Music to Calm the Chaos

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by life that you didn't know where to turn? Yesterday was a rough Monday for me. We're 9+ months into our major renovation, which we are living through, and I have construction fatigue. I feel like a caged animal stuck on a boat, floundering at sea with no captain. It's not what you want to be feeling this far into your project with no clear end in sight. 

I slept well -- so I thought - but I was groggy when I woke - which I never am. Maybe I am getting sick. But I am incredibly frustrated - our Project Manager broke his arm falling off a ladder last week, so right there, we knew our project would suffer a setback - yet again. I had a fire burning in me yesterday morning when the crew was standing around - trying to figure out this or that, the stand-in Project Manager couldn't answer their questions. He was proving as useless as he had been when he was initially assigned to our project when it started in May '24. My frustrations came out two octaves higher than my normal speaking voice -- I wasn't yelling. I stopped short of yelling. I became exasperatedly silent as I held back tears. I walked away.

I took the dogs for a "calming" 2-mile walk in the cold 20ºF morning sunshine. I thought the frigid temperatures would be enough to cool me off, but as I walked, I kept thinking about how chaotic and unorganized things were back at the job site. Instead, I came back overheated from thinking about everything. The walk up my steep driveway didn't help, but I have to deal with it if I want to go for a walk.

There are multiple crews here, and the crew who knows their marching orders have me surrounded --- hammering, sawing, and drilling. The only division between us is a wall of glass doors - so we all feel like we are in a fishbowl.

Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours. – Elton John

I found my headphones and had one song playing on a loop as I tried to calm my frayed nerves. Good thing I have been meditating for 1400 consecutive days - I'd be a lot worse off. The song I keep replaying on repeat is The Water Poem by Ram Dass & AWARÉ -- the beat is soothing to me - helping me just to let go and go with the flow --- and surrender. 

During the last few years of meditation, Ram Dass has been one of the many instructors we have looked to for guided meditations. Insight Timer is our go-to app for daily meditation, but I follow the instructors on their other platforms - Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and even Apple Music. That's how I tripped upon discovering The Water Poem.

Having received devastating news about his unborn child's fatal genetic condition, Ram Dass looked to the healing power of water, inspired by the power of Niagara Falls - which he was visiting at the time. He chose to collaborate with Bogdan Djukic and Matias Da Via on the piece, taking an improvisational approach and using vocables (made-up sounds) as opposed to writing traditional lyrics. (Source: Spirit Voyage)

“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.” — Aretha Franklin

For me, it's a powerful, calming piece of music. I may have to listen to it repeatedly a few times before I entirely surrender, but it does have the power like water to clear away things for me. Music can change your mood - it can evoke feelings in us we were unaware were within us. You just have to listen.

Do you have a song that helps calm you down when you get upset or are frustrated? Please share it in the comments and let me know - I'm always interested in adding to my calming playlist.