Music has such powerful energy. When I feel a little lost, music saves me. Recently, life threw me a curveball, and I was feeling unsettled. I was sitting in my kitchen when suddenly I received an update notification from the photo app on my phone. I have never opened this app, and I had never received any notification from it. I also did not know that the app took photos from my gallery and made a video with music with the photos.
I opened the app and there was a video of a family trip we took in 2019 back to the area where I grew up. Not only were there photos of my daughter, granddaughter, and the beautiful area where I lived, but the video was also set to the most peaceful music. I could feel the stress leaving my body, and my emotions began to calm. I watched the video four times and felt so much better when it finished. Has music ever healed you that way?
Sometimes, the words in a song are exactly what I needed at that moment. I was thinking of doing something that was out of my comfort zone when I heard Pink’s song Trust Fall for the first time. If you haven’t heard the song it talks about breaking through fear and doing what you thought was impossible. “Do it. Just do it, and then the fear is gone.”
Music can motivate us when our energy is flagging. As a runner, I have been to many races when I wanted to stop, but the music pumped me up and kept me going. One half-marathon at a college had a band playing every two miles, and it made a big difference. I was running a marathon in New Orleans and the roads were torn up by Hurricane Catrina. Running on them took a toll on my legs, and at mile 13 my legs were already tired. At mile 13, you either entered the chute to finish the half-marathon, or you turned to the left and continued on the route for the marathon. I wanted to turn into that chute and be done, but Rocky was playing and I mean who gives up when Rocky is playing?
We associate memories with music. When we hear a certain song it reminds us of another time. It helps us remember important moments. We connect to the movie from our era and have a certain pride in it. I know I often tell my children, “I listened to that song growing up.”
Music sets the tone for performances of all kinds. When we are in the movies we know when something big is going to happen by the music. In a dance performance, the music adds to the beauty. Music can make us cry or laugh.
Music is inexpensive therapy. We can put on music that calms, motivates, or just makes us happy. The rhythms and tones seem to have a connection to our body’s energy. Music is a healthy way to improve our mental health.
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