Well, I was hoping to show you a photo of my new CD on arrival from being printed, but alas, the boxes haven’t arrived yet! So we are running a little behind time.
So, what to talk to you about in this, my weekly blog? Music, of course!
Most of us respond to music – whether it’s that heart-thumping, driving, strongly rhythmic music that we can’t but help tap our feet to or dance like you’ve never danced before, or music that helps us to settle, calm down, to be peaceful, to be a container for our inner world, or to just simply be, or those songs that just make you just want to sing your heart out to, and all the moods and colours in between. As a trained music therapist I know how powerful the elements of melody, rhythm, harmony and structure can be; what joy music can bring to us, what grief it can help us to express, what other feelings it can help us to connect.
But have you noticed that sometimes you can get in a rut with the music you listen to? Feeling a bit low, and you might put on some music that reinforces that feeling? Feeling a bit hyper and you exacerbate that state with the music you put on? It all comes down to awareness of what is best to support you in how you feel at the time.
Our feelings are real and must always be acknowledged and accepted – our ups, our downs, our sadness, our joys, our ambivalence, boredom, stimulation, confusion, clarity, anger, depression, resentment, acceptance, our feelings of love, of desolation, of grief, hopelessness, strength and being in our own power, and so on. Sometimes we need to listen to music that supports us in our feeling-state; to provide, as I like to describe it, a container for our inner world – a space that allows us to be in that feeling state, to accept what we are feeling in that moment. At other times we might need a bit of a jolt to get us out of a feeling state that we might be doing more than accept and acknowledge; perhaps we might be sinking into it. As an example, I was feeling a bit blue on the weekend – work has been too stressful, my CDs haven’t arrived – so I acknowledged how I was feeling, and allowed those feelings to be there. But then I decided that, after that acceptance, I could choose to take myself into another mood through music, so as I was doing some cooking, I put on some music that pumped me up, stimulated my desire to move to the rhythm, move my body, and get those endorphins going. And as always, it worked!
At another time, to decrease my stress levels, I will put on music that calms me, brings the energy levels down a few notches. This is the music that I write for reflection, contemplation, for quiet time. It is only in the spaces we allow ourselves to be that we then give ourselves the opportunity to see more clearly.
I welcome your thoughts on this.
In the absence of showing you a box of my new CDs, here is the album cover, designed by my friend and sister, the talented Karen Curran of Unicorn Graphics (http://www.unicorngraphics.com.au/)
Until next time,
Peta