Are you listening?

Hey you! Yes. You.

Are you listening? Or are you just hearing? When you put on your headphones to listen to music, what exactly are you doing? Are you just looking to hear sounds that sound familiar to you? Patterns of instruments that have been ingrained in your consciousness through years of conditioning?

Are you perhaps listening because you feel obligated to notice? Because someone asked you to or shared a song with you? Just so you could finally say some words about whether it was “good” or “bad”?

When you listen, are you noticing the layers? The individual tracks? The buzz of a finger running across a bass string. How loud or soft everything sounds? Are the instruments close to you or far away? What do they make you feel? When you try to pay attention to such things, you will find your mind drifting.

Why? Because society has tricked our brains by feeding us art in tight packs of dopamine. Because our minds are occupied with the concerns of the world. Around the concept of “me”-ness and self-centred activity.

When you find this happening, bring your attention back to the music. Try to stay with it. Don’t judge yourself for not being able to. Don’t be elated if you can. Accept your thoughts as they come, as if they were a gently flowing river. Turn your attention back to the sound and let it guide you.

Do this before the next time you say “there’s no good music anymore”. Did you listen? What is the world saying?