Hi friends! Since Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal officially launches a month from tomorrow, I decided to start sharing some of the coloring pages on the blog, twice a week, until then.
I was thrilled to once again work with the talented Rose Hwang, the illustrator for Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal, and her work this time is just as beautiful.
Each page depicts one simple thing we can do to help ease anxiety.
Today’s tip: listen to calming music.
Music can be so transformative. The right song can instantly transport you to a different time, remind you of someone or somewhere you love, or communicate everything you’re feeling but can’t put into words.
It can simultaneously calm your mind, heal your heart, and lift your spirits.
And it’s the ultimate tool for mindfulness. It’s hard to dwell on the past or worry about the future when you’re lost in a melody, eyes closed, the beat reverberating deep in your chest, the lyrics drowning out the repetitive thoughts in your head.
There have even been studies to show how healing music can be—it can boost brain activity and the mood enhancing chemical serotonin, lower blood pressure and the stress hormone cortisol, and slow our heart rate, creating an overall calming effect.
I know I always feel more centered and at ease when I take even just a few minutes to listen to my “peace playlist,” which includes:
-A selection of movie theme songs (far too many to list!)
-Musical soundtracks, some of the newest of which include The Greatest Showman and La La Land (specifically: A Million Dreams and Here’s to the Ones Who Dream)
-Songs from Bob Marley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Coldplay, The Lumineers, The Fray, Augustana, David Gray, Ben Folds, Gary Jules, Josh Ritter, and Ray LaMontagne, to name some of my favorites
What are some of the songs that calm your mind? Which songs help you relax and unwind after a long, stressful day? Feel free to share an album name, a song title, or a link. You never know whose day you could brighten by sharing your playlist for peace.
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From now until June 26th, you’ll get three bonus gifts, including a guided meditation series on letting go, when you pre-order Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal. All you need to do is order a copy here and forward your purchase confirmation email to worryjournal@tinybuddha.com
About Lori Deschene
Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She started the site after struggling with depression, bulimia, c-PTSD, and toxic shame so she could recycle her former pain into something useful and inspire others to do the same. You can find her books, including Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal and Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal, here and learn more about her eCourse, Recreate Your Life Story, if you’re ready to transform your life and become the person you want to be.
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Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine.
As a music producer for 30,000 hours, I would encourage anyone that loves music, to learn to understand minor and major chords, which create happy and sad sounds, and the different tones possible to extract from the piano and learn to produce the feeling that already lives in your heart. Nothing is more pure than to be able to not just use music as a beautiful, yet passive experience, and into an active experience so to create, what you cannot visualize, but can always feel, and add the instruments textures of your energy in order to construct the true fabrics that exist in your heart in mind. If feelings are unseen until we show them through emotion, then a reflection of feelings can never be see. It must express itself in its kind, and music as an unseen art that enters the heart without permission, is the only true unseen expression of this most beautiful reflection. I am writting a book about this Lori. Please let me know if you are interested in a very interesting collaboration with a wholehearted sound scientist and producer of audible emotions since you have such a love for music as you just shared. The rabbit hole gets deeper in love, when you are not you, but can become the rabbit. 🎶
Listening to classical music – chill flow – does help me relax Lori. Like when I hear the slow, peaceful sounds of classical, I feel and unload anxieties, and replace with calm and clarity and confidence. Like an instant shift. I feel it’s the energy behind the music: calm, stable, unchanging.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ryan
I love listening to Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ella Fitzgerald, music along those lines. It takes me back to a simpler, slower time and it relaxes me because usually I start daydreaming.
I decided to take up tenor sax lessons and I’m starting tomorrow and I feel that it’s going to make a HUGE world of difference in my life with relieving anxiety in my life and it’ll make smarter and more creative.
All of Leonard Cohen’s songs!
I love classical music too – but I don’t listen to it regularly, so whenever I do, it feels like it pulls me into a totally different world, which is quite grounding!
I had a really great lesson yesterday and the teacher thinks I have a lot of talent and I was doing so much on day one that she thought I had a really great lesson yesterday and the teacher thinks I have a lot of talent and I was doing so much on day one that she thought I was so sharp. I also have a minor form of Asperger Syndrome and the positives of that is that they are so smart and artistic.
I’ve never listened to Leonard Cohen’s music. I’ll have to check it out! Any suggestions for where to start?
This all sounds fascinating! I’ve always wanted to play piano. I took lessons for about a year when I was younger and studied music theory for a few, but I quit because I had too much on my plate. I’d love to hear about your project. Feel free to email me at email @@ tinybuddha.com. =)
Great choices! I love Sinatra – for multiple reasons. Not only do I enjoy his music, but My Way is one of the few songs I’ve heard my dad sing, so it always makes me think of him.
I’m not sure I’ve been more moved by a description of music. Bravo!
That’s great! I think having a hobby in general can be helpful, but especially playing an instrument, since it’s so expressive.