Music Up Your Life

My March and April weekends have been filled with the final days of a weekend job, and spring cleaning. And now that I had free time, I intended to spend last weekend on To Do List tasks in between sitting on the fabulous patio.

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5/26/13: the fun patio with fabulous friends

Turns out my weekend worker warrior attitude was project schmoject. I did enjoy the view, but in between lounging, I found myself sorting through my music CDs instead.

CDs. You remember, those round discs that replaced cassettes last century.

Because I have an older car, I still have a CD player. While I'm all for iPods, iTunes, and Spotify there's nothing like a good old-fashioned CD. I like setting up the compartment in between the front seats with plastic envelopes that hold two CDs. I keep about a dozen favorite musicians, inspirational talks and my own latest music project to accompany me on my 1/2 hour drive to work. It's being on a mini-vacay, twice a day.

Recently, I browsed music at Boo Boo Records in downtown San Luis Obispo to replenish my commute collection. It reminded me of the weekends when I was a teenager, hanging at the record store with friends, searching for albums and okay, 45's. Afterwards at home, I'd read the album cover and lyrics while listening to my new find.

While it was lovely to browse and dig through all of the music possibilities, as it turns out, I was taking care of my spirit in more ways than one.

According to Huffington Post columnist Kate Bratskeir, "people who simply listened to music had the same decreased anxiety symptoms as those who got 10 hour-long massages. Choosing the right tunes could be an important factor, however, as a happy or sad song can also affect the way we perceive the world." 

(Full article at The Daily Good)

Though it's only Tuesday, I'm already excited for my weekend. In between lounging on the patio, I'm going to make a new playlist for my iPod.