Jane Witherspoon is a Canadian expat, adventurous spirit, and dedicated yoga instructor who now calls Dénia, Spain home. A passionate Rambler at heart, she embraces the richness of life in her new Mediterranean lifestyle.
For as long as there have been human beings, we have created music. Long before we had recordings, playlists, streaming services, or even written language, people were making rhythm, singing, clapping, dancing, and using music to tell stories and bring people together. Across cultures, generations, and every corner of the world, music has been woven into the human experience.
We use it to celebrate, to grieve, to worship, to soothe our children, to mark important moments, and simply to enjoy being together. There is something quite remarkable about the fact that no matter where we come from or what language we speak, music is something we all seem to understand.
But have you ever wondered why we connect with it so deeply? Perhaps it is because music has this incredible ability to reach us in ways that words sometimes cannot. A song can change our mood within seconds.
It can make us smile, bring us to tears, give us goosebumps, or make it almost impossible to sit still. It can lift our spirits when we need it, calm us when life feels overwhelming, energize us when we’re tired, and comfort us when we’re struggling. And sometimes, just a few familiar notes can transport us back decades, reconnecting us with a person, a place, or a moment we thought we had long forgotten.
In many ways, music becomes part of the story of our lives. There are songs from our childhood, our teenage years, first loves and heartbreaks, weddings and celebrations, road trips and adventures, losses and new beginnings. We may not consciously choose them at the time, but over the years these songs become little markers along the way—a soundtrack quietly accompanying us through the different chapters of our lives.
There is also something incredibly therapeutic about music. It can help reduce stress and anxiety, influence our mood, and even change the way we experience discomfort. Music engages areas of our brain connected to emotion, memory, and reward, which may help explain why it can have such a powerful effect on how we feel.
I experienced this firsthand with my father. My dad was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, and as he fell deeper into the confusion and chaos of the disease, he developed a fascinating connection with the movie Mamma Mia! We watched it with him over and over, and something quite amazing would happen each time. The familiar music seemed to reach a part of him that the disease hadn’t taken away. He would light up, laugh, and sing along to the songs.
Watching him find that joy brought happiness not only to him, but to all of us who were watching someone we loved slowly slip away. It reminded me that even during some of the most difficult times in our lives, there can still be moments of joy—and sometimes music can help us find them.
Many of us instinctively turn to music during both the happiest and most difficult times in our lives. We listen when we celebrate, when we exercise, when we want to relax, when we fall in love, when our hearts are broken, and when we simply need a little lift. Sometimes a song seems to understand exactly how we feel before we have even found the words ourselves.
Our bodies respond to music too. We naturally connect with its rhythm. An upbeat song can make us want to move and can influence the pace of our breathing and heartbeat, while slower music can encourage us to settle and relax. There’s a reason we find ourselves tapping our toes, swaying, walking a little faster, or suddenly wanting to dance when the right song comes on.
Interestingly, I’m actually someone who prefers a peaceful environment most of the time. I don’t usually have music playing in the background all day. I love quiet, and it helps me maintain a sense of calm and clarity. But when I do choose music, I tend to choose it with intention. I have playlists that energize me when I work out, softer music that helps me relax and connect with myself when I practise yoga, and those wonderful songs I turn to when I need a little pick-me-up.
I think we all have songs like these. Songs that make us feel alive, songs that help us find calm, songs that make us want to get up and dance, and songs that carried us through difficult times. There are songs that remind us of people we love and songs that instantly transport us back to another chapter of our lives. You can hear the opening notes of a song you haven’t listened to in 30 years and suddenly remember exactly where you were, who you were with, and how you felt.
That is part of the magic of music. Our relationship with it begins incredibly early and continues throughout our lives. Along the way, the songs we love become woven into our memories, our relationships, our celebrations, our losses, and all the different versions of ourselves we have been. In many ways, we are each creating the soundtrack of our lives without even realizing it.
And perhaps that is also why sharing music can be such a wonderful way of connecting with one another. When we share a song that means something to us, we are often sharing a little piece of ourselves and our story too. We may discover that a song we thought was uniquely special to us holds a completely different but equally meaningful memory for another woman halfway around the world.
So, my Sole Sisters, as you Ramble out into your week, take a moment to notice the music that moves you. Turn up the song that makes you happy, revisit one that holds a special memory, discover something new, sing along even if you don’t know all the words, and maybe even dance around the kitchen if the mood strikes.
May you continue to find joy, comfort, memories, healing, and connection in the music that accompanies you through this wonderful journey of life.
Music is the divine way
to tell beautiful, poetic
things to the heart. - Pablo Casals
Human beings seem to have innate musicality. Thus, the capacity to understand and derive pleasure from complex musical patterns appears to be culturally universal. Musicality is expressed very early in development. In this sense, music may be compared to speech in other cognitively interesting ways that we use sound. But, whereas speech is most obviously important for communicating propositions or concepts, obtaining such knowledge is not the primary function of music. Rather, it is music’s power to communicate emotions, moods, or affective mental states that seem beneficial to our quality of life - Robert Zatorre, Ph.D.
READ MORE > Jane's Mindful Musings, Rambler Cafe Blog
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