Melodious meditations
A simple human smile has a variety
of messages from an open sense of
comfort and pleasure to sarcastic gri-
maces, etc. In fact we humans have
developed an amazing variety of
facial expressions and gestures that
clearly communicate feelings about
ourselves and others. As most rescu-
Larry Wonderling
ers of furry animals have noted, our
pet dogs are also remarkable nonverbal communicators to
humans, if we care to listen!
Depending on each reader’s interests in developing a
deeper understanding and sensitivity to themselves and oth-
ers, meditation and music, the actual reasons for this article,
are remarkable thought-provokers. While meditation can
provide us with endless ways to focus our attention and re-
lax, music can evoke a vast variety of emotional feelings, as
well as long forgotten, subliminal memories.
Most of us humans, including me, finally realized later
in life that we still don’t know about life’s purpose or our
eventual death. In other words, our existence is never clear-
ly understood; nor is any assurance of an afterlife, despite
powerful religious persuasive devotional scriptures.
We also develop most of our beliefs from others through-
out our lives, especially during our youth when such con-
cerns as one’s occupation, religious affiliations, intellectual
and athletic abilities, politics, etc. All of which, as I’ve fre-
quently mentioned before, are typically encouraged by the
opinionated beliefs of significant others. Such seemingly
powerful personal decisions in our lives are too often rather
tentative and not necessarily successful, without a thorough
introspective focus, beyond our rather superficial under-
standing of ourselves. That’s why such pragmatic human
energizers as meditation can further grasp a more attentive
understanding of our abilities, their amazing potential, and,
as importantly, their limitations!
For me personally, while further pursuing my interest in
enhancing ways to grasp the elusive subtitles of our human
cognition, I suppose I’ve used some form of meditation
most of my adult life, like planning an intriguing journey by
talking to myself. Such concentration, along with relaxation
technics, can be indispensable in providing expansive dis-
coveries beyond our typical grasp.
I also realized years ago that music is an astounding way
of both altering one’s actual emotional feelings, while cog-
nitively focusing on a specific year when that particularly
arousing music was at its peak popularity! Such a strategy
allowed me to either intensify my existing emotional feeling
or change to a more soothing feeling while reviewing the
significant memories associated with that era. Even today
music is a worthwhile strategy in evoking specific feelings
that match those reminiscent memories of a certain earlier
year!
Since tastes in music clearly range from country western
to such classics as Ravel’s Bolero, the sheer stirring plea-
sure of music’s mind-altering experiences, with their unique
personal appeal, has universally hypnotic, trace effects that
coalesce so rapturously with meditation!
– Larry Wonderling, Ph.D.
Email: [email protected]
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