LA-based composer, Daniel James Smith of T.O.L.D. (The Order of Life and Death) is on a meditation kick and it shows from his new song “How To Waste Time.” The song is about adopting a daily meditation practice and finding out that it’s harder than it sounds to “sit still and do nothing.”
I would like to make the argument that songwriting and playing music is meditative. Meditation doesn’t always have to be sitting still and clearing all of your thoughts. I would say it’s about being fully in the now / present moment, and continuing to bring yourself back to the present moment as your brain wonders. The process of recording music demands a lot of focus which can be meditative. While Daniel James Smith was creating this great song about avoiding a traditional form of meditation, he was really meditating the whole time!
The song has many synth pads and calming ambient sounds which are great for meditation. The dreamy guitars give the song a psychedelic vibe that feels fresh in the modern sea of pop music.
“I started a daily meditation practice a couple of months ago which led, of course, to a lot of procrastinating. Sitting still and doing nothing is apparently much harder than it seems. I realized I didn’t know how to waste time, in a true sense. Just sit there and watch it go by. My mind would get louder and trick me into action. This song is one of the things my mind did to avoid meditating.” – Daniel James Smith, T.O.L.D.
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Written by Ryan Cassata