April is soon to end, and I must say the weather has acted just as expected, with days of sun, rain, snow, hail and repeat…even if I know that this is what to expect at this time every year, it still brings me a bit off balance. This year, more than ever I think, I’ve been looking forward to feeling the warm wind, to go out in nature and see the day-to-day changes when the greens and flowers starts to reappear again.

To get some more energy I decided to do a week of vegetable and juice fast which just ended. The juices were full of antioxidants and cleansing utilities and I really feel cleansed vitalized and light in mind and at heart.  And it has really had an impact of my mood!

In this mood I also notice a change in what music I’d choose to listen to. During the winter I’ve been listening to quite serene music, instrumental and slow. The other day when I by default put on something tranquil, I felt a restlessness in my body and switched to one of my daughters’ playlists on Spotify (which contains a lot of 80s dance music, Glee and other songs that are difficult not to start moving when you hear) and I immediately felt how the music resonated with this newly awakened energy in me, and of course I started dancing on my own!

This remind me of one of my favorite scenes in the movie “Love Actually”; when the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) dances on his own to Pointed Sisters “Jump”!

And I’ll promise you’ll get a smile on your face…..

Watch the YOU TUBE clip here

Lately I read this article about how music impacts brain function and human behaviour.  A neuroscientist and a famous violinist at The Burnett Honors College in Florida have since 2006 taught students how music can reduce stress, pain and symptoms of depression as well as improving cognitive and motor skills. In this short and illustrative article you can also click different parts of the brain and see how the different parts respond to music.

https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/your-brain-on-music/?fbclid=IwAR0k82MCYz8UJ0FHY1xCWvgKnECU0YVXgEAB_S0WX0SV_jGTkcYdf1r7IYc

So here’s an invitation if you feel up to it; to explore what makes your mood shift when it comes to music. And hopefully if you, like me, are in the need of some new energy, you might reconnect with some good old music you have stored….

Wishing you all the best for now with this beautiful poem by David Whyte

Sweet Darkness  

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

 When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

 Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

 There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

 The dark will be your womb
tonight.

 The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

 You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.

 Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

 Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

 anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

 is too small for you.

With gratitude,
Helena