Music Listening for Flourishing

Flourishing is described by leaders of the positive psychology movement as finding fulfilment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level (Seligman 2011). Music listening is a good friend of flourishing, because of its accessibility, aesthetic appeal and capacity to connect to self and others and is therefore prominent in the literature. In this chapter, we are also informed by the idea of flourishing as it has been used on a mental health continuum proposed by Corey Keyes (Keyes 2002). In his analysis of data from the Midlife in the United States Survey, Keyes identified an important distinction between flourishing and mental health, as well as distinctions between languishing and mental ill health. Namely, that people can languish even in the absence of ill health and can flourish even in the presence of mental and/or physical ill health. Flourishing, therefore, is an achievable aspiration for people facing significant challenges, and languishing is something that is experienced as palpably as serious episodes of depression. The difference is critical when it comes to the role of music listening, because people might benefit most from using music independently as a resource for flourishing, whereas they might benefit from greater guidance and support when languishing. This independence of music listening for health and wellbeing is the focus throughout this chapter.