The Power of Music: A Journey Through Emotions and Memories

When I listen to music, it’s not just for the sake of listening; it’s to bond deeply with my subconscious. Whatever your reason, music is, at its essence, human, and human is music.

Every song has a story—a unique narrative that connects us to a particular moment or event in our lives. When we listen to songs from our past, we are not just listening to music; we are reliving our memories.

Music is alive

Music’s capacity to alter our emotions is one of the most profound ways in which it affects us. When someone creates music, they are weaving a piece of their soul into their creation that brings it to life, and thus, music impresses upon us the feelings of its creator. We feel their joy, pain, and a range of other emotions knitted into their creation.

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Redemption Song

Music is a Friend

Music affects us in different ways, depending on what we’re listening to and why we’re listening to it. But most importantly, music is a friend that comforts us at our lowest and keeps us company when we’re alone.

Bob Marley & The Wailers: Three Little Birds

Music is a vehicle that transports us

Music takes us on a journey through space and time, carrying us back to our memories. When you hear a certain piece of music, you can remember how you felt when you first heard it or connect it to a particular place, people, or experience in your life.

Tarrus Riley "She's Royal."

Journey: Don't Stop Believin'

Music slows us down. It can even suspend time altogether, placing us in a bubble that separates us from the present.

The Bangles "Eternal Flame"

Simply Red: Holding Back the Year

Music is overwhelming

On occasion, we’ve experienced music so profound and meaningful that our nervous system overreacts, we are at a loss for words, or, in rare instances, we feel every emotion all at once.

Phil Collins: Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)

Sometimes we simply can’t explain the feelings we get from listening to powerful music. The only thing we can do is just surrender to the effervescences of sound and rhythm, let the music punctuate our souls, and allow ourselves to experience an emotional orgasm as we become one with every note.

Kansas "Dust in the Wind."

Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Music is fun

Music is a celebration of life, love, and the good things that come with them. The rhythm and sounds speak to us of a world where anything is possible, where dreams come true, and where love conquers all—demanding that we embrace life's joys and never lose sight of the things that truly matter.

Irene Cara "Flashdance" What a Feeling.

DeBarge: Rhythm of the Night

Music brings us joy, yet sometimes it holds us down in despair.

As much as music can make us feel happy, there are times when it holds us down in our hopelessness. Music is also dark and despairing. Just as happiness begets happiness, sadness also begets sadness, and sometimes music accentuates our melancholy and traps us in an infinite loop of our anguish, loss, and confusion.

The Bangles "Manic Monday."

Gnarls Barkley: Does that make me crazy?

Music is powerful

At other moments, music is hypnotic. It traps us in its rapture; when that happens, we’re unable to function until its spell is broken. We are enslaved by it. It consumes everything around us until the only thing left is us, wrapped in its intensity.

Chris Stapleton "Tennessee Whiskey."

Whitney Houston: I Will Always Love You

Music puts things in perspective and opens our eyes to new possibilities. It profoundly affects our feelings, sentiments, and perceptions of reality. It is sometimes dark, weighing us down, and at other times, it has us completely enchanted. I know why I listen to music. However, your reasons for listening to music are yours alone to define.