How Music Offers a Positive Surge of Inspiration and Creativity
Harriett’s Corner
Whether you are listening to it or making it, you will immediately find more joy and energy! “Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music,” wrote Mary Ann Evans, who wrote in nineteenth century England under the pen name of George Eliot.
Many people turn to music to relax and calm down as a way of decreasing the “effort” of daily life. But music has just as much to offer when we need a boost of energy, a positive surge of creativity, focus and inspiration.
This is not just anecdotal information. Scientific research has connected music with an increase in brain chemicals associated with improved mood, including dopamine, and it may also decrease brain chemicals associated with stress responses, such as cortisol. By reducing anxiety, music can help us make more space for joy in our lives as well.
There is more good news – music can bring us these benefits whether we are listening to it recorded, hearing it performed live, or making it ourselves.
What does music do for you? For me, having a headset connected to organ music, or a spiritual or gospel music playlist has done more for me than blocking out external sounds of television or the computer. It has helped me feel noticeably more focused and productive, as if the music is awakening parts of my brain that would otherwise be searching for something else to pay attention to.
Are you using music to improve your energy and boost your mood? Try adding these to your routine:
· Sing in the shower or at the kitchen sink, or at the dinner table, or in the car, or …
· Have a family dinner or solo dance party when you need a boost.
· Pick up an instrument and learn a new tune.
· Pair music-listening with daily tasks or have lead-in music for tasks that require extra energy.
· Watch live music performances to benefit from the energy of the musicians.
How do you use music to keep yourself effortlessly energized?!
April Showers Bring May Flowers – with music, of course!!