This I believe – Music is A Divine Gift
I believe music is a divine Gift from God and in its awestruck power to metamorphose a person’s spirit and mind. Music is an art and an entity in of itself. Its lyrics, rhythms, melodies, and harmonies became a catalyst in saving my life eight years ago.
As eight years of my life has flashed me by, it feels surreal that I am now 35 and have fallen victim to time’s passage. I reflect on my life at 28 years old, a single mother with two children and exiting a 10 year relationship that was built on distrust, infidelity, codependency, and yes, moments of superficial bliss too. A very unhealthy relationship for me and my ex – we were oil and water together, never meant to mix, but rather we became entangled. That’s what happens when you are young, impressionable, and unsure of yourself and you set your eyes on someone who is also unsure of himself.
Leaving that relationship [literally] in the middle of a cold, rainy and raw November night, I could not have seen myself healing and growing, emotionally and creatively, through music in the months and years to come. I know it was divine intervention, a true Gift from God, how He put a new circle of friends and musicians into my life. Just at the right time when I needed love of another kind. God brought love of music – new music into my life. Musicians from here in Philly and half way around the globe, whose names and songs were off my radar at the time. How was I supposed to enjoy and appreciate these remarkable singers and songwriters? Not while I was consumed with myself and my obsession to hold onto a broken relationship, which fueled my self-destruction of my true self and my creative spirit that was also being crushed.
It began with one song at a time, one singer at a time. I got hooked to public radio and indie artists of all genres. Songs that made me cry, songs that gave me hope, all these beautiful songs that I had never heard of before. These amazing ethereal voices, like that of Jeff Buckley and so many more. I had no idea what world of new music and songs I had been missing all that time while I was fixated on my trivial life. I never realized that music was a healer, until through its power I was able to enter into my new enlightened self and new skin, which I like the reflection I see now. Music has influenced me to be a better mother – a better person. I also believe I am not alone. I know there are many others who have been so profoundly impacted by music, a song or an artist, that it was a cataclysmic moment in their life. I am happier and healthier for having the gift of music and its hypnotic and transforming ways.