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Music Can Heal

By: Stephanie Thompson

Have you ever watched a movie with the sound off and then rewatched the same scene with the soundtrack playing? It’s a marked difference. Or how about have you ever driven on the freeway with no music playing, stuck in traffic, and felt your blood start to boil, but then decide to play some uplifting music and start to calm down and feel the shift in your emotions? There is no denying music’s effect on us.

 

According to Music4life.com, as early as 323-373 BCE, Aristotle wrote that “flute

music could arouse strong emotions and purify the soul.” There is

proof everywhere that the medical community takes the healing of music

seriously in the evidence of the abundance of music therapy programs

offered and the significant programs in places like John Hopkins Center

for Music and Medicine where they provide money, research, and support in

the studies of music and healing.

 

In an article from “Harvard’s Health Watch,” the author cites how “music can ease anxiety and discomfort during invasive procedures, for example in controlled clinical trials of people having colonoscopies, cardiac angiography, and knee surgery, those who listened to music before their procedure had reduced anxiety and a reduced need for sedatives.”

 

Robin Spielberg, pianist, composer, and author, in her Tedx Talk, “The Healing Power of Music,” tells how when her premature baby was in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, Robin played a CD of her piano music and the vital signs of her daughter and every infant within earshot improved. She also recounts how post-WW2, nurses noticed how veterans recovered quicker and got up on their feet faster when hearing big band music. One of the most profound experiences that she talks about is when she goes to play at a nursing home. She walks in and the patients there look depressed and she starts to play piano and no one really responds to her performance so she proceeds to play and finish out her set and heads out of the building. But, then a nurse runs up to her and tells her how one of the gentlemen listenings sang along with her on “Moon River.” The nurse tearfully went on to tell her that in the past six months after his wife died, he hadn’t talked to anyone including his family and that her performance had broken through to him and now he was willing to talk to his family again. In her own words, Spielberg tells how that was her most successful performance and she played at Carnegie Hall. I had a very similar experience in my singing career. I was presenting a concert to this retirement home as some volunteer work I used to do and it was a Memorial Day concert so I was singing patriotic songs. After my performance, I was walking around saying hello to the residents and one of the nurses came up to me with tears in her eyes. She told me how one of the gentlemen at her table had never spoken since he’d been there but today when I sang, he sang along out loud with me. I, like Robin, remember feeling very touched and moved by this and that’s when I really started to understand the healing power of music.

 

If you enjoyed this article, please check out my other articles and see how music can heal. I also do Facebook Lives on Thursday nights at 7 pm to share tips about singing.

Enjoy your music. ❤️

Why the Terms “Negative Emotions” and “Positive Emotions” are Misleading

By: Robin Hills

“Negative emotions” and “Positive Emotions” are terms that are widely used.  Indeed, they are often used by psychologists and people working in the field of emotional intelligence from time to time.

Emotion is complex state of feeling resulting in physical and physiological changes that influence our thoughts and our behaviour.

Emotions are controlled through interactions within the amygdala and hippocampal complex, which are parts of the limbic system within our brains. This part of the brain is often referred to as the emotional brain. It has no language processing capabilities. It’s the neocortex – the thinking parts of our brain – that assigns a label to the emotion.

Emotions have developed over the centuries – over eons – through evolutionary processes as a survival mechanism. They serve us well as long as we work with them effectively.

Emotions are emotions. We experience them for a reason, and they contain vital information. We can’t really put a judgment on emotion as to whether they’re “positive” or “good”, or whether they’re “negative” or bad.

It’s not the emotion that’s positive or negative, it’s the thought process and the behaviours that they provoke that requires the label. An emotion leads us to behave in a certain way. If it leads us to behave in a way that causes annoyance and upset to others, then that is the important thing we should focus on as being positive or negative.

Happiness is often referred to as a “positive emotion”. It suggests a state that we should all aspire towards all the time, but it’s not an appropriate emotion to show at a solemn occasion such as a funeral.

Also, happiness will limit us in our ability to communicate effectively, to negotiate well and to make critical decisions

So-called “negative emotions”, such as anger, sadness or fear, have physiological effects and can be used in positive ways. We experience them for a reason.

Anger can be used in a positive way to right a wrong and to overcome an injustice, and we can use it to stop something bad from happening to other people. Anger also makes us more attentive and careful in our thinking and drives us to motivate us at certain times.

Sadness is experienced as a part of bereavement. This is an emotion that can be expressed positively at solemn occasions. It allows us the chance to come to terms with our loss, to be thankful and then to move on.

Fear is often termed a “negative emotion”, but it stops us from taking unnecessary risks such as walking across a busy road without looking. Also, if fear is such a negative emotion why do we get so much pleasure from horror films and scary movies?

So, the important thing to remember is not to label emotions as “positive” or “negative”, but to look to focus on the behaviour and the outcome of that emotion and look at those as being positive or negative.

The way that you use your emotions drives the way that you act or make decisions and drives your emotional intelligence.

 

 

How To Unleash Your Creativity

By: Pragito Dove

What is creativity? Are your conditioned ideas keeping you in a box? How can you find out where your creativity lies?

Creativity has nothing to do with any activity in particular – with painting, poetry, dancing, singing. Activity itself is neither creative or uncreative. You can paint, or sing, in an uncreative way. You can cook, or clean the floor in a creative way. Creativity is the quality you bring to whatever activity you are doing; it is an attitude, an inner approach, how you perceive things.

Your creativity is already inside you, waiting to be unleashed. If you are feeling blocked then do whatever brings you joy. It doesn’t matter what you do, do it joyfully, lovingly, with totality, and not purely out of economic motives. Be fully present and you will feel something spiritual, creative, divine, arising out of you. Love what you do regardless of what it is. If you clean the floor with love, you have done an invisible painting. You lived those moments in such delight, the value is intrinsic. Small things become great by the touch of love and delight.

Some people turn into master chefs, others open a can of soup for dinner. But then maybe the master chef is a terrible dancer and the can-of-soup person dances magically. It doesn’t matter what you are passionate about — what matters is that you follow your passion, allowing your creativity to arise from that. Every child is born creative. Children are so in the moment, so in touch with their innate joy, and spending time with children can greatly enhance your own creativity.

If you believe you are uncreative, you will become uncreative – because belief is not just belief, it opens and closes doors.  You were born creative,  but your creativity has been pushed aside if you have been filled with ideas to become ambitious, economical, and political.

When ambition enters, creativity disappears because ambition is in the future and creativity is in the present. Your creative sources have been plugged, blocked, destroyed and your whole energy has been forced into some activity that society thinks is going to pay. You have been taught to be money-oriented, power-oriented, and power is destructive, not creative. Creativity gives to the world, it does not destroy.

 

You have to take your life in your own hands, purify yourself of all conditionings, and suddenly you will see you are creative. You have to find what you can do, and what you cannot do. You have to grope in the dark. It is not clear-cut, you are not handed a template, but that is good, because in the very search, something grows in you. You are an opening, a potentiality for a thousand and one things and you have to choose, to feel your way. If you love your life, you will find your creativity. Dance because you love to dance, walk your dog because you love your dog and the fresh air, play tennis because you love to play tennis. Whatever you love to do, do it!  Never hide behind masks – be real, authentic, true to whatever you are doing, and you will find your creativity.

To be creative is to be close to the divine, but this closeness is available only if you pour your whole energy into your chosen activity. Discover your innermost joy and passion, and do it. Make what is invisible inside you visible, make your dream exist on the earth. Transform your potential into reality: this is the greatest joy there is. You attain real bliss when you have helped the divine shine through, when you have made the world a little more beautiful, when you have enhanced its joy. Live at your optimum. Don’t think of life as a burden, a duty to be fulfilled. Make it a dance; let it be a celebration.

You were a child once. As you pay attention to magical moments from your childhood, you help your creativity, passion, and joy grow. A new life energy runs through you. You become more receptive, more loving.

Here is a powerful technique to help unleash your creativity:

Four-Minute Meditation: Gather Moments of Joy

Step One

Remember one moment from your childhood, from joyful times, when you felt that life was magic, that just to be alive was ecstatic, that just to breathe was enough. You didn’t need anything to make you joyful. Gather this moment. Close your eyes and remember it.

 

 

 

Step Two

Now relive this moment. Become a child again. Run, sing, play. As you continue this practice, do it for a longer time, ten, twenty, or thirty minutes. If memories are triggered of times your passion for a particular activity was cut off, reinfuse that activity with passion NOW. Your life becomes revitalized with creativity and joy.

Creativity is the ability to see what other people can’t. How can you be creative when your sight is clouded by an overbusy mind?

Spending time doing nothing, relaxing, walking in nature, sitting on your porch, enjoying any kind of downtime that you can fit into your day: all these help you tune in to your creativity. Laughter and dancing help you to loosen up. Having fun, being playful, playing sports and games, singing and dancing, and whistling all enhance your creative process. Laughter breaks up the serious grip of the mind so that your natural talents shine through.

Creativity means allowing the new to happen. Be courageous! Put aside memory so the past does not interfere. Let the new penetrate you and thrill your heart.

You are a human being, the very culmination of this existence; you are conscious. You have come into this world with a specific destiny – you have something to fulfill, a message to be delivered, some work to be completed. You are not here accidentally: existence intends to do something through you.

Reproduced with permission from Pragito Dove www.discovermeditation.com

Taking Chances on a New Career

By Judi Moreo

People find jobs they are suited for when they are young. At least, they believe they find the right kind of job. But as they progress, many feel disillusioned with the career they chose, feeling it isn’t what they thought it would be.

They think about changing careers, but that often means starting over. That is a scary proposition, especially if they have been in a certain career for several years. It’s likely they have climbed the corporate ladder and are earning a pretty decent salary. Starting over is sure to require a cut in pay and that can adversely affect the life of the employee and his or her family.

Taking on a new career is not only about a cut in money, either. It also means starting over as far as the pecking order or seniority that was gained after many years in the original career. This too, can be a scary proposition. Another factor for career changers is that they are typically older. If people do decide to switch, they tend to do it in their forties or fifties. This means they have as little experience in the new career as someone just starting out and younger. That can be intimidating.

If you are considering a career change and you have thought about the scenarios above, you should know there are positives that you should consider when making your decision. The first is that money isn’t everything. Sometimes, getting out of a bad situation is enough to overcome the objection of less money. Besides, the internet makes it really easy to earn extra income, either by selling online or doing work for others. It is no longer necessary to work at a physical location when trying to earn extra money.

The second factor regarding lack of experience in the new career is the fact that it will be new for you. This can be exciting as well as scary. Think back to when you first started in your original career. Any new achievement made you feel like you could rule the world.

The third factor where you have no seniority, remind yourself that you do have work and life experience that can still be brought to the table. If you have any management experience, it can easily carry over.  And you will know how to handle adverse situations better than your younger colleagues.

Staying in a career that you have grown tired of can make you bitter and take years off your life. If you have thought about taking a chance in starting a new career, remember others have done it and have made it work.

Judi Moreo is one of the most recognized personal growth trainers and coaches in the world. She is the author of 24 books including 2 international bestsellers, “You Are More Than Enough” and “Ignite the Spark.”  As a personal achievement coach, hypnotherapist, and NLP practitioner, Judi will help you discover that you really are More Than Enough to achieve the success you desire.  She has informed, inspired, challenged, motivated and entertained audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe.   Judi has received many awards including the Woman of Achievement, Entrepreneur; the Nevada Business Person of the Year; has been inducted into the Business Hall of Fame; and in 2020, received a HerStory Award from the Women’s Federation for World Peace. To contact Judi Moreo, judi@judimoreo.com or 702-283-4567.