Boy, I'll tell you. The Music'll really bring you back.
It'll fill the hollowness in your chest with a little warmth, like when the tea hits your stomach on a cold day.
It lets you know you're still alive; you're still here. And you can still get back again.
This joint is about doing what works for you, big emphasis on the doing.
'Playing the Music' is Next Play Speed for self-soothing.
Next Play Speed is "the concept that there is a transition between offense and defense, where basketball players often get lost." This is the basketball version of moving from emotion to action.
In other words, there's a critical but often overlooked time when you flip the switch from being 'off' to being 'on.' Be aware of this time and work on flipping the switch faster.
Noise is any combination of negative thoughts, emotions, or distractions that prevent us from feeling motivated, healthy, productive, or otherwise on our game.
The Music is an activity or experience that can get you back above water. Ideally, this activity makes you feel better in the short and long term. For me, it's usually listening to upbeat or soulful music.
The opportunity today is not in determining which candle scent brings you back from the brink, although there is merit in that; it's in how fast you can light a flame and get the fragrance into your lungs after processing negative emotions.
This can be difficult because it requires remembering or acting under duress rather than just knowing what works for you.
You can know to turn on your heel and run back on defense after you turn the ball over, but it's a different beast to remember to do that in the heat of the game.
Similarly, you can know you're in a funk or off your game.
On top of identifying how you feel, you can know the effectiveness of the Music. When I think about it, the Music has (seemingly) worked every time in the past in improving my mood and energy. Running outside is another activity that is guaranteed to get me right.
You can know how quickly it works; it took no more than 3 seconds of this Middle Earth Ambience music to clear out my internal chatter when I sat down to write this.
You can know how the depths it can bring you back from; my forever favorites playlist on Spotify might not get me right in 3 seconds, but getting 3 songs in has helped me climb out of grief and loss, among some other nasty holes.
You can know all of these things, but it's another thing to remember to cut the Music on when you already have Noise playing in your head. It takes another step that is pernicious to practice: turning the Noise down enough to hear your own voice. All the frameworks and grit in the world can't put you in the blender like life, conflict, and consternation can. Even if there was a way, you'd be sick for stressing yourself out like that!
You can't drill emotional Next Play Speed like transition defense; no worries, though; this way, there's less pressure.
All you have to do is remember the name of that track, playlist, or album and press play.
It's a simple (but not easy) game: turn off the Noise, then turn on your music.
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