Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Good, Better, Best

When I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Columbus, Ohio, we were encouraged to only listen to uplifting spiritual music. This served several purposes but the most noticeable of these, to me, was so we could feel close to Our Savior which has a very motivating and optimism-promoting effect.

When I came home from my mission, I returned to my music-- country and pop. I'm a background music-listener. I enjoy having music going as I work on homework or housework. Lately, however, I've noticed that the music in my life hasn't been adding anything to it. I decided to do an experiment.

For the last two weeks I have only been listening to church music in the background around my house. I was curious to see if it would help me be more productive and feel better about the things I need to do for school and my family. I had almost forgotten that I was doing this until my husband commented on my music selection a few days ago. When he made this comment, I reflected on the last week and concluded that I had, indeed, been happier and more productive.

Upon thinking about this, I've decided that it isn't that my other music makes me lazy or unhappy-- it just doesn't ADD anything. For me and my music choices, I'm realizing that it's a matter of good, better, and best. Listening to other music which is positive and uplifting is good, but I now know if I want to feel my greatest and be the most productive, for me, I need to listen to music which speaks often about and reminds me of my Savior.    

Lesson learned.

An oldie, but a goodie.. One of my favorites (:

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I have done a similar experiment the last few months! I have not been awesome enough to only listen to church music, but I have been working hard to only listen to uplifting music. I too have noticed a major difference in my overall mood :)

Unknown said...

This is an awesome experiment! It is great when we all are more aware of our surroundings and how they affect us. Way to be in tune! :)

Veda said...

I think I'm going to try out this experiment! What a good idea.

Diana Lacey said...

I'm just now reading this even though you posted it over a month ago. I'm glad you thought of doing this because it really made me think about how small an subtle influences can make a real difference in our lives. I'm going to try it.

MR said...

Thanks for sharing your experiment. I had a similar experience in High School when I was listening to the CD of a musical that was popular at the time and everyone was listening to it. Some of the music was dark. My Mom noticed that I was different somehow and was not happy. I changed the music and was amazed at how it changed my life.

Unknown said...

love it. I want to do this!