People know I’m a musician and I have had a history of liking u2.

However, I have listened and become fans of dozens of other artists since my teens.

Today I was listening to G&R and I could swear my anxiety increased as did my aggression and I became short tempered.

Songs like Knocking on Heavens door, November Rain etc on a suped up stereo system in my car had me feeling like my 20’s. Easily worked up.

Is it me or the music? I felt my anxiety condition worsen so I popped a few pills.

It is the music! Music can evoke emotions, anxiety, arousal and every feeling hidden in the deepest corners of our psyche. I hear certain songs from my childhood and I am transported back to an exact place and time, whether that be be a 12 year old kid riding my bike down Fulton Avenue again, or a 14 year old and ripping my YZ80 along a dirt track, or even that shy 16 year old kid with what would soon be his first real girlfriend sitting on his shoulders at a Ramones concert and trying to shield her from getting knocked around in a rowdy wave.

Music can be chicken noodle soup for the soul, gasoline poured on a fire, or anything in between, and whatever it happens to be at any given moment can vary from song to song, memory to memory and emotion to emotion.

And beyond that we do know that sound frequencies can alter the wave lengths our brains are operating at and level of consciousness.

Or, you can just read everything above as the squabbles of an aged teen drummer who never played very well, and failed guitarist whose fingers refused to bend to do bar chords.

Music can most definitely effect your mood. Your mood determines what chemicals that factory we call a brain makes. I can’t cite the study because I don’t remember the name hah but they did a study on old people listening to music that was new vs when they were young. The group that listened to the music from their youth responded positively- slight elevations in HGH and T in the men.

The mind is a powerful thing, and it is easily influenced.

Hi MarkInDallas and EyeofRa,

Guys this is NLP. What is NLP? You trigger an event by an anchor.

The anchor is the songs from G&R... And the event triggered is states of emotion I felt in my past when I listened to them as a fan in my 20's and I was heavily into MMA.

Thoughts of my youth came back to me.. the words of the songs all came back... The aggression... The anxiousness etc. My T levels rose automatically.

Now I listen to U2 a lot and play the guitar but I find the calming sounds in most of the songs relaxing me.. I'm also into ambient music for this very reason (As I age it has a calming effect on me).

However, nothing triggered my desire to be a bad boy like listening to the G&R singles last night.. It was like I was there... back at 25. All my body processes. Words like "mama put my guns in the ground. I can't shoot them anymore." triggered memories of my fighting days. The actual feelings came back as did aggression, and a bit of depression knowing that was SO long ago and I'm older now.

It's amazing how the brain works and the body follows. It's just like smell. Smell can also be an NLP trigger. As can taste.

This is music and sound... And the words of the songs themselves... My HGH and T rose... It was wierd.. I felt I would bash in the head of any guy that challenges me... Like if I really tried that at my age I'd be killed these days ;) But that doesn't mean the memories of my MMA days and my toughness back then didn't come back. You see back then I was listening to G&R daily. So due to NLP G&R brought back the memories like I was there... My body literally changed and responded.

I've decided to stop listening to any tracks that increase anxiety and live in the present day.. Calming instrumental ambient music is where my original music is headed these days.

Just thought I'd put it out there. I never thought a CD could bring back so much emotion and state change.

Check out the book “The Hidden Messages in Water” by masaru emoto.

Music has charms to soothe a savage breast ~William Congreve (from his play The Monring Bride)

Anything that is emotionally based, and music most definitely is, will sway us mentally and emotionally. This applies to music as well as seduction. It can evoke memories, mindsets, and feelings of the past or anew.

Meditation is a very powerful tool. There are people who can alter their body temperature with a thought. Some can orgasm at will. There have been magicians who deny their body of oxygen for so long most people would be brain dead. Music can help guide the body to this state. It's not surprising at all that music would have this effect on you.

I wouldn't stop listening to your music. Those feelings it's evoking can help heal past trauma. As a person who carries more than their fair share of anxiety and trauma I offer you this advice.

Listen to your music at a low volume with your headphones on. Block out the rest of the world and just allow the feeling of the music to seep into your skin. As your anxiety rises allow your body to feel it. All of it. Instead of pushing it away embrace it and all the feelings that comes with it. Feel it burn deep into your body consuming you.

This is what I do when I'm having a legitimate panic attack. I have found that fighting the feelings of anxiety is a lot worse than the anxiety itself. Once I allow myself to fully feel it, feel my whole body just consumed with it, the dread and the panic and the terror... Well that just seems to fall away.

The first time I did this I kept telling myself I was actually craving those feelings. Like it was a drug. There was a release like I had finally gotten my fix and mental clarity washed over me. Everything just settled back into place and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I knew why I was having those feelings. I learned something about myself and feel like I am a better person for it.

If you decide to take my advice I would love to hear your results. I've never felt comfortable going to therapy and it's taken me a very long time to figure out how to cope with my anxiety and anger issues. I feel your pain and wish you well.