Music to Regulate Emotions

What are emotions, how do they arise and how can we learn to control them using music

According to research, we feel about 500 emotions a day, but most of them escape us because we are not able to recognize them, let alone control them. us, that they make us overestimate a stimulus leading us to overreact.

In this case, listening to music can no longer be just a source of pleasure and a way to relax, but become a real therapy that allows us to get in touch with our emotions, to know them, and learn to deal with them. control.

What are emotions

Emotions are instinctive responses that our body uses to adapt to our environment. They are manifested by physiological and behavioral changes. Think for example of changes in tone, expression or heart rate, and blood oxygenation.

When we receive stimuli from outside that we deem important, instinctively, in a fraction of a second, we evaluate them and prepare to respond in the way we think is most appropriate, that is, more beneficial to us depending on the results we think our behavior will generate.

Emotions act as an inner compass that guides and motivates our behavior, gives us information about the situations we find ourselves in, and influences those around us through human expressions and capacity for empathy.

How are emotions formed?

As we have said, emotions are born instinctively, that is, they do not depend on our will or our rational choice.

However, we do not all react in the same way to the same stimulus, which means that at the base of the instinctive evaluation that we give to a given situation, there are elements closely linked to our identity.

These elements are determined by our individual history, the experiences we have had, the fundamental traits of our character, and our musical knowledge. In short, of our personality.

Is it possible to control emotions?

Can we choose how to react to a stimulus? Can we decide not to be outraged by a gratuitous offense or not to suffer from disappointment? Can we control our emotions?

No, if by emotions we mean precisely the instinctive response to an external stimulus. This happens instantly and leaves us no room to intervene and modify it.

But if we don't like our reactions, have issues, or find them unsuitable, and are willing to commit longer, we can work on that part of us that generates the emotions. The part that depends, as we have seen, on our personality.

How? Learn to look at and evaluate our reactions and ourselves from another point of view. Focus our attention on the causes that lead to a certain behavior on our part and intervene to modify it.

Music comes to our aid

Have you ever been particularly sad? Or happy, angry, worried? And find refuge in listening to a song that reflects your mood? You have used the music containment function.

What does the contention function consist of? It consists of seeking to listen to already known passages to deepen a state of mind and evaluate it from a different angle offering an alternative to the contingent problem, allowing a greater distance and a more rational approach. It also offers the possibility, real or presumed, of sharing one's mood with others, thus feeling less alone.

Listening to someone who has experienced the same feelings as us and has decided to share them with us through his music, brings us into his experience, allowing us to deepen ours at the same time thanks to the experience of confrontation that arises from it.

A function that we find to be extremely useful in adolescence.