I’ve got a new playlist on Spotify that is really helping right now.
When I listen to it, I feel calm, at peace, and find I am able to clearly come up with creative ideas.
As this may be something you also need right now, I wanted to share it with you, and then talk about how music can be a powerful tool in reclaiming your confidence.
The playlist is called 528Hz positive transformation.
Do you know what 528Hz means? It’s the frequency of love.
This playlist is 10 hours of love, and I have it on throughout my day, a gentle background as I write.
It’s actually playing right now:) Can you feel it? I’m smiling as I type and trust the frequency is energizing our conversation.
So what does music have to do with reclaiming your confidence? Let me share a personal example.
I’ve always loved music. It’s been a huge part of my life and a vital component in my creative process.
As a child, I was obsessed with Casey Kasem’s Top 40 weekly radio show and knew the lyrics to every hit song of the 80’s. I would feel a euphoria dancing in class and in my room to many genres of music, and loved to pick out classical albums for dinner time with my family.
I played violin, handbells, and piano in my youth, and music was a daily part of my life. It was also a huge place of joy.
When I was 14, I discovered Enya, and began to choreograph. This led me to creating my first story ballet in high school, bringing Hans Christian Andersen’s classic The Little Match Girl to life using Stravinsky’s score from Petroushka.
After starting voice lessons at the age of 16, I decided to pursue a career in musical theater, and music literally became my life. I came to NYC after college with stars in my eyes and was pinching myself that I was doing what I loved. I felt so confident and alive!
My love of Casey Kasem had now transformed into creating my own playlists. I had graduated from mix tapes, to cds, to the iPod. I loved my playlists and felt like they were soundtracks to my life, filling my ears as I worked, auditioned, and took class.
Until I started to really struggle. I was experiencing a lot of rejection, and was not where I wanted to be in my career and life. I was losing my confidence. As my mid 30’s arrived, I found the playlist and soundtrack were now serving a different purpose. Music wasn’t helping me anymore, it had become pure distraction.
Music went from what I loved to creating distance, and a way to drown out my disappointments and fears.
It was a way to tune out all my feelings that were screaming to come out. I would wake up in the morning and play the radio first thing, then jam my headphones into my ears as I went about the city.
Until I went through my divorce, and the music stopped.
And for the first time I sat in silence. In fact, it was all my body craved.
The silence was necessary for me to reconnect to something vital I had lost. Love.
I slowly entered back in, starting with Japanese taiko drumming, as it felt like I was hearing the beating of my heart. Then I found Kirtan, and found singing Hindu Sanskrit to be deeply healing as I rebuilt my life. When I decided to launch my blog in 2014, I found binaural beats and that when I had them playing, my fingers flew across the keyboard.
As music returned to my life, so did love.
And so did my confidence.
I had reclaimed music as a way to connect TO love, as a way to nourish my confidence. I wasn’t using music as a way to escape anymore, but a way to enter into my inner world, my expression, and to actually feel my feelings.
Music can be this transformative tool. Music can be the loving companion and guide, the soundtrack to your inner exploration.
Your confidence is fed when you are connected to your inner world, can honestly express yourself, and feel your feelings.
It’s when music is in healthy relationship WITH love, that the true alchemy occurs. Meaning, music is actually HELPING your confidence, not draining it. Music is the way you send love to your confidence.
Because your confidence needs love to thrive. Just like all living things.
So, here’s three quick ways to incorporate music as a way to reclaim your confidence.
1) Take stock of the music you listen to. How do you feel AFTER? Do you feel energized, or drained? Do you feel uplifted and like the music helped you self connect, or do you feel foggy and distracted? Take a break from the music that leaves you tired and flat, and see what kind of difference this makes.
2) In your creative process, does the music you play help you focus, or cause you to get distracted? For me, I find I can’t write with any songs that have lyrics, because my mind goes to the words, and then I’ve cut off my ability to come up with original thoughts and lose track of my writing. Play around with either having silence if you find you get distracted, or try some other ambient music/playlists that you feel focused and ideas are coming easily.
3) Know that what nourishes your confidence will change over time. For me, I have found great love in many genres at different times in my life, depending on what I needed. I have gone through many phases from top 40 to Stravinsky to spiritual odes. If something is feeling stale, start to explore and let your BODY tell you what is helpful. You will know because the music feels expansive and you feel confident.
Return to the frequency of love.
And allow the transformation to begin.