It’s not about rushing through something to “complete a collection,” and it’s not about the destination. It’s the process, the journey, that we go through that brings us knowledge and growth. Being able to take our time is one of the greatest challenges of modern living, and generating mindfulness and awareness in our daily lives helps us to keep our balance before being overwhelmed by the endless distractions around us.

 

By Rob Argent

As a (slightly) older music fan, I can remember the days of new album releases being a source of great excitement as well as being an exercise in delayed gratification.

You find out that your favourite band has a new album out—for me, let’s take the Deftones’ White Pony from 2000—probably from reading a now defunct music magazine or seeing the music video for the lead single on MTV. You have to remember that back in the day, MTV actually played music videos, which is most likely a shock to anyone who has grown up with the internet at their fingertips. Anyway, you find out the release date and wait patiently, or not, for the that day before eventually heading out to the nearest record store to get a copy.

If you’re lucky than you snag it, and then have to wait to get home to start listening, all the while looking at the artwork and liner notes to bide your time.

You wouldn’t believe how many people used to read lyrics on the bus back in the day! Back then it seemed like a small kind of torture, especially as a teenager, but this practice of waiting was good training for later years. In time, our access to almost everything and anything via the world wide web has led us to not only feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available to us, but also to us losing our ability to be bored.

Not wanting to wait feels like a harmless thing, and there’s not much in this life that needs our patience, but that doesn’t mean that we should abandon our willingness to simply sit and be comfortable with not getting what we want. The Buddha’s teachings, while not specifically referring to early 2000s alternative metal records, emphasised the importance of finding calm in the present moment as opposed to constantly seeking more.

If “there is no path to happiness; happiness is the path,” then enjoying our current situation should be enough.

Rather than being impatient to hear new music, enjoy the journey to go and get it! And while that was easier in the days before streaming, we can still take our time to sit with our cravings to understand them before choosing whether or not to act on them. Years ago, a friend of mine spent a long time collecting all of the Godspeed! You Black Emperor material, including live recordings and obscure EPs. He recommended them to another friend, who a week later had downloaded and listened to all of those same recordings, missing out on the whole experience of waiting for—and enjoying—each release as it came out.

It’s not about rushing through something to “complete a collection,” and it’s not about the destination. It’s the process, the journey, that we go through that brings us knowledge and growth. Being able to take our time is one of the greatest challenges of modern living, and generating mindfulness and awareness in our daily lives helps us to keep our balance before being overwhelmed by the endless distractions around us.

In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha advised, “do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

We can take this instruction as an invitation to focus on what is happening to us right here, right now.

So to bring it all back to my teenage journey into town to get that White Pony CD, we could say that I could have sat with the feeling of wanting more music in my life before acting on it; I know, a near impossible task for a young person discovering that their most cherished band has put out a new album. Does this desire reflect a need for something positive, something beautiful in my life that will be a plus for me or others around me?

By simply being present and receptive to our desires, we can look deeply into their origins, helping us to understand why we want what we want and why we act the way we do.

Then, if we do decide to act, we can do so in a mindful manner, being aware of our actions instead of reacting to external stimulus such as adverts or other peoples’ opinions. So the next time we look to listen to a new single, EP or album, we can do so by being in control of ourselves, as opposed to giddily running into a record store and knocking over a load of promotional material as you hurry to the metal section.

But that’s another story for another time.

 

Photo: Pixabay

Editor: Dana Gornall

 

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