Sometimes I’ll cue up a song and play it over and over again, often ten or twenty times or more in a row.  I’ve found that it’s a process of emotional focusing.  A certain song will elicit a feeling that I want to duplicate and maintain for an indefinite period.  Once you’ve done it, it’s burned into your brain and starts all sorts of associated thoughts going.

I know it sounds weird.  But try it some time.  Play Goin’ to California by Led Zeppelin a hundred times and see if you aren’t in love with a girl with a flower in her hair when you’re all done.

This makes me remember an important fact of life…   Be careful what you put into your head.  Your subconscious responds to whatever you tell it.  The words, images, and sounds you take in affect your thinking deep down when you don’t think anything is going on.  So, make sure whatever music you choose, that it takes you somewhere you want to be.

Other recommendations:  1.  You might want to put away Metallica’s “Die My Darling”or similar negative stuff.  You don’t want this fun process to set you thinking about where you left your hatchet from your last camping trip.  This process is supposed to be fun, relaxing, and inspiring.  2.  Don’t play any songs that are over five minutes in length. Pink Floyd songs can be so damned long you’ll have aged a year by the time you get on your fourth loop.  3.  Finally, pick a good band or musical genre to begin with.  A Miley Cyrus record might have you fashioning a noose before you’re finished.

This process is great for healing a bad mood, assuaging that breakup with your significant other, or stimulating a creative idea.  Keep listening over and over.  Eventually, you’ll find yourself hearing instrumentation you previously missed, nuances of the song that went undetected before, and subtle meanings you never expected.  It can also take you off into a crazy reverie about your life and help you solve a problem you hadn’t expected. It’s a process of controlled focusing of your mind.

So, dig out some old classic rock, pop, classical, or rockin’ metal tune and get meditatin’.  Steer clear of country songs (see recommendation three above).  Take the loop challenge and see where your mind takes you.  Just don’t let any of your co-workers know that you heard this idea from me when they tire of hearing you sing “Sweet Home Alabama” for the 300th time in your cubicle.