Music Therapy.....

I have been friends with Diane for over 30 years.  (God, hard to believe. ) We worked together and lived in flats in the city when we were in our 20's.  I could be sure of two things whenever I went over to Di's flat.....music was always playing and candles always burning.  I can still count on those two things when I go to her house now.  Di put together a beautiful CD for me of inspirational music she downloaded.  It has been an incredible gift.  All the songs are wonderful but I want to tell you about two particular songs on the CD that are my favorites.  One is a song that I have never heard.  It is called "Look to the Rainbow".  Treat yourself and go to utube and pick your favorite artist's rendition and listen to it.  I find myself humming it.  It brings me joy and peace.  The other is the theme song from "Rocky".  I was never a big Rocky fan because of the violence in the movie but I did appreciate the underlying theme of getting what you want because of passion and dedication.  Well, let me tell you that when that theme song comes on, my friends at work have to put up with me jogging through the hallways with my boxing and fighting moves.  I simply HAVE to get up and move when that song comes on.  It is perfect to keep me in fighting shape.....

So obviously I have been thinking alot about music and its healing qualities.  When Jake was in the hospital in ICU and purposefully paralyzed in order for his body to recover, from the allergic reaction and complications he had from blood platelets, I know my sister sang him his lullabies every night.  When I stayed with him when my sister would have the occassional dinner with Mike or go home to be with her other boys, I, too would sing to Jake.  I would sing him this non-sensical little song that my friend Carol sang to her children when they were babies.  I, in turn, sang it to all my nieces and nephews and my children.  So, I sang him that song to let him know I was there.  Then I would sing him a song from Nemo (his favorite movie).  It was the song that Doree sang to Nemo when he was in a challenging situation....."Keep on swimming.....Keep on swimming"......I was trying to keep Jake "inspired" to keep up the fight as Di is trying to keep me inspired.  Jake certainly fought through it all and continues to fight.  After he came out of the paralytics, the music therapist would come in to work with him.  Sue and I often rolled our eyes as this baby could not speak or sit up and we thought the music therapy wasn't important as each day was a challenge just to get him through.  But Sue relented and the music therapist started out just playing a few chords for Jake each day.  Then it became a song.  Then Jake was singing!  To this day, he LOVES to sing and often asks me to "Sing me my songs, Aunt Joan"....the ones I sang to him in the hospital!   

So my friends and family, find your song and sing it loud especially when you are feeling a little down, it will lift you up!   I would love to hear your suggestions for me for songs you find inspirational and I will have Di burn me another CD.......

Sing, Sing a song
Sing out loud, sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad.......