Music.

Every culture uses music to express emotions, convey ideas and to tell stories. It is an intrinsic part of each society and culture on this planet. Music makes up the back ground noise everyday in America. You can’t enter a store, restaurant or elevator without encountering music. Most people don’t realize that music can not only bring pleasure to the listener but it can also be used to control the emotions of the listener. Retail stores were quick to discover this truth; they learned that playing loud music with a rapid beat lead to more spontaneous purchasing and there by generated more income for the stores. What does this mean in everyday life?

To me this means that I need to become more conscious about the music I allow into my life. Given the subconscious effects that music can have on my day to day life and disposition why wouldn’t one want to exert a positive influence on this? Music can change emotions and reshape your outlook on a situation. You can alter your mood simply by listening to a different type of music. Some music can make you happy, some can make you sad, some can make you angry; some has even been said to make you hungry or suppress your appetite.

Given the prevalence of music around us, and the amount of stores, restaurants and businesses using it to control our decision making abilities, why are we not taking back control? Possibly because it is a passive battle; one that is fought without anyone every being aware that it is happening. We often associate battles with physical fighting and physical harm being inflicted upon the combatants. More often than not the most damaging battles are the ones that are fought without an actual shot being fired or a punch being thrown.

I have begun taking back control. About a year ago I realized that listening to depressing music when I was depressed did me no good. In fact it probably only made things worse. Instead I began to listen to happy music when I was sad. It was a frustrating change at first; the joy in the songs would grate on my nerves and make me irritable. After all if I was upset why would I want to be cheered up? I was upset for a reason and my emotions at the time felt justified. After a couple of songs I would begin to feel just a bit silly, I would begin to think about things more objectively. I now longer had the unspoken agreement to my irrationality; instead the music was just unbiased, irrelevant background noise.

We are what we repeatedly do. ~ Aristotle, Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC)