What Music Does

Music is a universal language.  It communicates a message that reaches deep into the human heart unlike anything else.  Musician Stevie Wonder has said that music is a language we all understand. One secular Motown song from the 1970s suggested that when you feel down and out, you should sing a song, and that will make you well.  The next line in the song stated that singing can also make things better. That logic in that 1970s song is right on.  Music can change moods and lift the soul.  Secular studies show the power of music to conquer emotional distress and malaise. Researchers have found that attending a concert and singing songs with others increases feelings of overall wellness, happiness, and self-worth by 21 percent.  Imagine that!  Twenty minutes of live music and singing with other people can make you feel significantly better and increase wellness. Some experts say that a positive mood change can occur within two weeks when you sing songs daily that have a positive message.  Think about it: That’s only 14 days to better emotional health – an attainable goal for the most anxious of persons.   And there’s more.  A study that appeared in the World Journal of Psychiatry found that music therapy is a safe and low-risk approach to reducing depression and anxiety.  Many schoolteachers use gentle, calming music to help children relax during the day.  Some schoolteachers have played classical music to help calm their students’ nerves while taking tests. Remember when you first heard that catchy song that sometimes plays on an endless loop in your mind – what is affectionately called an earworm?  A warmth flushed over your body.  You just had to hear the song again and again.  And again.  You sang it incessantly throughout the day, and every now and then you sing it again.  The earworm quickly and easily returns.  You gladly welcome it as the gift that keeps on giving. When anxiety attacks, use songs of faith as earworms.  Secular songs aligned with God’s Word produce positive feelings as well, as all truth is God’s truth.  Proclaim victory over your anxiety by singing God’s truths. Feeling anxious today?  Sing your anxieties away.