Music
We all have our personal tastesMusic can effect our mood
It's not just about the style you like
The tune
Music has the ability to change your mood and even bring a change into your mental situation, either for better or worse. We recently brought back a music cd from Russia with no idea what was recorded on it or what the subject was - it was a Russian souvenir. Each time we played the cd everyone complained of the feeling of depression that came over the house. We soon trashed the cd.
...when you experience an emotion while listening to music, ancient reward circuits are flooding your brain with a chemical designed to make you feel good.
After that, whenever the bad depression .... tormented Saul, David got out his harp and played. That would calm Saul down, and he would feel better as the moodiness lifted.
The words
Words have a power behind them. Ever noticed when someone calls you a name, the words continue to carry on in your mind and affect you? That is an obvious example of that power at work. The same thing happens if someone is told all their life they will never amount to anything - they battle constantly against the power of those words they have heard.
The same is true for music lyrics - if you fill your head with negative words, you can't help but view the world through the influence of the words you have allowed in - death, suicide, rebellion, satanic, morbid, profane, isolation, loneliness, perversion, hatred and worthless are some of the characteristics you could pick up.
..researchers have suggested that heavy exposure to the sometimes dark themes of popular music may contribute to the development of conditions such as MDD (Major Depressive Disorder).
The catch here is that the more you allow these attitudes and words to lodge in your mind, the more you become comforted by continuing to hear them over - the negative suggestions become normalised attitudes in your brain.
I fostered a young guy who was into some type of 'death metal' music. Things had happened in his life before I knew him and he became involved in drugs and other scenes which were definitely not good for him.
Shortly afterwards he reached a very low point in his life and he came to me for help. At his lowest point the only things going through his head were the lyrics to the music he constantly listened to - lyrics urging him to kill himself. He was totally freaked out by it and even though he did not really want to kill himself, the words he had inadvertently stored in his mind came back with a power that terrified him and pushed him a direction he didn't want.
Up until that low point in his life, he dismissed anything I said about the influence of words as not important. After the event, he was the one trying to convince me of the terrifying power words can have over a person! The words had a spiritual power which tried to destroy him just as the Bible says could happen.
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
Your choice
Music is very personal - what one person likes does not appeal to another. The style of the music is not really important. What is important is the words you are putting into your brain.
You have a choice here - and you are the one who will live with the consequences as your life goes on. Choose wisely - look at the big picture. Enjoy your music, but look carefully at the words and the feelings the music brings into your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.