Everyone loves visuals and gyms are so filled with TV’s, gadgets, pumping sound sytems and other distractions that it rivals Walt Disney World’s Epcot Center. Looking inward and seeking self-motivation is out of vogue. Each year we move further and further away from teaching people discipline to encouraging distraction. If we are not gorging ourselves with visual candy, we are filling our heads with self-defeating tunes with a snazzy beat. I can credit consciousness, maturity or boredom with pop music, but lyrics matter. When I watch TV, I prefer to do at home. When I listen to music, I care about the words. I know this goes against convention when it seems we are in an era where the words get in the way.
Ten years ago, I used to run to music all the time. This was before the iPod. I had to stop because I found myself only running as fast as the beat of the song then fumbling with my Walkman to find a song I like. Today I can run with or without music.
On the days I don’t have music as a time filler, I focus on quieting my mind and noticing my environment. The other day I was running 16 miles and my mantra was “smell the roses.” The first 2 miles I zoned out and I didn’t even notice where I was. I was on autopilot. When I realized I was not in my body, I stopped. I began to take the world in and notice how I felt and sought to find inspiration in everything; snow, wind, air and even the sound of my feet hitting the pavement.
Alternately, when I listen to music, I don’t care about the beat. I care about the words. Don’t get me wrong I love a good beat but if the words are inane, violent, self-absorbed or preaching spiritual garbage, I’m not interested. As I alluded to in Give Hate A Chance, you don’t lose yourself in one sweeping gesture. You lose yourself in small pieces. When you begin to tolerate mediocrity, it will quickly become the standard by which you evaluate everything.
Athletically, I am a mature adult. I know how to keep my pace consistent. I’m much more interested in my gait, heart rate, joint integrity, the road ahead, other moving objects, and smelling the roses. The more I tune out, the less I tune in. What is going on inside my body is much more important than being distracted. It has become a running meditation.
I have selected some songs that I love. Songs that have meaning. Songs that speak to what I mean when I say Give Hate a Chance. If thinking about the music you listen to doesn’t scare you, take it in.
For iPad users, to see the videos go to the KINETIC Sculpt Playlist on
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/KineticSculpt?feature=mhum#p/c/80D6DAF5A29995FC
The Avett Brothers – Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise
“The video for “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise,” from the band’s latest album I and Love and You is a spare but stunning work of art, featuring the animated paintings of Jason Ryan Mitcham. The video shows the rise, fall and inevitable decay of rampant urban development.
“Head Full Of Doubt/Road Full Of Promise” was written about the temporary nature of our buildings and our mentality,” says Scott Avett. “Accepting the temporary state we may be in. (Artist) Jason (Ryan Mitcham) with his landscape paintings, and some that I’d seen that he’d animated, dealt with the temporary nature of the world around us.”
Rather than make a bunch of different paintings for the animation, Mitcham gradually altered a single painting 26-hundred times. Ten alterations to the painting equaled one second of film.”
Mumford and Sons – The Cave from the album Sigh No More
I have always been a person who sees the world without filters. As a child my mom would always say I would have grey hair before my time. Well, that’s not completely true. I starting getting grey hair in my 20′s but it was limited to a few. The lyrics of this song remind me of that.
But I will hold on hope
And I won’t let you choke
On the noose around your neck
And I’ll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I’ll know my name as it’s called again
The lyrics basically express how I live.
Sarah McLachlan – World On Fire (Radio Mix) from Closer – The Best of Sarah McLachlan (Deluxe Version)
I watch the news of unrest in the Middle East and the abuses mankind brings against mankind, I hear this song in my head. I am reminded to “bring what I am able.”
