Music – Breakaway Consciousness

Mining For Inspiration | #Motivation | #Inspiration | #Life | #Music

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
– Stephen Covey

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”
– William Blake

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 22, 2019

Inspiration is a gateway for the individual.

Inspiration can do many things, but most of all, it brings an infusion of energy into the soul that leaves it refreshed, energized, and ready to do anything at hand. When the individual in inspired, things are bound to happen and life takes on an “everyday above ground is a good day” type of vibe.

What inspires individuals varies, but inspiration infuses energy into all of us. Sometimes this just happens, sometimes you must seek it. At this current moment in time I am chasing inspiration in a particular way. This isn’t to say that I haven’t been inspired for other things, but when it comes to music, which is what I am currently sifting through, I needed something different, something that energizes me.

Lately I have been listening to a lot of different documentaries, interviews and podcasts, and I find those incredibly invigorating. I love listening to different reasonable arguments and so on. But that only offers one type of inspiration, particularly when it comes to research and self-directed learning.

Reading books and poetry is another way that I get a lot of inspiration, but again, it’s of a different taste. Sometimes movies offer inspiration, and sometimes people, but either way, inspiration comes in many forms, in many flavors. And while you might be inspired in one way, it doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t maintain a constant stream of inspiration going on or that one type of inspiration will translate into all parts of your life.

For instance, there are times I am incredibly inspired to write poetry, but that inspiration doesn’t translate into say, organizing my personal office.

Do you really need inspiration for organizing a place? That’s a great question. I think inspiration can help us in limitless ways. Only you know what inspiration helps you personally accomplish.

Be that as it may, I have done a proactive push for inspiration as an approach for the last few weeks and it’s worked quite well, although I haven’t sought out music for a while when it comes to inspiration. When I do though, I find myself working out more, working out longer, dancing more and so on. Sometimes that music translates to cleaning and organizing more. In fact, if there’s something that translates into almost everything for me personally, it’s music.

Even with that, I am very particular with what I listen too (aren’t we all), but I find that sometimes all it takes is one song to change my mood and so on. Not that I’m a moody person, but I tend to remain in neutral by default as much as possible, simply as something I’ve learned from poker since that game is an emotional roller coaster du jour and maintaining your good and bad emotions under control is downright crucial. It’s a very Zen-like approach, but one that I don’t mind at all.

Now, whether it is music, art, writing, movies, people, or any circumstance in life, make sure your Inspiration Bank Account is as full as it can be [1]. That way, steamrolling through life becomes nigh effortless.

Seek out what inspires you, whatever it may be. Be proactive about it. Those jolts of energy that inspiration provides are monumental and have a way of adding oceans of fuel into your core being.

That very fuel that inspiration provides is what will allow you to go through life and venture any place you want, do anything you wish, and accomplish what you wish to accomplish. In essence, that fuel will help you get things done.

And that’s one thing that life is about, accomplishing things of various types. Be it trivial or meaningful, only you can decide for yourself what is what. But when you end up finishing goals or something else, whatever you do achieve via inspiration will further invigorate the core of your being further. This will create an energy loop that can be fed constantly to no end.

Sometimes, all it takes is one circumstance, one song, or one little snowball to roll down a hill to create an avalanche of energy at your fingertips.

So why not go mine for inspiration to see what can be accomplished? You never know what inspirational gems you will find and what treasures you may find.

____________________________________________________________
Author’s Note:

[1] The notion of “Inspirational Bank Accounts” sounds like an idea for some blogs doesn’t it! It’s a thought at least.

____________________________________________________________

Suggested Reading:

Mindfulness & Music | #Health | #Thoughts

Breakaway Individual.com
Zy Marquiez
May 15, 2019

Today I did something I hadn’t done in a long time: I decided to do a full workout without my headphones on to be more Mindful. Admittedly, it took a little getting used too, but it wasn’t so bad since I was reading most of the time.

Because I avoided using my Ipod, I was able to remain incredible focused and stay in the moment while working out, rather than just go through the workout as I nigh always do. This allowed me to focus on my breath, my focus, and my thought process in a way that’s closer to what I would employ with poker than not.

When I find myself breathing deeply as much as possible, interjecting such deep breaths with 4×4 breath cycles where I breathe in for 4 seconds, hold my breath for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds and hold for 4 seconds, I end up being incredibly more focused, getting more oxygen, feeling more energized, and so on.

Al Lee & Don Campbell, authors of Perfect Breathing, explain the importance of a mindful breathing technique:

“This exercise, as simple and innocuous as it seems, is the most important exercise to master. Once you have developed the habit of slow, deep breathing and your body remembers that this is the natural way to breathe, it will slowly become a part of everything that you do. It will become your “secret weapon” when you need an extra burst of energy; it will become your rock when you are feeling emotional shattered; and it will become a peaceful, quiet refuge at times when you need sanctuary.”[1][Bold Emphasis Added].

This approach has never failed me, but it’s something that I need to stay focused on because its easy to fall into the bad habit of breathing with only partial lung capacity breathing in a shallow manner.

Breathing with only part of your lungs, as opposed to employing the entire real estate of your lung capacity, is incredibly limiting because only so much oxygen is going into your system, and as such you will not get the healing and energizing benefits that a full mindful approach will dictate.

For the most part, that was the extent of my early morning, just trying to focus on being mindful and so on. Now to the afternoon.

After receiving a package today that I was waiting for a while, it reminded me that that I needed to give a friend a letter of recommendation. Because of this I had to drive elsewhere. This is crucial only in that when I am driving, I am usually nigh always listening to music or documentaries on my way to whatever locale it is I am going too. Today I decided that I would follow what I did in the morning and forgo the music. In fact, I didn’t even bring my Ipod because I know myself, and I knew that I would probably want to listen to music or something else eventually. This made the drive not only enjoyable, but I was able to think about a lot of things.

When my mind is engaged while listening to music, it’s rare that I think about things in a mindful way. Yes, I myself, just like everyone else, can think while listening to music, but the thoughts aren’t as logical, or as thought-out, or thoughtful as when there’s no music, nor lyrics, each of which can be incredibly distracting, and when combined, are downright disrupting for thought. Of the 700+ tracks on my Ipod, there’s two, maybe three songs that I have no problem employing a mindful approach with. Still though, nothing beats the ability to think clearly when your mind is going at a mile per minute with no end in sight.

These thoughts are shared for consideration when individuals are going about their day and perhaps are having trouble slowing down, focusing, and so on. It’s not something that cost anything, but the net benefits can be quite significant once one’s mind is fully engaged.

_________________________________________________________________
Footnotes:

[1] Al Lee & Don Campbell, Perfect Breathing, pg. 12-13.

_________________________________________________________________
Suggested Reading:

#Quote Of The Day | #Music

“Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, its clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it.”
– Aristotle