Reflections On a Record

Growing up, my parents had a record player. As I started to build a music collection of my own, I instead opted for CDs, the popular medium of the time and much more portable as well! Even though I never owned my own record player, I do remember the days of putting a single CD in the boom box and being focused on that one collection for about an hour. No skipping, rewinding or changing the theme.

Then we evolved to the disc changer allowing you to shuffle between 10 CDs at a time. Then the MP3 player allowed us even more versatility to shuffle between your full music collection. Ipods allowed you to create playlists of all of your favorite songs, eliminating the less inspiring songs on the album. Fast forward to today's day and age where AI creates personalized playlists based on your previous requested music tastes. All one has to do is yell across the room to a robot to "Play music" without much thought as you go about your day listening to a myriad of shuffled tunes in the background.

The other day I was alone in an Airbnb with a record player and box of old records. I pulled out Cat Stevens "Tea for the Tillerman," with songs that my Dad used to sing to me when I was a baby. The result: complete relaxation and focus! The 37 minute long record created a pointed focus, just like the main point of meditation, causing me to slow down. There was no shuffling between genres, artists or even a single artist's discography. Instead, there was consistent focus on the theme, style and story that Mr. Steven's created in 1970. The experience was calming, reflective and I felt much more refreshed and inspired. I felt the music more, because I stopped to listen, to really listen to it, something I hadn't done in a while. The lyrics were right in front of my, on the back of the record album so I could read along with the story. No googling or the hassle of looking it up. I realized how overstimulating all of the shuffling I grew accustomed to had been. Even the physicality of interacting with a record, holding it, getting up to turn it over to the other side, the gentle crackling of the needle on the ridges.

You can find meditation anywhere if you just look for it!