Simple Mindful Moments Exercise - Listening To Music Mindfully

But what exactly is mindfulness and how to determine whether it’s for you or not? Let’s make things easier for you. First, let us briefly introduce you to the world of mindfulness by giving you a simple mindfulness-based exercise which you can complete in less than 5 minutes. Go through it and then ask yourself whether it’s something worth pursuing or not. Here you go -

What you are trying to do with this exercise - The aim of the exercise is to remain aware for 4-5 minutes continuously, without letting your awareness fall back into the trap of your past or future. Try to stay in the present moment throughout the duration of the exercise.

What needs to be done - Pick a song or a piece of music or head over to ZENmix.io and listen to some sounds of nature. It could either be the type of music which you’ve heard a million times before or a completely new genre which is absolutely alien to you. Now, before pressing the ‘play’ button remind yourself to -

• Listen non-judgementally - Don’t allow your mind to instantly like or dislike the music based on what your usual choice of music is. Listen with a clean slate.
• Don’t compare - We all have the tendency to associate what’s being played with a similar kind of music or a song which we’ve listened to in the past. This distracts us from being fully present in the present moment for what’s actually being played or said in the lyrics.
• Concentrate on the lyrics - Focus on what’s really being said in the lyrics. Many a time we get lost in the musical beats and the rhythm so much that somehow we forget listening to the lyrics.
• Listen to everything, every musical instrument and the change of the graph - Involve yourself completely in the listening process. Listen to every beat, every musical instrument, every word which is being uttered, the graph and the flow of the music and how the tempo changes with time. And guess what? Practicing these kinds of techniques won’t just allow you to enjoy your music better but also help you develop better communication skills. Your concentration level rises and communication becomes an effortless process. This is specifically helpful if you are trying to build a new relationship or trying to mend an already existing one.