I had a life changing opportunity last week. It's not one that has been easy to put into words but I wanted to share one of my reflections.
I was asked by Britten Pears Arts to take part in a Thinktank on grief, loss and music. I spent 2 incredible days surrounded by inspiring musicians, composers, palliative care doctors, music therapists, researchers and music psychologists.
Our first invitation was to talk to the group for 5 minutes on - What is your perspective on the role of music in end of life, grief and loss?
One of my answers to that question was the powerful way music helps us lay down memories and revisit those memories.
Music helps us TIME TRAVEL.
Certain songs can take us back in time to moments of connection with those people or places that we miss.
And music can enable us to time travel forward too. Some pieces of music can activate a sense of hope or strength to support us in our grief and offer us a glimmer of our future selves.
Grief is not something we get over. The best way I've come to understand grief is through Jayde Perkin's children's story "Mum's Jumper" - grief is an oversized jumper that we slowly grow into. And I think music can be there to help us whilst we're growing.
(This is an image from the Britten Pears archives, so many gems hiding in there!)
Bringing psychology out of the clinic and into everyday life