The human mind is driven by action, we get ourselves involved in all sort of activities in order to ensure we keep moving and our minds occupied, we are referred to as social animals. We humans are individuals with different personalities, while some people prefer to just remain idle and watch everything else around them move on without even flinching. They have found ways to make their mind comfortable with idleness, inactivity has become an attitude for them and then we have people like me with super active minds. My mind is like those olding days train that operates on coal, as you go on a journey you have to constantly keep shoveling coal in it in order to ensure that the train maintains its speed and remains active.
I had to put myself up for self evaluation and study it carefully to understand it and find the most appropriate thing to keep my mind busy when I have no physical activities to engage in. It is annoying to feel uneasy and tormented by your own mind for no reason, I have seen people start doing unnecessary work just to get rid of idleness, it is quite funny but every human react to boredom in different ways and also some choose to engage in sport, most especially football. Well that isn't an option for me, I have a stature of an athlete but I barely I engage in sporty activities. Then you might be wondering what exactly do you then?
Never studied music, in fact I'm very feeble in the use on musical instruments, I'm just a person who loves music not because of anything spectacular. My love for music borders around its influence on my mind, I'm an individual with a complex mind, I have the habit of thinking about things that look so simple to others in a different way, always trying to find meaning to everything, so you can guess how messy my thoughts must be. At the heights of it I develop headaches and sometimes fever, it makes you wonder how something that occurs inside could have so much impact on the outside.
Till someday a solution came from nowhere, can't really say how I came across it. Somehow I figured out music assist me in processing my thoughts whenever I have a lot to think about. Infact anytime I'm writing music is always on, it makes the whole process smooth and faster, like a guide directing my thoughts. So, how does my favourite music make me feel? It is therapeutic, something that helps cools my soul in ways words can't describe.
Sadly not so many songs qualifies as being therapeutic not to talk of a song, I'm quite aware that music serves all kind of purpose but have you ever listened to song beyond or without the boom - boom - bang and slowly your mind connect with the lyrics like you are being spoken to, a song that lightens up your soul and make you cheerful against all odds, when last did you listen to such song? The true essence of music has gotten lost in the sound, A song is meant to communicate a message which can only be found in the lyrics and without it all we have is noise. I once listened to a song: Eyes of the untold by Lindsey Stirling throughout the song she didn't say any word, it was just musical instruments playing but it was so pleasing and I got curious about it, I ended up watching the musical video and I must say the message became a lot clearer and I was overcomed. I wouldn't deny the essence of sound in a song but it shouldn't be the only thing that defines a song.
Most people don't really know how powerful a beautiful lyrics mixed with the right sounds can be. To me it is like a drug that calms my mind and assist me in Putting my thoughts together. My first option used to be games and it still is to an extent but there is a limited duration I can play games for before eyes gets teary due to the screentime but for music, it is not something that has any effect on my eyes. When I listen to music, not those noisy ones, my mind focuses on the sounds and lyrics and gently I'm overcome by the new found silence.
For me silence is a rare thing and something I so much cherish, not just a silent environment but a silent mind, having nothing in mind to think about just silence and nothing more. The funny thing about me is that I can play a song on repeat for hours without having to change the song or move an inch. I mean I wouldn't want to switch to another song that would disrupt the rhythm that has created silence in my mind, So occasionally when my mind is tired of listening to the same sound and lyrics which rarely happens, I already created a playlist on my music app for songs with similar rhythm, so even if I have to switch to another song it wouldn't disrupt the silence.
What is the one song I can listen to on repeat without getting tired of it? Well, there are lot of it, like I said earlier, I already created a folder for my favourite songs most especially the therapeutic ones. So for the sake of this prompt I'm just going to randomly pick one out of the list. "Good job by Alicia keys", I became a fan of "Alicia keys" after watching an American TV series called " "EMPIRE" based on her performance with Jussie Smollett in a song titled "powerful" in the movie. Being overwhelmed by watching her performance and feeling connected to her songs, i went in search of her name and i saw other songs she sang but there was one in particular that hit me really hard which was titled "Good job".
Apparently the song was released during the covid 19 pandemic to honour and comfort the heroes who laid down their lives to ensure the safety of others. The weird part is anytime I am listening to the song "Good job" it always feels like the first time, the lyrics is magnificent. Like they say "Good music is more than just a sound, its essence is embedded in its lyrics" Truth be told my mind always gets gentled by the song because I feel I am being spoken to, I feel the singer knew exactly how I am feeling. It makes me give myself more credit for my efforts no matter how little it might be, it makes me feel it is ok not to have everything figured out, it is ok to let go, it is ok to rest a little, it okay not to be ok.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Your favourite music" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
Image 2 - Source
Image 3 - Source
