childlike mindfulness
A mindful, musical epiphany:
I have been obsessed with music since I was 7 years old, when I would listen to my parents REM CD on loop until I was old enough for them to take to the record store and buy me my own Hootie & the Blowfish cassette, and later, Mariah Carey CD.
The songs that I listened to on repeat when I was young are imprinted in my mind. No matter how many years pass or how long it’s been since I’ve heard it…I will forever know every single word to obscure Lisa Loeb tracks and “Losing my Religion.”
How is that even possible? To not hear a song for 20 years and be able to effortlessly sing along from start to finish when it randomly comes on the radio? It’s almost like it’s ingrained in the body; at the very list, forever hidden in my mind.
These days, if I’m awake, I have tunes on. I’m still constantly listening to music and have a habit of digging my heels into a single song and listening to it on repeat all day/week/month.
So: you’d think I’d learn all the words to this song pretty quickly after hearing it 10 times in an hour.
But most of the time…I don’t. Why?
Why now, do I listen to a song over and over again and still, after weeks or years sometimes, not know all the words? When I was a kid I knew the lyrics almost immediately after I fell in love with a song. And I STILL know them.
It’s because, as an adult, I am so damn distracted.
I am almost always doing more than one thing at any given time. Examples:
listening to music & working
eating breakfast & scrolling through instagram
making dinner & on the phone with friend
walking & listening to podcast
driving & mentally going through sequence for class & listening to podcast & texting friend at red lights WHILE also stressing stressing about being late for said yoga class.
That’s a lot of stuff at one time. But think about it. How often do you find yourself in similar situations?
I had so much love for music when I was a kid. It was a physical, emotional experience for me to sing along to Jewel and my other favorite artists. I remember being so young and barely understanding what the adults were singing about, but still feeling viscerally moved by the lyrics and melody.
Listening to that song was all I needed in that moment. It’s the only thing I was doing. Listening to a song on the radio or in my room through my boombox. That was the event.
Sometimes, it would be accompanied with drawing or playing with my 40 stuffed animals. But for the most part, I sat there. Listened. Sang. Took it in. And I was so very content with those moments. I look back so fondly at how simple my life was, up in my room recording cassette tapes from my favorite songs on the radio.
I was so mindfully and graciously immersed in the music. In those moments.
Fast forward a couple decades. I still love music in the same way. I have infinite access to my favorite songs and albums. I never not have music playing.
But I guess, it’s not enough anymore. Something always needs to be done alongside the listening. Things need to be accomplished. I have to move, or think, or type, or do something else while it’s playing.
That’s why I have a harder time remembering lyrics. I am constantly distracted and multitasking.
Really the only time I am single tasking is in my yoga & meditation practice. And that is, exactly what it is…a practice. Keeping your mind on the present moment & single task at hand is not easy.
My mind wandered in 6th grade. There was daydreaming about boys and stressing about not being invited to a sleepover. But for the most part, I think I had an easier time staying in the present moment. There was less distraction and I placed less pressure on myself to constantly be productive.
I look back at that 10 year old girl and admire the way she loved the simple moments. The soundtrack of my childhood will always be some of the most influential music in my life. In fact, when I hear it now, it helps to connect me to the present and reel me in from everything else I’m doing…if for only 3 minutes.
Maybe there are songs that remind you of a time you felt connected, present, grateful, loved. Try putting them on and see if those feelings come back. Make listening to that song the only thing you are doing. This is practicing mindfulness.
It’s hard to stress about clients and the mortgage when you’re singing to Alanis at the top of your lungs.
