Anyone else addicted to music?

[Aquarius]

It is considered addiction, right?  

What can I do about it?

[Leo-Tzu]

What do you mean? What genre in particular . . . .? Addiction is a compulsive behaviour in which your brain rewards you with dopamine and make you crave for it if you dont. . . Usually when addicted your life rounds up around this behaviour and is controlled by your lower self. . . .music is a part of the higher self . . . Notes are pure frequencies that have no meaning in itself but gives us emotions, vibrations, energy. . . How can be music related even by mistake with such lowerself primordial reflex as addictions are? Tell me more about it i'm curious but i think you're not addicted to music but to what you do when you listen to it so you relate those together . . . 

 

I personally listen a lot of power and heavy metal during the day. Sometimes i stop at all, sometimes i listen 5 hours straight . . . Im in total control it has no power in my life whatsoever. . . Music is pure joy

 

Ps: 

 

Edited January 19, 2018 by Leo-Tzu

[Aquarius]

@Leo-Tzu I mean I keep listening to it, I crave it for relaxation. Scientists say it's like sex or food, so why can't it be an addiction? I listen to neurofunk, grime, rap, 80's music, black metal, everything psychedelia... What I do is.. umm idk how can this be put in words... I walk around? And dance sometimes? But mostly walk.. like walking meditation. Except inside the house. All day. Lots of great insights and ideas. But still a poor results maker I am. Oh well. 

Oh and I feel like I have no control, if I stopped for a day I would climb the walls in pain. But you're right, it's mostly the walking that I need. I don't go outside much, but inside the house I walk like 10kilometers a day. I'm weird, try to understand me please.. ;-; idk how this started.

[Leo-Tzu]

What relaxes you is already inside you in the first place you dont NEED music to walk you just walk . . . Resonating to the outside frequencies make it less emotionally painful maybe but in the end is still you walking. . . If i were you i would try to separate music from a helping tool to accomplish things (like cleaning house etc) by doing those things without to see how it goes ... If you did that you would be able to enjoy music even more because there will not be any meaning in it. . . Just enjoying it. . . 

 enjoy

[alyra]

personally i am not addicted to music, I am addicted to escaping silence

 

i am ok with that tho. it is only a hard addiction when my struggles with general stress or anxiety is at a peak, and music itself for me does not influence that very much. 

 

there was a time in which I used the context of music to symbolize my growth as I fought my severe anxiety. what was effective was the following three things for me -

one, to open up multiple tabs of 10-hour music videos on YouTube, such as "rain and thunder" or "metalica - one ten hour" or "idenline together" or "he man heyeayea 10 hours"... etc etc i should list my whole bookmarks should I but when I had too much anxiety I would do that and two things occured - one, it helped me escape better, two it helped me see the nonesense of it and to find myself become seperable from the music. one time I put on 10 different streams and no longer could I pick out the individual sounds... that was so novel to notice - but so useless for the purpose! and in that moment I noticed how such a overuse of music was inherently a way to free myself from it. 

the the second thing was - to take baths without music. i could not at the time meditate or practice mindfulness, which both are great ways to practice breaking any unwanted habit or behavior. But since I could not, well, there was a bath, or later a walk, various ways in which my activity was inherently meditative despite not being meditations, in which my focus inherently could go to positive things instead of negative things, and my need for music was not present. and over time I became more able to be present with myself without the music, perhaps at the high-axiety location of shopping and be strong enough to handle that anxiety without breaking down. the pattern of practicing being without music was helpful. 

third - was to face what I was trying to escape. to sit and try to process the anxious emotions/sensations and thoughts that I was so afraid of, so abhorrent to. I could not do it even for a second at first - but that was ok - the intension to try, and to push my boundaries just the edge of it just a little, was enough. over time I could face it more - in fact it reached a point where i could sit with my anxious thoughts/feelings for an hour and notice how lettign them develop like this in awareness and facing them head-on would naturally resolve to a positive perspective, would pass its course. and even eventually this lead to a point where I could notice something negative and see the positive in it at the same time! 

 

 

 

anyway that is my story of addiction. it still unfolds now... now I have such a history of behavior, that I do not even know what to do in its stead.... so I am working on finding ways to have positive actions that I just don't know how to do. I cannot fully escape what bad behaviors I had, if I do not have the contrast to them down pat... and I don't. but I improve over time, with practice and with patience... with effort and with acceptance. 

 

 

 

 

[Aquarius]

@Leo-Tzu Oh why, but I do enjoy music.

@alyra weird, because I want silence ...  unfortunately there is no silence where I live. Family chattering about annoying nonsense, tv turned on nonstop, cars and other vehicles making noise outside, sometimes neighbors screwing the walls or whatever. So it's so much noise, that I want some actual quality stuff so I listen to my favourite mixes and bands etc. My hearing is damaged from all the music and I'm only 20 years old (turning 20 this Sunday!!)

[Forestluv]

Music can increase dopamine signaling in the pleasure-reward circuit, similar to a good meal or sex. It's a lesser degree than drugs like amphetamines or cocaine - yet I think it's reasonable to imagine the reward circuit contributes to music seeking behavior.

[SOUL]

Life is addicting.... so does that make death merely a rehab?

[onacloudynight]

I'm very addicted to music. Especially since I've become more mindful of music. Music to me is very magical and awe-inspiring, which produces so much bliss and euphoria in me. Highly addicting indeed.

[Joseph Maynor]

I've been addicted to music my whole life.  It think it allows me to experience the full spectrum of what the emotions, fantasy, and the imagination have to offer.

"Philosophy is the highest music" -- Plato

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_for_Ever

Edited January 20, 2018 by Joseph Maynor

[Soulbass]

Yes music can be an addiction.

As a musician, and someone who spend a lot of time listenning to music (sometines 8 hours straight per day for weeks, if not months). I find dangerous being dependent on music to feel "highs" (dopamine).

Sometimes you just have to calm down, even if it's relaxing/ambient music, just cut that out.

Silence is important.

[h inandout]

You have to be a creator too.  Stop what you are doing and go make something.  Like literally right now.

[alyra]

On 1/19/2018 at 11:33 AM, SOUL said:

Life is addicting.... so does that make death merely a rehab?

oh, i dunno, as i imagine what death is as the world continues on. it seems death is even more addicting, once you get hooked on it you don't come back. 

[SOUL]

@alyra Hah, It may be......So if death is an addiction, would reincarnation be the 12 step recovery? Hehe

[Faceless]

2 minutes ago, SOUL said:

@alyra Hah, It may be......So if death is an addiction, would reincarnation be the 12 step recovery? Hehe

Lol

[Faceless]

13 hours ago, alyra said:

oh, i dunno, as i imagine what death is as the world continues on. it seems death is even more addicting, once you get hooked on it you don't come back. 

The art of dying may become mechanical ?

lol

Edited January 23, 2018 by Faceless

[Faceless]

Lolol

In that case I’m addicted to Native American wood flutes?

[Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj]

You aren't actually listening to the music if you are addicted to it. It's just like all the relationships, when you try to get some kind of reaction from some outer source you can't actually see it for what it is. Listening is beautiful, especially when you do it with a little gentleness. Enjoy!  

Edited January 23, 2018 by Sri McDonald Trump Maharaj

[alyra]

@Aquarius

one thing to remember about addiction is that there's a difference between what medically is classified as an addiction and what isn't. 

 

I am no expert but it sounds to me like it is something along the line of = an addiction affects the brain in a physical/chemical way is such a way that it has long-lasting effects on the brain itself. potentially even permanent damage or limitation to the brain's capabilities. 

 

 

not even sugar and coffee are considered an addiction according to that classification, nor any normal dopamine-addictive behavior, for while there is some level of chemical and other dependency behaviors that exhibit in the brain, including tolerence and withdrawal, they do not reach the point of damage in most cases. like I said I am paraphrasing I am no expert, I am using my assumptions here - the point is that what we who self-actualize think of as addictions are not medically classified as addictions. they are simply bad habit. 

edit: of course like weed, sugar and caffeine do indeed have significant effect long-term if a developing brain is using or abusing them. but past childhood, and discounting extreme examples, they do not. again, I do not know these as facts but they are the hypotheses about addictions that currently seem most accurate to me. 

 

 

If your bad habits are so prevalent in your life that they interrupt your life or bring additional stress or energy issues or mood issues to your life, or aggravate existing ones, this is when - from a self-improvement standpoint - you want to intervene to curb the addiction or cut it out of your life completely. 

 

in my personal experience, it is a lot easier to curb an addiction by taking several days to several weeks to completely remove it from your life. there's been times when I've unplugged my computer and put it in the closet for several days, or removing all my non-essential apps Especially the games and social media for several days. reinstalling only the ones that most mattered to me afterwards. I even from time to time put my phone on airplane mode for several hours to remove interuptions (I use the phone for alarms and timers and as a timepiece, so I still wanted access to that - or music) 

 

 

 

The other thing to recognize is that what makes a habit unwanted when it comes to personal development versus consciousness enlightenment - the latter, everything that is part of our cultural involvement, including music and time pieces and coming here and etc - is certainly a potential distraction from that work.

I wouldn't say nevessarily that you individual should cut music out of your life if you pursue enlightenment of your consious, as if you are not a yogi, being a part of the social world is what you are doing most of the time. if it is this case that you wish to pursue enlightenement at dedicated times, then it is when you spend your dedicated time to mediate and contemplate and other practices, that is when you would want to turn the music off and remove it from your experience.

 

but I presume you are asking from the personal development standpoint, of improving your life as you go about it. so then, music IS a part of your life - you like and enjoy it, can't be a bad thing. maybe you use it in a way you wish to improve, then recognise that vantage and work from there!

Edited January 24, 2018 by alyra

[pluto]

Music = Sound = Vibration = Healing

Especially when Tuned to 432 and 528 hz frequencies.

Edited January 24, 2018 by pluto