What you hear has a powerful affect on your life. Music and sound are very real forms of energy that, like other energy forms, can be controlled and directed to achieve a desired outcome. This energy has the power to do things like shatter glass, affect the functioning of internal organs, and even be used to subdue an enemy. It can also be used, among other things, to facilitate physical healing, reduce pain, treat psychological and behavioral disorders, improve one’s strength and ability to compete, and enhance the ability to develop and learn.
Ongoing research and testing is uncovering amazing applications and possibilities for the use of music and sound as a strategic tool for allowing people to live happier, healthier, and more effective lives. The challenge and opportunity is to understand and use this powerful energy source as a more deliberate tool for good in our lives.
Every day, we are bombarded with music and sounds that are either inhibiting or enhancing the effectiveness and quality of our lives. While some of what we hear is useful, oftentimes more of what we hear is noise pollution that has a detrimental affect on our lives. Often, without being aware, we allow our days to be filled with this noise pollution that takes a heavy toll on our mental, emotional, and physical states of functioning. As these three states of functioning are the key drivers of how we feel, how we perform, and what we are able to accomplish, understanding and directing the things that affect them should be a bigger priority in our lives.
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
Victor Hugo
Volumes of research and testing have shown that music and sound have the powerful ability to help transition us into and out of these different states of functioning. It does this through various audio elements like the words, musical structure, and vibration patterns that are used. The scientific fact is that the energy and elements that make up music and sound are powerful facilitators of both motion and emotion, which have been shown to have a direct biological effect upon how our bodies function. Its occurrence is complex but the fact that it does happen can be personally tested through simply paying greater attention to every day interactions.
A Simple Example
A man named Mark shared how he came to recognize that his difficulty with sleeping was directly related to a combination of mental, emotional, and physiological responses he was having to sounds he was hearing throughout the night. Mark explained how he was having difficulty sleeping through the night and was feeling the ill affects of many nights without normal sleep. He felt frustrated by his circumstances because he often went to bed exhausted and quickly fell asleep only to find that he tossed and turned to the sounds of his furnace continually turning on and off throughout the night. He also noted that not only was he cycling in and out of sleep in sync with his furnace, but he was also experiencing high levels of anxiety that created physiological shifts in his breathing, heart rate, and muscle tension. The overall result of all this was a mental, emotional, and physical state that was further preventing him from getting deep and restful sleep.
After learning more about the interconnected affect that the audio environment has on all three dimensions of functioning, Mark began noticing how what he was thinking and feeling during his times of restless sleep may be influencing his physiological shifts in breathing, heart rate, and tension. To his surprise, he realized that a large part of his ongoing anxiety and stress was coming from his anger and frustration with the poor insulation in his home. Each time his furnace turned on and off he was not only awakened but also reminded of how much heat his house must be loosing and therefore how high his heating bill would be. Anger and frustration led to physical changes that put him in an overall state that was not conducive to sleep.
Practical Observations
Like Mark, each of us is affected daily in significant ways by what we hear. Also like Mark, what we hear has a direct affect on how we think, feel, and physically function and therefore on our circumstances, outcomes, and quality of life.
Think for a minute how the audio environment practically affects you each day. Stop and just listen to what sounds are part of your normal day. For some, our worlds are filled with sounds that are loud, noisy, and hectic. Perhaps we are simultaneously hearing many different types of music and sound coming from TV’s and radios throughout the house, loud and angry voice tones, or the continuous sounds of blaring sirens. Notice the affect that this audio environment is having on your thoughts, feelings, and actions. In this environment, do you have the ability to study, unwind, de-stress, or interact effectively with others? For others, their world may be filled with a great deal of silence with little more than the sounds of outside traffic and the ticking of a clock to break up the monotony of the day. How does this environment affect how we think, feel, and act? Does the lack of certain sounds facilitate thoughts, feelings, and actions that take from us the desire to live and enjoy our lives?
In many cases, we have become so accustomed to the sounds around us that we don’t even notice them anymore. At the end of the day, our heads ache, our emotions are on edge, our blood pressure is high, and we are filled with anxiety. We then often end up struggling through a restless night of sleep only to awake to a new day where it all starts over again.
Because we continue to be unaware of the affect that our audio environment has on us, we are living as victims to it. The great news is that we are fully capable of reversing our cycle and turning our audio environment into a powerful force for good in our lives. We can do this by better understanding “how” music and sound affect our lives and deliberately directing it in ways that help us achieve our goals and objectives.