Sailing

A friend of mine recently published a blog titled Sheer Poetry.

Gretchen brilliantly draws on poems and religious texts and how those familiar words can burst from our lips.

Music does the same things.

Just listen to the radio some time and you'll hear a song you haven't thought about in years and the first couple chords play and you robustly sing along with every word.

Music can turn the light on for many people with dementia. The movie Alive Inside shows the incredible ways music reboots the brain for a while.

It's why many memory care facilities, like in the community where I work Oakwood Village, is part of the Music and Memory movement.

An personal music player filled with meaningful music or the music of their youth pumps through their earbuds and feeds their heart and mind.

I'm not a scientist, but in the sessions I've attended where it's been discussed, music is effective because it goes to four different parts of our brains.  While most memories are stored in just one spot. So, when the damage caused by Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia the memories are trapped.

Music memories have multiple avenues giving them a better opportunity to get out.  Much like the words of the 23rd Psalm or Lord's Prayer can jump broken neurons.

If you're of a certain age, you might remember the words of a hit by Christopher Cross called Sailing.

Sailing.
Sailing Away to where I'm going....

And, if I had it going in my ears right now, I know I could sail along with it.

I hope when somebody puts my personal music player together for me they put in a lot of Billy Joel, Queen, Barry Manilow (sue me, I liked a lot of his stuff when I was younger); a wide variety of 1970 and 1980 hits; and Walkin' on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves.

My future self will thank you.