Healing Through Music

For many people sharing their feelings is not an easy task on the best of day.  When those feelings are overwhelming, new and very painful it can be challenging to even know where to begin. Music can be an amazing tool for many people to help them begin to open up and identify their feelings while beginning the process of expressing their thoughts to others. My husband is one of those people. He has always found when he intentionally listens to music it helps him to flesh out his thoughts.  It can be very cathartic. Over the years and through many challenges and joys, we have used this tool;  it has been a family mission to find and identify the music that speaks to our heart and then talk about why the words draw out a feeling that resonates with us. It is amazing how much easier it can be to start with a song.  Listen deeply to the words and then listen as someone shares their heart. What do the words make them think about? How do they feel when they hear that music? For our family, music can be very powerful. We have identified a specific song for each of the mountains and valleys in our lives. We didn’t set out in the beginning intentionally to pick songs..it began in the opposite direction. We would be struggling with opening up, or identifying what we were feeling, and then one day in the car, or while one of us was alone listening to music, we would hear a song that would open up the floodgates, and we would use that moment to begin a conversation that soon showed us that a song can begin the healing process. This tradition is very similar to picking your first dance song at your wedding. What piece of music epitomized your relationship or the feelings you have for the other? By using this same concept for other events in your life, you create a soundtrack for your story. Throughout the written history in this website, I have included stanzas or quotes that illustrate what draws us to a particular piece of music to illustrate a time in our life. We have even gone so far as to share this story with the artist and have had some fairly life changing experiences because of it.

Since everyone has very unique tastes..I am fairly certain that our picks won’t be your picks..Give it a try, especially if one or both of you are struggling with opening up. There are still a couple songs that I can’t listen to without sobbing, even all of these years later.  I remember times when listening to them and crying was exactly what I needed.

Here are the songs that speak to our hearts and the times they symbolize for us. There are many more; I have only listed the ones we have picked out for pregnancies and immediately after birth. I can’t thank the artists enough for the gift they have given us by creating each piece of music and inadvertently helping us along our way.