Music is technically made up of notes and beats, but it’s also made with the power to connect the minds and hearts of people by bringing up memories, triggering emotions and making the moments memorable. It’s like an emotional compass. It spirals and stands still in a place where it feels attracted or needed. We always wonder how music holds this much power in our feelings and how we let it hold the power; let it hold our hands, guide our feelings and lead us to the best suitable destination. Let’s just read what we always wonder and overthink about this particular puzzle.

‘What in the science’ is the reason for this?

We all heard about the word “dopamine”. That’s the chemical that gets secreted in our brain when we feel happy. Not only this, there are also many other chemicals and minute parts of the brain that are responsible for associating the beats of music with various memories and emotions that end up causing a trigger.

Emotional paradox with music: What we feel vs what we seek:

Let’s imagine travelling on a bus. It’s a window seat (yay!). Leaning on the glass of the window, you take out your earbuds or wired headphones and plug them in your ear. It’s time to hear songs.

There are many instances to think about. Like, for starters you are simply travelling from one stop to another stop or a rushed ride or maybe a very short one. Here, unless you are just listening to it in the background, in the back of your mind and concentrating on something else, you are fine. It’s just something to fill up your environment.

But imagine you have a long ride ahead and you have a playlist of songs in mixed genres. This is when you enter the blast. If you listen to a sad song, your mind by default, replays all the sad memories that had happened or the memories of a person you miss would fill up your mind. When it’s a fast-paced one, you will feel your energy being boosted and you will be ready for anything ahead. That’s the power of music, it makes you feel something unexpected when you least expect it.

Sometimes we listen to music that is associated with the exact emotion, this makes us feel like we shared the moment with someone, that we are not truly alone and makes us fully process our feelings; to feel like the entire happiness of the world is ours and like our sadness, however little, is valid too.

Sometimes we don’t want to listen to music that will trigger or remind us of the exact emotion we feel. Instead, we choose to feel something else, like listening to happy or inspirational songs to deflect us from the heart-wrenching pain we feel after a bad thing happens. And music gives us the choice to sustain the paradox in human thoughts because music is not only the way in, it’s also the way out.

Music: A therapy for broke ones – by heart and pocket

And yet another important way music becomes our companion is by healing us. Being an unpaid therapist, it makes us feel the emotions that fill us and also helps us recover from them; Music is both our poison and antidote. Research says music has helped people overcome some hardcore struggles and encouraged them to become their self-loving newer selves.

That’s how music becomes a part of us; An association, an explanation and an escape.

We could never argue otherwise. It helped people to stop the harmful thoughts and to heal, reminding them that there is always hope, always another way to feel about things.

How many times has this happened to us? How many times have we become our own critic and music reminded us otherwise?

Comment below about your unique experience with music, that changed a whole situation upside down and helped someone find hope by its magic.