Have a day full of SMILES!
Recently, I have been reading books on the healing properties of music—music's ability to speak to us spiritually, emotionally, and physically. In addition to being a professional musician, I am also a Certified Nursing Aid and so have some experience with watching and employing music—particularly hymns—as a lifeline for patients with various forms of dementia. One of the books I just read talks a great deal about the melodic and harmonic and melodic balance within the music of J.S. Bach and how amazingly healing it is in post-operative intensive care for patients just having undergone differing types of brain surgery because it “sings” to the entire brain—not just one region.
Where am I going with this?
Well, generally speaking, I am a very upbeat person—just ask my friends. This morning, not so much. I couldn't even necessarily tell you why—a bit like “emotional shadow boxing.” There seemed no way out of that “mood” other than to just decide "no way!" Then, I started thinking about what I had been reading and, how much I dearly love the music of Bach. (What organist doesn't?) I remembered the Soprano/Alto duet Wir eilen mit schwachen (“We're running with faltering footsteps”) from the cantata Jesu, Der Du meine Seele. It really does sound like footsteps, perhaps more skipping than running, but all in all, great fun! In fact, while listening, all I could envision was two little kids running to their folks with the BIGGEST SMILES imaginable! (In essence, that is the spirit of this text—no matter what, we can always run home to God who is SO happy to see us!)
With no thought, I was grinning and laughing. Just like one of the authors said, I was being “rewired”—my thinking—moreover, my mood, was being changed “in front of my eyes!”
Perhaps I’m stating the obvious, but how often we forget the very things—such as a piece of music—that we love and in that love, can bring healing to us at the very moment we need it most.
Have a day full of SMILES!
Jim
Order Peace Be With You: Johann Sebastian Bach today!