Use Music to Change Your Brain and Get Happier
7/13/202644 min
There's a reason music has mattered to people for thousands of years. Across cultures and generations, we’ve treated it as more than entertainment—as a kind of language that can express what words can’t and help us connect with the meaning and mystery on the right side of our brain.
In this episode of Office Hours, I explore why that idea has endured and what modern science has to say about it. I also share two simple ways to amplify music’s positive effects, plus four practical strategies for building a music practice that fits your goals—so you can get more out of the music you already love.
And if you want to dive deeper into the music I love and listen to, go to: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/playlist
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Where to find Arthur Brooks:
• Website: https://arthurbrooks.com/
• In-person Retreats: https://retreats.arthurbrooks.com/
• Newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter
• X: https://x.com/arthurbrooks
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arthurcbrooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArthurBrooks/
• Email: officehours@arthurbrooks.com
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(05:40) Schopenhauer’s theory
(09:38) Why I believe music reveals deeper truths
(13:20) The science of music and the brain
(19:41) The emotional impact of music
(23:32) Which type of music is linked with happiness
(25:28) The worst kind of music for happiness
(26:54) The benefits of listening to sad music
(29:35) Two ways to amplify music’s positive effects
(30:50) #1: Decide what you want from your music
(31:55) #2: Create a catalog of songs
(33:15) #3: Learn and grow
(36:04) #4: Play music yourself
(39:22) Q&A: Learning about classical music
(40:24) Q&A: Listening to music while working out
(42:06) Q&A: Friendship on the autism spectrum
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Referenced:
• The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/the-meaning-of-your-life
• Meaning Membership: https://hub.arthurbrooks.com/the-meaning-membership
• Arthur’s newsletter: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/newsletter
• The Happiness Scale: https://learn.arthurbrooks.com/the-happiness-scale
• The Pursuit of Happiness with Arthur Brooks: https://www.thefp.com/s/the-pursuit-of-happiness-with-arthur
• The Meaning of Your Life Retreats: https://retreats.arthurbrooks.com
• Schopenhauer on music as the embodiment of Will: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/schopenhauer-philosophy-and-the-arts/schopenhauer-on-music-as-the-embodiment-of-will/19892B6A1001BACD7093CFBA2D59BF38
• Three Philosophies of Life: Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs, Peter Kreeft: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0898702623
• ...References continued at: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/office-hours
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Arthur Brooks· Host0:28
There is a very ancient idea, an idea that there are alternative languages that are different than the languages that we speak to each other, that I'm speaking right now, not written or spoken, but languages nonetheless, that uncover deep truths that are otherwise inaccessible, languages that allow us to access parts of our brain that we wouldn't be able to otherwise. Sounds fantastic. Sounds sort of like science fiction, right? Well, why not? Why would that not be the case? There's a belief that goes back across the centuries and millennia that music is that language, that music has special properties to unlock mystery and meaning from the right-hand side of the brain. [instrumental music] Welcome to Office Hours. I'm Arthur Brooks. This is a show about love and happiness, the science of love and happiness, and how we can bring the science to as many people as possible. That's my passion.