Music's Memory Portal

We’ve all had those moments when a song opens a portal to memory. Music has the ability to not only bypass logic and feeling but it can completely detour thought and emotion. You know; it’s the song which penetrates deeper into layers of the heart and then weaves memory with emotion and time, or better yet, the absence of time. I had such an experience this week. 

I’ve been at the Cabin working the energy, bringing in furniture; essentially doing a full on reconnection with the sanctuary space, both home and land. I’d just finished an energetic clearing of the loft area and, feeling quite accomplished and light, began sliding down the stairs (yes, literally like a kid, bump-bump-bumpity-bump). The upliftness and reestablished trust of the cabin, as well as having the loft prepped for an art gathering, simply felt amazing. To keep me motivated, I had music playing throughout the day. On my bumpity-bump downstairs Everything I Own by Bread came on, stopping me at a bump.

My response was completely unexpected and, quite honestly, took me off guard. Jeff immediately came to mind and heart. In that moment, his essence was so palpable on the stairs, it took my breath away and tears began to flow. Now, had it been Wildflowers by Tom Petty or maybe I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan or When I Get to Where I’m Going, Dolly Parton and Brad Paisley, Where the Green Grass Grows, Tim McGraw….yeah so many other songs might have done this to me, but Everything I Own, has never moved me this way. I wasn’t even in that head-heart space to be moved, or in this case, halted.

From the ‘work’ I do, and the unusualness of the song, I knew this was more than just sparking memory. This was an invitation to pause, to feel, to listen more deeply, not just to the song (which is important), but to what was ready to rise and weave from within me. Instead of brushing it off or simply remaining in the memory and then moving on bumpity-bump down the stairs, I sat with it, all of it, and got curious :: Why this song? Why Jeff’s presence? Why here and now?

There, on the stairs, the weaving began; opening personal insights, enhanced remembrance, spiritual enrichment…the portal path of the wordless knowing. I am grateful to these moments, grateful I know to pause to these moments. And yes, there will be an Art Medicine™journey to further integrate the weaving.

So the next time a song stirs a memory…or more…may you choose to pause, get curious about what may be weaving for you, and bravely enter the portal. Reach out if I can be a support to you, to listen, guide you through an Art Medicine™ piece, or to simply bump-bump-bumpity-bump along.