MUSIC HEALS. IT DOES.
I went there.
I have experience. So I slowly open my guitar bag looking at my audience and praying for them. In a few minutes I will be headed towards a neighborhood I know is difficult to navigate unaided or unaccompanied. To the crevices of the mind where pain resides. Aware that thoughts can make or break a spirit. In a few minutes I will walk into a neighborhood where any attempt at controlling how one thinks is best left to people with Ninja skills and insane will power. The Nirvanians. Or people who have courageously looked in the mirror and faced their demons without ceasing, coming out the other side like the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes.
In a few seconds I will be taking them there. There where pain resides. There where honesty and compassion need each other.
The tool of my trade.
My guitar 🎸 is actually a topic in one of my songs. 'How can my guitar be my only companion...I asked'. A lamenting. This tool has been through thick, thicker and thin. If it could talk it would regale people with harrowing tales. Tales of experiences that would have otherwise brought me its owner to my knees. Stories of honest seeking..and sometimes..finding. Tales of tears, fears, power and strength. If it could talk.
Mental health
Feelings Vs Thoughts Vs Actions.
So I facilitated music therapy sessions. 'What are those?', one may ask. It entails and is not limited to sitting with incredible brilliant people who have had their fare share of struggle with matters life. Singing my songs. Speaking my truth. Cajoling them into doing the same. I have sat with ones that are considered pariahs. Stigmatized for their lack of control with substances. Substance users who have experienced the pain of isolation and rejection. Amazing, brilliant beautiful souls that need to be reminded of their magnificence...the way I was reminded of mine when I could not see the forest for the trees. When grief and sorrow engulfed all my senses.
So I went there. Where kindness lives. Where healing is promised. Where the sun actually threatens to shine once again. I went there with my guitar and a prayer.
