martinov
• The Lamb by Tenebrae Choir
• Only Time by Enya
• Mahamrityunjaya Mantra by Hein Braat

Working (Flow)

This is were the definition of “flow” comes into full effect: “a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation”. An activity that demands your full engagement – not too easy, which bores you, and not too tough, which overwhelms you.

We can consider three distinct modes of working: Creative, Execution & Administrative.

A) Creative

What are you creating? When I’m writing something inspired, I want to be inspired. When I’m journaling to analyze what I should focus on the next 6 months, I may be in silence. When I’m painting, I may have hard house tribal music.

The point is this: your state influences your thoughts. Since your creation will be a manifestation of your thoughts, you can set the background for what kind of creative work you want to bring forth. Even music with lyrics can be part of the creative material your mind picks up on to create.

B) Execution

When creativity is not required, but rather quick problem solving or emails, then sustainable speed is the name of the game.

Music without lyrics seems to be the best way for me to be focused and productive.

Here is the one track I’ve used for years when I go into “execution mode:

• Live at Burning Man by Hernan Cataneo

C) Administrative

I dislike, to put it mildly, doing any kind of accounting work – even if just means sending my bank statements to my accountant. Here the focus is on minimizing suffering by minimizing emotion. I don’t want to associate great tunes with doing my taxes, so I simply do it in silent blocks of 25 minutes (pomodoros).

If the administrative task is not so hideous, I usually revert back to “Execution” kind of music.

Working out (Hormesis)

Bring me lyrics! Beats! Crescendos! Up the volume!

The purpose is to up my emotional state so that I can channel it into running and pullups. The opposite of equanimity.  Working out means reaching increasing amounts of demand (hormesis) in order to improve your fitness.

In other words: you want to sweat, stretch, struggle a little bit. These are short bursts, not sustainable, and a dollop of excitement in my day.

Here are the dance music mixes I use to up my tempo:

• Cake my day by Larry Koek

Winding Down (Peace)

I’m an early riser, which allows me to justify to myself taking it easy in the evenings.

After a full day of work, there is much more to winding down than just environmental music.

You can inspect the 5 sense doors and tone down stimulation to enable the slow down process.

As far as the audible sense door, I listen to background relaxing music without lyrics or in a language I don’t understand.

Volume is kept at an almost subliminal level.

• Spotify Peaceful Retreat playlist

Questions for reflexion

Your 4 categories may vary.

Your selected tracks will almost certainly be different.

But the question remains: are you intentionally harnessing the power of music to enhance your mood?

I encourage you to pause 10 minutes now and find 1 tune for each of the 4 types.

Then you can use them to enhance your mood every single day:

• Rising →
• Working →
  • Creative →
  • Execution →
  • Administrative →

• Working out →
• Winding down →