Making Changes, 2008.

Edition #102 — January 22, 2008

I worked through Christmas and New Years on a website. But when I had a chance to breath I did some window shopping for music equipment. Not the cheap stuff, but professional audio pieces that add up to a small car.

In keeping with this theme, I'd like to offer everyone an inspirational article to kick start 2008. I was saving it for a book, but since you're all so cute...oh, what the heck — here it is.

LOOPING AND SAMPLING

Using Music As An Analogy For Inspiring Change

When music met technology, it wasn't long before the way that we created music began to mimic how we lived our lives each day — by looping and sampling.

In music "sampling" is when we record a small segment of a performance. "Looping" is when we play back that sample continuously. In every day life, sampling and looping happens when we capture a moment in time and then repeat it over and over again. What we sample are thoughts and behaviours, many of which we fall back on whenever we run out of ideas or are afraid to move forward.

When looping entered the music scene it paved the way for a droning, repetitive style of sound called "trance." In every day life, looping also creates a trance-like state in that our behaviour and actions become automated and we never change anything about the way we live, from the way that we eat, sleep or have sex, to how we plan our future happiness.

Depression often occurs when we realize that our life loops aren't moving us toward our intended goal but are actually hindering our progress. Joy comes from sampling new experiences each day. This is how we keep ourselves maturing and growing emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually. Life is far more exciting when we have a new sound in our arsenal and a new song in the making.

LOOPING AND ADDICTIONS

Looping also shows up as addictions to substances and behaviours which we repeat in order to recapture a feeling that we had the first time we used them. An example is when we smoke cigarettes.

As any smoker knows, our first cigarette was a stage prop. We used this prop for symbolic display in trying to fit in with our peers, act more like an adult, or feel less awkward in a social setting. In fact, if we pay attention to the ads, this is how tobacco is marketed to children and young adults. So even if we overcome the sinister grip of nicotine (as I thankfully did years ago) we still have that loop playing in our heads every time we encounter those types of situations which increase our stress level. The loop says: light a cigarette to help you deal with this problem. And so we do.

The solution is simple, technically speaking. We just stop our life loop and sample something that's not self-destructive, like taking deeper breaths, crossing our fingers for luck, and smiling more at strangers. We don't have to endanger our health for acceptance. That includes getting into fist fights to prove our manhood, or getting drunk every day to avoid resolving our emotional issues. If we do this habitually, that too is a loop.

LOOPING LIVES

Looping shows up in the repetitive nature of the media as well. Every day there is a newscast, even when there is nothing to report. That's an economic loop to keep us watching tv. Yet one of the few things we cannot control, besides becoming a headlining traffic victim on tomorrow's broadcast, is the weather. This is probably why so many of us look forward to the weather report, simply because it might interrupt our well-protected life loops. We want to know whether our power will go out on our television, or whether we should switch to "torrential rain guard" hair gel for the next morning.

Loops also show up as sitcoms. Here is a scripted situation between some individuals which has stirred interest or laughter among viewers. Advertisers, in order to stay within their own loops of selling merchandise, create a loop called a "sitcom" which recreates in one way or another, the initial sampling of what interested people in the first show. This ensures that the same people who liked it the first time around will probably still be on the couch to watch the commercials during the next 22 episodes. Even the best sitcoms only run a few years, and then they loop them in syndication as reruns. Commercials, however, seem to loop forever.

The reason for pointing out this aspect of our lives is that we may become drones caught in the trance of some behaviour that may not be serving our best interests. More importantly, it may not be bringing us the joy that we feel we deserve.

So if your loop isn't making you dance anymore, try sampling something else. It's that simple.

Special Report: New Music Gear Beats Winter Blahs.

Feeling humbled, over-privileged, blessed, buoyant and generous? Have my newsletters made a difference in your outlook? Want to make a difference in mine? Help me to buy a really awesome microphone to record my vocal tracks this year.


[I know...that was your idea, and I stole it.]


That's all for now. Schüss baby,
Roland Kriewaldt




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