PRACTICING MINDFULNESS THROUGH MUSIC

At the risk of revealing how old I actually am, I personally feel like our wellbeing, friendships, relationships, and general vibes would be considerably improved by bringing back mixtapes.

Maybe that’s what playlists are for us now,

but they aren’t mixtapes. How many of us have playlists with absolutely incoherent vibes, a temporary name that we never went back to change, and about 300 songs on them, half of which we’ve forgotten were there in the first place? Besides, playlist listening—where new songs aim to be on official playlists as quickly as possible for as long as possible—has muddled the purpose and value of albums. What I’m trying to say is that we needto make listening to music intentional again.

Music plays such an enormous part of our wellbeing —from mood-booster bops to start a day when you really don’t want to get out of bed, to late-night kitchen dance parties with your flatmates, to a sad girl hours playlist for feeling your feelings.

A friend of mine has started a list of albums that she wants to listen to from start to finish. These are albums she’s found, had recommended to her, are well-loved, musically complex, or tell a phenomenal story. When she listens to them, she’s putting them on for that sole purpose: to hear the music. Not as background noise,

but as an activity itself to make loving music more mindful, and have more personal value.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not an ‘album listening or bust’ purist or anything. I’m a playlist girlie too.

(One of my most listened to playlists was once called kid from 90s movie staring at the ceiling throwing a baseball in the air. Now it’s just called nostalgic vibes.) But I think that the mindfulness behind seeking out albums is a worthwhile practice, even in playlists. Embrace those mixtape vibes!

Pretend you’ve got a 30-minute-per-side cassette. Your playlist can only be an hour long—what songs

are you going to pick? What story do they tell? Make your mixtape for somebody—friends, your partner, your parents as a cute (and cheap) gift! Give it a proper name, handwrite a funky little track-list as your cover art, and voila! Chuck on some headphones and listen to it lying on your bed staring at the ceiling like a true 90s kid. Throw a baseball in the air if you’ve got one to complete the look.

Surrounded by such a fast-paced, instant-gratification, consumerist world, so many things have dissolved into being a background part of our lives, music included. Music streaming services have given us access to infinite amounts of music at our fingertips. No way am I complaining, but we all know that being oversaturated by something can cause us to lose sight of its value.

For how important music is to so many of us, it’s worth considering how you personally can be more intentional around your music consumption. A physical vinyl or CD is a fun option, but also very expensive nowadays. Curating your playlists, finding albums to listen to in full, and making mixtapes for people you love are not only cheap alternatives (and a good uni distraction), but they’re a great lesson in mindfulness that

will go on to benefit other areas of your life.