Always surprising, always different …….. love this cool, catchy piece of funkiness. Impressive work Justin :)

Magical and soothing garden. Great work!!

this is somehow...groovy. I like that rhythmic concept a lot. Bruce Klepper said it: It's fascinating.

Enjoying these nifty sounds throughout the track. A must for headphone listening. Almost an Asian feel here, but regardless, its unique and well crafted. Great stuff!

Fantastic sonic odyssey  👍🌈😊🙏🏾

Warm positive vibes from this. Great track.

(Free WAV Download available here under '••• More'; and eventually, as part of a future solo album)

Since it’s Springtime (at least, in my neck of the woods), I thought it would be fun to share a few gardening tips… for your brain!! :)

Consider for a moment the evolving brain of our mammalian ancestors. Recent neuroscience studies suggest we are dramatically more wired for absorbing and reliving negativity than we are positivity. It’s all part of the survival plan. If you think a lot about a bad situation (like that time you were jumped by a tiger in the jungle, and barely escaped with your life), you’re able to imagine similar scenarios better, and are less likely to fall victim to the same situation. 

The issue is, the average human is not as physically threatened as mammals were during those early developmental stages. But we are more psychologically threatened; and those scenarios still get stored, replayed and reimagined in the same way. 

Admittedly, we still need those survival skills to some degree. But perhaps it’s ok if we dial them down a bit. So how do we do that? With the help of the next cool book I want to share, ‘Hardwiring Happiness’ by Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

One of the most profound ideas I pulled from this book was the idea of just sitting and dwelling in a positive moment. Sounds weird, right?

Intriguingly… quite the opposite of how we store negative experiences for survival purposes, positive experiences don’t often benefit our survival, and are typically discarded with the passing of short term memory. 

But if you dwell in a happy moment… if you feel the excitement in your body (chemical), if you replay the scenario (neurological)… and don’t just shrug it off, but literally allow yourself to spend even 5-10 minutes in that space… you do the same storage upload process to your brain that the negative stuff is doing (and if you’re like me, you can easily spend 5-10 minutes dwelling on that negative crap, so you know you have it in you to focus that long). 

So with practice and patience, you begin to rewire your mind to more easily tap into those positive memories, and that positive energy. And if you keep doing that on a frequent basis, you discover your mind grows much more adept at naturally jumping to happy thoughts rather than fearful thoughts. 

I joyfully admit I put this to the test about 15 years ago, when I started my ‘finding my truth’ journey (it sounded better than a midlife crisis. Those are so passé these days. Sheesh). But I painfully admit… I also had a dragon-sized ego at the time. I hid my fears and self-doubts behind a wall of arrogant rage. And I was strangely untouchable (but also snippy and abrasive) with that kind of armor and weaponry. 

Ultimately, it wasn’t who I wanted to be. Thus the desire for change. I went into this new daily practice expecting no immediate results. All I had was hope that it would impact my neural wiring eventually. And about 5 years into that practice, I realized I was recognizably more positive inside. 

Granted, it took me that long because I was (foolishly) at war with my ego, thinking it was ‘the enemy’… rather than just a co-pilot with delusions of piloty grandeur (so there you go, you can bypass that step if you want to). 

15 years into my practice, I am so much healthier mentally than I was back then, it’s like I’ve lived two different lives. Now, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I can absolutely see the journey was well worth it. So if you’re looking for another insightful tool for changing your thinking, I highly recommend ‘Hardwiring Happiness’. It’s a great ‘starting point’ book. And it’s based on neuroscience; so, very high on logic, but low on esoteric (making it a little more approachable to the masses). 

I hope you also enjoyed my latest musical creation, ‘Planting In The Hidden Garden’. :)

WTF! The Musical

Planting In The Hidden Garden

(Jan 9th, 2025) Just a quick message to let you know I'm not going to be active here for a while. If you need to reach me, you can always message me at GrevusAnjl@mac.com. 
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Welcome to my sonic playground. I don't consider myself a skilled musician. I just sculpt sounds to quiet my mind... often with surprising and humorous results. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. :)

Comments

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