Music and the individual collide every day: while shopping, exercising, dining and driving. Hip-Hop, pop, jazz, and the blues—the amount of music that surrounds us is astounding. Yet the natural music that occurs constantly is often overlooked: a bird song, a car backfiring, emergency sirens and the tide coming in. All these songs are part of our world and life and we fail to notice their importance and significance.
Everyone has his or her favourite song. The collision of instruments mixed with human voice touches something somewhere inside. The problem is that in belting them out while driving or dancing around, most people forget to listen to the lyrics and miss the pain, the heartbreak, the silliness, or the cruelty that the words of the song hold. And by creating new favourites, old songs fade into memories. In TV and movies, songs are chosen to move us, but in our listening we miss the lyrics, and avoid hearing, perhaps because we have a hard time confronting the truth behind the words. Take a moment the next time your favourite song is played; close your eyes, breathe deeply and hear what is being said, personally connect with the lyrics and embrace the moments you spend listening and being with yourself.
Take time away from synthesized music to refocus on the natural music the world provides. Listening to lyrics created from human experience has its merit and place, but only by reconnecting with nature can one truly find peace with oneself.
It’s easy to reconnect. Add a walk into your day and don’t just stop and smell the roses, listen to the song of the bees buzzing around them, pay attention to the animal chatter, breathe deeply and listen to your own breathing. Take time to appreciate the music you create, notice how your breath harmonizes with the wind or the rain, and take comfort in knowing that with each and every breath, we’re all connected.
[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]by Kathleen Beveridge
