Elderly man pictured through fisheye lens at party

MUSIC A POTENT ACTIVATOR: HEALING THROUGH THE POWER OF MUSIC

By. Jody Baker

The pale grey, pink sky was fading in the rearview mirror as I drove along the canyon road that leads home after a joyful time at the coast.

Bob Marleyʼs “Waiting In Vain” came on and immediately Iʼm reminded of a special memory with my Dad, who passed a couple years ago.

I was in 7th or 8th grade. We lived in a two bedroom apartment, my three brothers, myself, and my Dad. He worked double shifts at a paper factory to make ends meet, which, most of the time….the ends didnʼt meet. We just went without and ran on love and hope. To have a little escape, we would sometimes go to this bar and grill for their ʻreggae thursdaysʼ, which was for the bar mostly, but if you were eating food you could also enjoy the music. Well, we were neither, but weʼd pretend like we were going to eat something and then just start dancing…tilʼ they kicked us out.

This particular song is one that would always make my Dad extra happy and jovial. He loved the rhythm and he could dance to it good. He knew we needed this kind of happiness break from the struggles. Looking back now, I can see how healing it was for us. Even though they almost always caught onto us and told us to leave….we went anyways.

I danced with the Jamaicans, he danced with the ladies. We danced together and by ourselves. My point to all this is to remind myself and any of you who need this-dance!

Music is a Potent Activator if we allow it to be. It activates memories and so much healing. I think about this now, as a parent myself-how the music I am playing is the soundtrack and medicine for my sonʼs life.

The times we are in now have been requiring so much of us all. We have more input at a more constant rate flowing to us via our technology. I donʼt want to be the keeper of some ancient wisdom that is so very basic and easy to put into daily action…(Iʼm talking about healing through music).

Celebrate this life, shine your brightness through the chaos..reclaim your vastness, your magic-and then-Let. Joy. Back. In.