Here is a new series of experiments, I am trying out now. And these ones I have tentatively named Monday Social Experiments. As the name suggests these will be done every Monday and these will social in nature in that I encourage my friends as well to try them out with me, and also in that they will sometimes involve interacting with other people.
The first thing we started with was experimenting with music. Because it seemed pretty easy. I mean practically everyone I know of, listens to music on a daily basis. The experiment was also pretty simple.
"To take your favorite song and to concentrate on a single instrument playing in it or voice of one of the singers. And do that for the full duration of the song Without letting any other thought enter your mind".
I had read about this stuff somewhere, a long ago and this actually is a great way to try out a form of meditation. Another reason to try this out is that we usually associate certain feelings with our favorite songs, and those feelings and thoughts inexplicably get revoked whenever we return back to the song. At least it happens to me all the time. So, the objective of conducting this experiment was to really listen to the song without letting any emotions come in between.
So, what happened during the experiment? Well a lot of people did respond to the experiment which was fantastic. What was unfortunate was that I didn't get proper responses about how the experiments go for them. Anyway, what I found out was that a lot of people did have a tough time practicing what I had asked for. Which is exactly what I expected, because, as I said, we don't really listen to songs that way. And also, like other things in life just listening to music is not enough for us, we gotta be doing something else as well (I personally code, or create documents or clean stuffs or travel while I listen to music). Hence, we rarely concentrate on the music.
I would also say that the kind of music that we get to listen these days is really not worth our full attention anyway. It feels that the 'soul' is missing from them.
Personally speaking, I had troubles but I was able to eventually listen to songs without getting distracted by any other thought. And it's no small feat because my brain remains active and engaged with some thought or another all the time. But, it CAN be done if really given an honest try.
If someone else also tries out or has tried out the above stated experiment, please do share your experiences with us in the comment sections. Over to the next experiment.
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