Music Therapy

The modern lifestyle is a hectic one. When you're feeling overwhelmed, frazzled, tense, stressed, or weary..  you will eventually need an outlet. Enter - Music.

Music can be incredibly therapeutic. How many times have you heard a song and been instantly uplifted, soothed, or moved to tears? Music has been proven to be capable of raising or lowering the pulse, respiration and blood pressure. Not only does it raise our energy levels and improve moods, we unconsciously synchronize our breathing to the beat of the music.

So the next time you feel you need to unwind or release blocked or trapped negative energy within your body, put on some music. Not just any music... I'm going to encourage you to use a little intuition with this one.  Select music based on your mood.  Ask yourself "what song do I really want to hear right now?" Play it. Once that song is over, ask yourself again "what song do I feel I need to hear right now to release blocked or negative energy?" Play it. Keep asking yourself "what do I need to hear?", song after song, and over the course of natural progression you will hopefully begin to feel much lighter and free within your body, heart, and mind.

It's really quite amazing how something as simple and profound as music, can naturally release negative or stagnant energy within oneself.

I'll leave you with a wonderful quote that rings true.

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life"

Love Yourself

More often than not people in life are over critical of others and over critical of themselves. When people think of "loving them-self", we often tend to link that directly to being vain and brush it off without another thought. However it's so important that we are KIND to ourselves, and accept ourself for all that we are. If we do not love ourselves, we cannot love others.   Self love is at the very core of wellbeing, joy, self-empowerment, and your ability to create and enjoy the kind of life you want. The best thing is that loving yourself can start today! Accept all of your shortcomings, and recognise your positive attributes. When you love yourself and exude (modest) confidence, you attract wonderful things into your life.

What can you do?

♥ Write a list of all your positive traits and all the positive things you have to offer. They can be the smallest things - write it down!
♥ Remember all of your accomplishments - write down all the things you're proud of. Don't compare yourself to others, you are unique and there is no other person out there quite like you.
♥ Accept yourself - We all make mistakes, they are part of life, growing and learning. Be gentle with yourself.
♥ Mantras - Use mantras daily to uplift your spirit! When you're feeling down - try saying "I love myself unconditionally and recognize the extraordinary person that I am!" in your mind. Repeat it again and again until your mind finally gives in and believes it. Think of any mantra that resonates and feels right to you.  If it feels strange to say “I love myself,” then start of with something you believe to be true like, “I care about my wellbeing” or “I’m worthy of love.” Once your subconscious mind believes that you’re worthy of love, you’ll begin to accept it into your life.

Most importantly - Stay true to yourself!

♥ Don't try to be someone you're not. Be comfortable with who you are as a person. There is a wonderful quote I once heard that's stuck with me, and describes this perfectly -

"Become aware of what's beautiful within you and cultivate it."

- Be aware of what makes you special and beautiful, and utilize it. Make it all encompassing, let it grow and grow within you until you're physically glowing.
♥ Surround yourself with things that you love, and take part in activities that lift you up and help you feel peaceful. If you thrive on singing, sing! If you love nature, go outside and spend lots of time outdoors.  If you have a special talent for something, make sure you use it and love what you do. If you can use it to help others or inspire others, even better.

Your Identity

I picked up a great book today - a book called "The 7 AHA!'s of Highly Enlightened Souls" by Mike George (You can downloaded a copy of his book here). I'll share a part that resonated with me most:

"What you see in the bathroom mirror in the morning is not you - it's only your body. The moment you think (believe) you are your body, you automatically think (believe) you will grow old and ugly and die. Though your body will, YOU don't. But if you believe that YOU do, you will think according to that belief, and youwill give birth to fear. And, as we saw earlier, all forms of stress have their roots in fear. All fear has it's roots in the fear of death, fear of loss or fear of the ending of comfort. They are all forms of death and this is why 99.99 per cent of all people experience some stress (fear) everyy day: because we have all been taught to believe we are only physical entities. However, belief is seldom truth and, in this case, we need the truth to set us free of false belief! In this case, the truth will set you free of fear, and therefore stress.
The truth is that you are not that body you see reflected in the mirror, you are a soul, you are spirit. It is not that you have a soul or spirit somewhere in your body, you ARE a soul. You are it! You, the soul, are conscious and self-aware. Soul, self, spirit and consciousness are synonymous. You are  not your body you occupy. The body is the dwelling and you are the dweller. You animate the body. It is your car, your temple. You cannot be cut, burned, drowned, or set on fire. Your body can, but YOU cannot.

Scientists have nothing to say about soul, because soul cannot be captured in a test tube. That's why you must not believe a word of what you read or hear (including here!) - you must put it to the test. Only when you test this insight, and experience it to be reality, will it be true for you. Belief is not truth and the greatest trth is your own experience. Or in this case, 'insperience' because, in order to 'insperience' as you truly are, you must withdraw your attention from the world 'out there' and transfer it to the world within. Do this only for a few minutes to begin with, until you are accustomed to the method. The following is the method.

Think of yourself as a conscious, self aware, point of spiritual light sitting inside your head, just above and behind the eyes. Your body is simply your car, your temple, your costume. Meditate on this insight and gradually it will become a direct 'insperience'. You will begin to go beyond your own thoughts (you are not your thoughts) and into the direct experience of your silent self. You will begin to realise and experience yourself as non-physical, therefore not subject to death, and therefore eternal, and therefore without the need to fear anything. As this truth becomes mroe real in everyday situations, you will begin to feel less fearful, less unsure, less anxious, less helpless, less dependent and less powerless. Slowly but surely, in every area of your life, you will begin to feel calmer, more relaxed and more confident in your power and ability to handle the challenges which you encounter in everyday life.

You are not your name, position, nationality, or belief system. They are labels and roles, but they are not you. You are not even male or female. You are the being aspect of the human, the mind not the matter, the soul not the body. You are not even your thoughts and feelings. When you realise this, then change will come easily, all your problems will begin to dissolve, and a natural happiness and a deep inner peace will return."