On Repeat

Some of my best quality alone time is, oddly, when I'm cleaning and cooking. Whether it's washing dishes or doing laundry or chopping up veggies, these time-intensive, mindless activities provide solitude. And it's in this solitude that I can lose myself in thought or in music.

And so it was during one of these activities today that I fell into a meditative state while listening to the French singing of Les Nubians. Foreign music has the same benefit as instrumental music - being minimally intrusive.

I was suddenly brought back to the music when I finally noticed that the same message was being repeated in English over and over again.

Now, the same words over and over and over can be quite annoying. I didn't feel that way this time.

The artists had something important to say and I would have completely missed it if it weren't for the power of repetition. In these modern times of over-stimulation and distraction, musicians can't rely on the listener's undivided attention. My attention was finally caught around the fourth time so that by the eighth or tenth I could hear wanted they needed me to hear - feel what they wanted me to feel.

Repetition. It's a great way by which to learn. Mantras are all about this. You want to devote yourself to something or an idea? Repeat a word or phrase that embodies that which you want to embrace.

It was through this method that Les Nubians' mantra about La Guerre was passed on to me tonight and that I was reminded of the power of repetition.