I have recently added a new element to my meditation practice: music. With the assistance of a dear friend who is a music therapist, I have a CD of four musical works that I use to help me attain a meditative state and experience mindfulness.
As a musician, there are so many ways that I listen to music. Sometimes I listen to music and analyze it (its form, its melody, its rhythms, etc.) as it happens. Sometimes I let music wash over me. Sometimes I am on the edge of my seat, dying to know what will happen next in the music. Sometimes I experience the music on a purely emotional level and plunge into another world of feelings.
The way that I am listening to music in my meditation practice is yet another form of listening: listening with entrainment. I am tuning my energy and my internal state to the energy and state of the music. As the music swells with greater intensity, I follow it. As the music settles into stillness, so do I. I let the music take me on its journey.
So far (and it’s only been a few days), I am enjoying this new relationship that I am forging with music. It will be interesting to see where this new relationship takes me as I continue this practice.
I recently read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and the book made an impression on me. One of the key messages in the book that resonated for me has to do with our search for meaning in our lives.
People search for ways that their lives have meaning, either through what they do, through whom they love, or through how they respond to suffering. Some people may find meaning in their lives through more than one of the above, but Frankl stresses that at least one of them is necessary for a meaningful life.
I find meaning in my life through all three of the above. I am fortunate that I have devoted my professional life to music and music education. These are things that I love and feel very passionate about. Between teaching, advocating, researching, writing, planning programs, presenting, and gigging, I spend most of my time actively engaged in music in some way. My life has meaning through what I do.
I am a resilient person who has responded to my challenging family-of-origin circumstances by creating a very strong and rich family of choice – a wonderful husband, as well as a network of close friends who mean a great deal to me and who are like family members. My relationships with these people bring me great joy, support, comfort, love and companionship. My life has meaning through whom I love and through my response to suffering.
Where do you find meaning in your life? Do you buy Frankl’s list of the ways that our lives have meaning?