In the "new thought" spiritual world, a question in class arose when one of our assignments was to say, The Releasing Prayer:

I release my belief in _(word of error)__.  I release my need to __(word of resistance)_.  I am grateful God.. is the __(word of faith)__.

Because of the quantum belief "thoughts become things,"  the question was, "If  I was to say those negative emotions that are our road blocks doesn't that create more of them?"  It reminds me of what I said in my book, Change the World - Write Your Song! fundamentals and beyond for the aspiring singer/songwriter. Book I.

I have always written songs that are personal in nature.  When I was feeling sad, hurt or angry, I would write a song as a way to bring whatever I was feeling to the surface, but after seeing “The Secret” and learned about the “law of attraction,"  I found that the energy I spent on writing about negative feelings was coming back to haunt me.  The law of attraction is, "like attracts like" (quantum physics).  So, if I am writing songs about sadness, hurt and anger then I am attracting more sadness, hurt and anger into my life. And I don't know about you, but I don't need it!  Once more the light went off in my head!   But wait!  What about the passion and the dynamics that conflict bring to music?  You have to be able to express "a full spectrum emotions" to keep a listener (and a songwriter) interested.  For me, feeling the dynamics of each opposing emotion is the reason I write!  It’s the raw emotions that appeal to me.  After all, this world would suck if all we had were cutesy little monotonic happy songs. 

I love all types of music, even monotonic happy songs, when I'm in the mood .....but there's something I don't understand.  Do I need to be some cookie cutter writer of Utopian ideals to truly be happy?  No!  It’s my world and I create it, the way I want it!  In any rate, how am I to know what I am feeling sometimes unless I explore those feelings.  In the book, “Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting - the astonishing power of feelings” by Lynn Grabhorn she talks about the law of attraction and how she uses it in her life.   For example, “Hooray for Negative ..... Every negative emotion we’ve ever had, no mater how meek or well hidden, has come from the lack of what we really wanted." Basically she is saying, negative emotions will help you find what it is that you want by telling you what it is you don’t want.  .....

If we were to take away all the negative words and emotions out of our songs, then songs, and music in general, would be pretty boring.  There would be no passion in the contrasting emotions between good and bad. This got me to thinking... and in the morning I woke with an "Aha" moment.  I feel the "joy of sadness" when I sing the song, "Easy to be Hard." It brings great joy to sing that song why would I stop singing it just because the meaning behind the song is sad. I mean we are complicated creatures.  There has to be a balance of good and bad.  If we never knew what bad felt like, we would not know how good, good is.

So, I guess that I am on the right track, path or road... I am listening to what my heart is saying. I am moving away from the path of the victim, to the road of manifestation, to the road of self-realization and then, finally, to the road of self-revelation.  In our journey, we will often visit the paths by which we came but knowing the way is knowing how to weave yourself around the road blocks that have been placed before you.

Thanks for the insight to the four paths to freedom, but I thank God for music.  That is all I have to say.  With knowing great sadness comes appreciating great Happiness and Joy!  Is it conflicting? or is it balance?  In feeling the "joy of sadness" is feeling awareness and balance. As long as I am feeling joy, that is what is important.  What goes out into the universe is my feeling of joy for singing a sad song but that does not mean I will have sadness because the content of the text.   It means that I have a stability of contrasting emotions that allows me to be a humble and passionate human.

Writing music (or anything artistic) can be like a muscle that flexes your subconscious.  The more you build that muscle, the more successful you will be at triggering your subconscious to the surface.  The memory muscle (or subconscious), when processed daily, opens up the pathway between your conscious and subconscious mind.  I am sure that science will tell you the chemical process involved but this is something I know from experience.  When I write on a daily basis, even if it’s just for fifteen minutes, I find  writing easier.  Somehow the words and melody come to me a lot faster.   

When I am inspired to write because of a feeling, I usually start with some questions like, "Why am so sad or happy?  What is it that I am really feeling?  How can I let go of this feeling or keep it going? Where do I begin to forgive and forget or where do I begin to share the love that I am feeling?  These are just a few examples of what I might be asking myself when I feel the need to write.  Sometimes I write just to put things into perspective like when a good friend passes away.  I may want to honor them by writing a song about them.   Like when I wrote, "Doolin County Claire" for Pat Miliken and "Things that you bring" for Kenny Edwards.  They now live on in my songs!

I do a lot of visualization when I write because I am a visual person.  I know huh?  I person who lives and works  in an audio world and yet I have to see and describe what I have always written. I write what I am feeling by looking at the moment and describing it.  Songs are like any written work you need a who, what, where when and why.  What,when,why and where is your song?

Well.... why don't you find out by writing it!  Sure, it doesn't happen over night but I can tell you first hand that songwriting helped me evolve emotionally.   Now when I write a song I can look for what emotions are best for the story of the song.   Pinpointing or revealing what you are feeling is the first step to relieving it and letting it go.  This is what is so great about songwriting for therapy!  And it's addictive!  Songwriting is fun!

Here is an exercise that I included it in my book, Change The World- Write Your Song!

1. Start by writing all the words you can think of to describe your feelings on the left hand side of a blank notebook.

2. On the right hand side of your notebook, write the opposite of what you are feeling!  Use a thesaurus.

3. Now within all the words that you have choosen there is a story.  Write it.  Allow the opposing feelings guide you  when writing the song, your song!

Songwriting for therapy is not new.  The concept of writing (of any kind) is to pinpointed your feelings so that you can change them if you want to.  In life our emotions rise and fall with every minute.  The emotions that you write in this song should change and evolve too.  Most people like it when a persons character in the story grows.  This also makes for contrast and great story telling.  These apposing emotions  that you've put into words and music will help you heal faster too.  And you'll have all the tools you will need to continue healing and growing emotionally.

After you've done this exercise you'll learn that there are so many words to describe the emotions you are feeling and that each word you choose has an opposing partner.  When we limit ourselves to generic terms or words use in other people's stories we are limiting our own growth.  When we use words that decribe our own emotions we are excepting it and learning how to change it. It's a road map to our emotions!  So "Write Your Song!"

Songwriters put themselves out there.  And you can tell when someone is intertwing their story to you through song.  I use this term a lot in  my book, "organic and real" music.  It just means this.  It has a personal feel to it.  We have to write from what we know and because we're always growing and learning sometimes what we know will change!  Trying to describe ourselves is no easy task because sometimes there are no easy answers.   There are many shades of anger and fear for what one is feeling .  We're  complicated creatures.  At least I am.

Sometimes it is hard enough to understand yourself let alone telling someone about it.  Songwriting helps you to clerify the emotions you are feeling.  Then you can write your healing song!  Songs that come from that passion, emotion, feelings are the best but also to remember to resove those feelings so that you can go on to the next feeling.  Cause you feel more than just anger when your angry, more than just hurt when you're hurting.  A lot of stuff goes on mentally as well as physically.

I am rambling on but I know that with "Write your song!" workshops you will be able to learn to write words that describe the story you want to tell and you will learn about music.  Music will help you evolve emotionally and when you play an instrument with those feelings you will physically feel the power of the song, your song!  and then if you want, you can share it with the world!  Be a part of the earth's choir!

Workshops begin in Jan. 7&8 - 14&15 in Santa Barbara!  contact me or Mariella to reserve your spot.  I only work with 15 people in a workshop at a time!