Music, Mood and Motivation - What's Your Theme Song?

I’m not a music therapist. But I love the role music plays in our lives. How it can shift our mood and how it can motivate us when we need it most.

Below is a snapshot of the role music plays during my average day:

I listen to Chinese or Native American flutes on Pandora during Tai Chi;
I listen to music to feel empowered like Annie Lennox or Fantasia Barrino on my drive to work;
at night I fall asleep to light rain and thunder storm sounds on YouTube.

Music is everywhere.

So much so that after our teen years of discovering artists we like and/or playing in band or music class, we become less aware of our relationship to it. It can fade into the backdrop, like something we take for granted.

I still have fond memories of my very first concert- Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation.” My sister and I went alone and our parents let us drive to downtown Atlanta! I’m still shocked that they let that happen. She was 17 and I was 15.

This was before the era of “selfies” so besides our memories, we have one picture standing next to the car before we left home as visual evidence of the event itself.

At the time, Janet Jackson was newly independent and this was the follow up to her album “Control” which was basically a declaration of independence.

It was the perfect theme music for a teenage girl with lyrics like “I got my own mind, I wanna make my own decisions… when it has to do with my life… my life… I want to be the one that’s in control.”

While that is not the theme music I listen to these days, I do listen down memory lane on occasion.

Sometimes in my work I will encourage clients to select and listen to their own personal theme song.

A song that is uplifting or motivating. Something that extends an already positive mood or a song that shifts one’s mood during difficult times.

All too often people extend a sad or angry state of mind…not recognizing that the music is keeping them stuck.

We can be prone to letting ideas (lyrics) seep into our subconscious without connection to its impact on our well being.

Music can reveal a lot about who we are and what we are choosing to believe about the story of our life at any given time.

Whether you like to:

create music,
listen to it,
sing,
dance,
or just move to it, be aware of what you are putting into your mind, body and spirit.

One of the songs I listened to the most when I was building my business is a song by the British acid jazz band The Brand New Heavies called “You Are The Universe.”

The lyrics include:

“You are the universe and there ain’t nothing you can’t do;

if you conceive it, you can achieve it that’s why I believe in you.”

What’s your music telling you about you?

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