My past has been heavily entrenched in music. I was always drawn to it as a form of expression – from waking up first thing in the morning singing the latest nursery rhyme taught at kindergarten, to learning to play my favourite pop songs on piano or guitar. I joined the school choir, and I was always playing music on the radio or my favourite album: I worked for a number of years in a CD shop, married an amazing singer/songwriter and have hung out with a lot of musicians. I loved every minute of it… or so I thought.
I can’t remember there being any particular big ah-ha moment, but about six years ago I stopped: I stopped listening to and singing other people’s songs, and I stopped playing the guitar. I was still being exposed to music but I stopped engaging with it. I felt I was coming to a point where I was beginning to develop a new understanding with music and I felt I needed to stop for a while, and give it a rest.
During this time I have discovered so many things about music. I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.
I also started to notice how much popular music was changing. My husband and I have often conversed about how compressed and layered the music is now; so much so that people are being trained or further removed from hearing a true voice. For example, if I listen to an old Elvis Presley track from the 50’s and then stick on a track sung by any one of the numerous pop stars of today, it feels like the purity and warmth of the true voice that was there with Elvis and the simple production qualities of that time have now been lost or forgotten.
The tricks of the music trade today are similar to that of the images we now see all around us where flaws are rubbed out and altered to achieve an image that seems to me to be so unattainable.
We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.
The same happens with music. Well, thankfully not all music. If I put on any albums released by Glorious Music, I no longer feel bombarded or imposed upon. There is room for me to listen without someone trying to entice me into their emotional pain. I no longer need to be perfect, for perfection is not the goal. Truth is what I hear, and it doesn’t hurt to listen to it.
As soon as I pressed play the first time I listened to the first album, I wept. This is the truth in music I was looking for all along and at last I felt validated. I had come home to me. A true blessing and inspiration, so profound and ever expanding; something we can all be a part of!
My brother once told me I was a better piano player than he was. I remember being perplexed at why he would be saying this, considering he was more technically proficient, more knowledgeable in the theoretical aspects and got higher marks than I did in music exams. He said, “Because you can feel the music and express it in your playing”. My husband has said similar things about my singing.
I have been pondering for a while, wondering when it would be time for me to come back to music as an expression. Is it possible for me to express the real me through music, and to truly enjoy music without succumbing to the emotional hooks I was previously drawn into?
Well, thanks to Glorious Music, I can now say, “YES!”
by Suzanne Cox, Customer Service Profession, Ocean Shores
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Millions of people worldwide listen to music continually and are totally ignorant to the fact of how music affects and imposes on them. I know when I heard Serge Benhayon present on the harm of music I knew this was true because of my own experiences around music and the way it made me feel and act.
I love the new music track for Sacred Movement by Michael Benhayon and it feels amazing. I can move in my own rhythm, and not feel dictated to have to keep in time ( a first for me ) – awesome.
The difference between music that doesn’t impose on you, and music that is loaded with emotions is striking. Having been a music lover all of my life, this was quite hard to accpet initially, but now I can instantly feel the difference.
Elvis was special. Other musicians from that time feel less intrusive than today’s crop but only in degree – for me the emotions they bring in their music aren’t enjoyable either.
When listening to glorious music I can feel my heart sing! The spaciousness and lack of imposition from these songs is literally our of this world.
A great point you raise here about the enhancement and manipulation of sensory stimuli and how an increasing number of people are getting more and more numbed as a result and are finding the reality not stimulating enough.
Yes, there is a demand for stronger stimuli and the providers are getting better at providing it, leading to demands for even stronger stimuli. I wonder if and when this cycle breaks.
When it comes to music we have to be aware that is a multilayered experience. We have the tones, the voice, but deeper we have the energy we have chosen to engage with us. And, this is a crucial choice to be aware of.
I love music, since starting to listen to Glorious music I have truly been able to see the art of what can be brought through from people. Miranda Benhayon’s voice is the voice of all, when listening to her I know that the same voice, the same power is inside us all. We love the fake images shown by media and hence we love the fake voice of people, we like to think that there is a place to get to and a perfection to achieve, yet with the music presented to the world by Michael and Miranda Benhayon we get to see that the beautiful sound is already inside us waiting to come out.
Discovering I could move my body to music in my way and not in a way where the music was dictating was incredibly liberating.
Becoming emotional, or getting excited is all part of why people listen to music. I remember thinking how alive I felt either listening to music that would pull my heart strings or that I could bop around to. But if we consider is that true or not it changes things. Is it truly calling out what is within us or is it simply calling us to something that comes from the music?
Gorgeous that is we know when we hear music that is non-imposing and when it comes from the Soul. Hence it is deeply painfull to actually listen to music that is not of that, it is a sacrement for onces need to not feel, but when the openess is to feel and be open to love again, the need of emotional imposing music resides.. And than we most welcome Glorious Music, so we can see that by our will of alignement – we choose our music. Forget the rhythms and genres at play, all music video is energy in its very first place.
Emotions and memories can be stirred with lots of music and really hook us back into unresolved situations but you are so right about any albums from Glorious Music and a few other musicians, Suzanne. This music simply brings itself to the ears for us to listen to its clarity.
Music for me has always envisaged images of perfection throughs sounds. It has given me a false sense of direction seeking a need outside of myself. So “We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.” GM records lets you be when you listen.
Perfectly summoned up Doug as I have felt this too; A manufactured package of emotions that seems to whine at me wherever I go.
‘I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with’. That is a great realisation, as I feel many will relate to this because music, especially music that is emotional can suck you in, to the extent that you are absorbing those emotions too.
It’s a great place to hide whilst kidding yourself that you are really feeling alive with all the emotions. Are the emotions real or are they just a hook that you can then find some sort of relief in?
After recently listening to a style of music that I used to be really into when I was at University and afterwards, I could feel just how much I used that music to numb myself and completely check out of life, to not feel the hurts that were going on for me at that time and the pressure to be something that did not feel like me. It felt like the music was literally pulling me out of my body and I felt really spacey. But listening to Glorious Music is like coming home to myself and it confirms my own Divinity in every note, often bringing me to tears.
Yes, music can be a great place to hide, to be confirmed in whatever emotional state one has chosen, even though you may not be aware you have chosen to be in it. With the music of Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music you cannot hide, as there are no emotional hooks.
I really enjoy listening to music by Michael Benhayon and Glorious music too, there is a great depth to it and it leaves me feeling more connected with myself rather than feeling more emotional.
Music is designed to generate and perpetuate emotions, and it’s so true that our body can experience pain, sadness, anger, rage, aggression and many other emotions as a result of what we listen to. You can see this in dancing and parties/raves especially, where a certain quality or emotion in the music can transform the movements of an entire arena.
I have been aware of the effects of music for a number of years now and have difficulty going into shops where music is blaring out or sitting in restaurants that play music I haven’t chosen. Even on Social Media there are scores of music over videos that don’t feel great. The music of Glorious Music feels very confirming and I love to play it in my house, in the car on my computer, and on my iPhone.
Music affects us far, far more than we often choose to be aware of. It is like a vibration or tuning fork and can be felt in all the cells of our body. It pays to be aware of what we are choosing to let in. In a lot of music you can hear sadness, anger and other emotions and that does not support us at all, in fact it can be very harmful in our bodies. I never listened to music in the past for these reasons and I felt the imposition, but now thanks to the grace of Michael Benhayon, Carola Woods, Tina Kopa and a range of other soulful musicians, there is more and more exquisite, joyful and healing music around.
How many of us in this world “end up worshiping someone else’s image instead of worshiping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.”; many I feel and for a long time this is how I lived. But by putting someone on a pedestal whether it be because you feel they look ‘better’ than you, or they sing better, or a play an instrument you can’t, we are consigning ourselves to the lack of self-worth pile and that is not a wonderful place to be. But there is a way to get off this pile and that is to begin to acknowledge the amazing being we naturally are and how we have our own unique expression to bring to the world.
Glorious music is like anti venom for much of the music that we have poisoned ourselves with. Most would find it very uncomfortable to be in the room with people who were fighting, crying, being emotionally dramatic or screaming and yet will bop along when a track is played that bombards the listener with the exact same energy. Most music is a poison that many can’t get enough of.
Very true Leonne, so many do not realise the poison they are ingesting when they listen to music, that poison then leads you to behave in certain ways that can be totally out of character, similar to how drugs and alcohol affects people.
“We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.” It’s interesting how we can become hooked and or identified by a type of music or an artist as a way of feeling apart of something. Not only are we then attached and disconnecting from our own majesty but also in what quality or energy are we connecting too? Being connected to our bodies and how we move, express, sing etc not only allows us to feel and appreciate the very essence of who we are but we also get to feel how grand and divine we all are leaving not one behind or separated by an identity or type but all inclusive and connected by sharing and enjoying our own beautiful expression. Now that’s glorious music to my ears, heart and soul.
If we truthfully admitted the actual way music works, we would begin to see that what comes through in most of the things we listen to, is more harmful than a class A drug. What Glorious Music delivers is simply profound because they show that it’s the quality that comes through the sounds that we make that matter. Thank you Suzanne.
I noticed my body’s reaction to some music the other day. One song I found I was super sad and wanted to cry. I wanted to go into the drama of a few things that were going on in my life. The next song I found myself hugely irritated and reactive. I stopped the music and it was like a switch had gone off and my body felt the relief of not being bombarded any more. But I have still found myself wanting to listen to emotional music as there was something very hooking about the first song.
Music for me was the go-to when things got really miserable, but that’s what it is designed to do – hook us in, and then we succumb to the emotion. We identify with what’s being sung and think it is helping us, while all along not realising that we are owned by the music. Whereas with Glorious Music we are left alone because there is no imposing, hooking energy wanting us to change or to recognise the talent of the performer.
When synthesizers first came out, people showed off their capabilities, the same with stereo. Now they are showing off how pleasing they can make a voice. I wonder when they reailise that this is a dead end as it stops human expression.
It’s true how we end up worshipping someone else’s image rather than being inspired by the person behind the image. We’re so obsessed with being hooked in to emotional stuff that we need the dramatic effect of perfected sound, melody, lyrics etc. Once we realise all that emotional stuff is literally like adding weight to our bodies, it’s quite the revelation. Why do we enjoy feeling the emotions of others so much, or rather why do we need to feel what they’re feeling? Where is our connection with ourselves and why isn’t that enough?
I used to sing in a really good male a cappella choir and can relate what is shared here with my time there. If there is one thing I would love to share with my former choir it would be to feel what they are singing with all of their body and tune themselves in to the energy of what they are singing. This makes a world of difference, not just to the quality of the voice but to the choice of song.
And you feel better for longer afterwards without being on a high.
Very true Christoph. In those days when I would sing it would feel great when I was singing, but that feeling very quickly dissipated once the singing was over. Today I sing in this different way and sing songs that are configured in a different way too. As you say, this does not lead to highs and lows so much but a lasting sense of fullness.
It’s amazing what we accept with music, as you said many songs try to entice you into the emotion of the song and singer, yet if someone was telephoning us to repeatedly do the same thing we might not take the call because of how imposing it is. To add music doesn’t make it any less imposing.
Thank you Suzanne for sharing your story about the difference in music and your experience, Glorious Music is indeed heaven sent music, no imposing no emotion just every note filled with love calling us back to love.
While many people think that music is harmless and just part of life and to be enjoyed for what it brings. But when we look more closely to it we might come to other conclusions, that it is not that harmless as we thought it was but is used to sooth our emotional pain in life and with that do not really heal the underlying hurts so that these can continue to rule our lives and actually remain unseen.
If we were to listen with our whole body and feel the overall effects we would be able to discern the energetic quality of the music much more clearly. Just using our ears is not enough.
I had a very similar childhood with music. I was always singing and writing songs or making up dances to go with the latest songs. Music and vibrations are a very important part of the expression of our essence. I feel this is why there is so much pollution of music, so that we lose means of accessing and expressing from our soul. I completely stopped listening to music and dancing for a while, but thankfully there is music like Glorious Music that re-awakens the light and joy I had as a child.
I am in full agreement with you Suzanne – thank goodness for Glorious Music and Michael Benhayon – I love the music and songs to express with my voice singing along or through the body with True Movement.
I’ve not been musical person but always wished I could sing. Even with songs I would have difficulty remembering the lyrics to sing along with. I have even observed this with Glorious Music too and feel its because I have not connected to my voice, to my expression is why I stumble with lyrics.
Recently I heard a new song by Michael Benhayon and whilst he was playing his guitar before the singer started to sing, my body felt the lyrics of his strings, my body could feel the love that was pouring through him through his music and I had tears rolling down my face – this is real music, music I have never felt from its true source.
I agree that music has changed significantly like many things and we are continuing to ‘dress’ things up in order to cover for their lack of quality. Music for me was something I bombarded myself with, playing it super load whenever I could and also to let it take me away. I didn’t like what the world was and music gave me a chance to escape and remember old times or just get away. Now I don’t need the escape and so that quality of music no longer makes sense and so I choose the music I listen to carefully. It’s no longer just a thing to listen to in the background as you do something it’s part of my way of life and I don’t want to be moved by the music.
Music comes with either true purpose, ie to confirm, heal and evolve us or with the purpose to take us away from ourselves by filling us with emotions and pictures of who we are not.
When you consider that music is a vibrational communication and we are energetic beings, we can easily be ‘played’ when we are not discerning about the quality of the vibration we allow in.
When I read this line – “We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression” – I was like WOAH, OF COURSE! So much of my teenage years/young adult years was spent worshipping bands and my music idols. I put hours of time into learning every word on the latest album, posters on walls etc…. And the worship of my natural beauty and divine expression?…pretty much nought! My self-love and self-care was pretty low back then. Interesting food for thought.
I reckon the idolising of the ‘stars’ in music and the world of celebrity in general sets us up for division – we divide humanity into groups based on value with celebrity (including royalty) being of greater importance. It’s an absolute lie as there is no greater truth than our equality, however the lie is a perfect breeding ground for self neglect. We generally don’t care preciously for that which we feel holds little or less value (ourselves in this case).
I find that music can be a great supportive tool for healing when it is expressed from of emotion and instead expressed from love. Music impulses a movement that can either support the flow within our body or not. It may elude us with great tone but impulse a heavier feeling within us which we don’t often realise is what it is also delivering when not expressed from love.
I am aware of how people’s images are changed digitally for magazines, posters and videos to make them look ‘better’ so it ends up not being like the person at all but didn’t realise a similar thing was done vocally for music .. then again I am not surprised. Yep I love Glorious Music and how it is unimposing to the person listening to it and true to sound.
“Because you can feel the music and express it in your playing”. The magic of Glorious Music.
Music today seems so manufactured, so false, very much like the photos that adorn the cover of most women’s magazines, photos that have been so airbrushed that the true beauty of the woman has been totally lost. I can longer listen to this music but finally I have discovered what true music is; this is music that I can really enjoy “without succumbing to the emotional hooks I was previously drawn into?” Thank goodness for Glorious Music for bringing true music to the world.
Music like many facets of life can hide the true quality and or connection to ourselves because much of the music today distorts the truth by developing or identifying with an image or idea of perfection. We see many pop stars today and music being developed that is edited or auto-tuned to sound perfect to the ear or for the style it is adhering too, but are we losing the true quality of connection that can really be shared by the ignition of our bodies and the awareness we in-still?
Hi Kelly, indeed we have lost the true meaning of music in our lives and which is to support and heal us in life and not like the music in current times to evoke or support emotions in people, emotions that are not as harmless as we thought they where but actually are very destructive to the body.
The hold that music can have on us is a huge one, and I put my hat out to anyone who has let themselves be honest enough to realise how harmful music can be when it is not performed or composed from a body that understands energy. The point you make Suzanne, that ‘We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression’ – and that this also happens with a lot of music is a poignant one – much of the music today asks you to enter into its realm, its vibration and leave yours behind. One day the harm of this will be widely known, but until then we can only discern if we let ourselves be deeply honest about what is energetically going on when music is played.
‘During this time I have discovered so many things about music. I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.’
It is like each genre of music is made up of it’s own cocktail of emotions. I find it fascinating to observe which kinds of music I am attracted to at different times.
Its terrible what music has become. It is so warped now. It’s changing, like everything, to be more indulgent and extreme with sounds to delight the ears. Listening to music by surrendering to my body honours the joy in my body. This is music non-emotional and not seeking identification. Glorious music is just that – I have the ability to feel glorious.
I very much appreciate and my heart sings to the en-joyment of Glorious music and all other music performed with this purpose.
It’s true that music has deep emotional hooks that we love to get caught by… it’s only when listening to music that is free of these hooks, that we get to feel the difference and observe just what we have invested in.
Man if I had not come across the wonders of Glorious Music and the true music that they are producing, I would never have come to feel the true healing power music can have and how harmful it can be when expressed from emotion.
“My husband and I have often conversed about how compressed and layered the music is now” So true, voices sound often so mechanical and fine tuned that it actually does not really sound real anymore. Because of this distortion and drive for perfection it is also so hard for the artists of today to publish albums as it takes just ages for it to be ready (among a lack of inspiration for new songs).
Awesome blog Suzanne, I can relate to everything you share here. Glorious Music has had a powerful impact on my life as well with music. For many years I listened to music from the moment I woke up to when I went to bed and often would feel quite emotional and melancholic with the music I was playing. Listening to Glorious Music I don’t feel any of the hooks or old feelings like I used to with my other music, it was then obvious to me how imposing a lot of music and how it affects you in many ways. I love listening to Glorious Music because like you, I can feel the expansion and inspiration it offers everyone.
I do not miss being obsessed with rockstars and their pain/image. It was exhausting to pine over something that was unattainable.
It is true – we are suffering a great distortion of our senses in the sense that all we see and hear is becoming ever so slightly skewed bit by bit until we not only accept a vastly reduced version of the sound or image before us, we champion it as being ‘true’ when deep down we know it is merely a highly polished lie.
To be able to feel music and then express that through the way an instrument is played or a song is sung allows another to also feel this for themselves without imposing it on them. When music is shared in this way it is an absolute joy for everyone.
I love listening to music that does not impose on you. I have experienced it as pure balm for my body.
We choose to listen to music but not to be aware of what music does both for us and to us. The moment you raise your awareness regarding music, and you get to understand how it affects your ability to move towards truth, you choose very carefully what you will listen to.
Suzanne, there is so much here in your blog that is inspiring for any musician that is open to another way of playing, singing or listening to music. The catch, of course, is that music is a medium that does get us so emotionally involved, and invokes feelings in us that we can and actually want to indulge in as a form of distraction or comfort. But as you say, the beauty and freedom of imposition that comes with the songs of Glorious Music and Chris James is so different as it brings so much joy, love and true harmony while at the same time it leaves us alone. All the songs from both these artists are literally heaven sent.
Than you Suzanne for a great sharing about your love of music, and how you have come to realise how music affects our emotions and hooks us in to the energy of the artist, thankfully we are blessed with the quality of love and inspiration of what true music really brings us which is what Glorious Music and Chris James holds.
I love your honesty and your openness about your journey with music and what it once meant to you compared to what it means today is worlds away. Music is like everything, its energy, so no matter how sweet the voice, if the intension is to hook you or to get attention or to fill an empty part of you, then you get this emotional package hidden behind the sweet voice or the great tune ect, ect..we don’t get to pick and choose, its all or nothing, its a package deal. I love music but that does not mean that all music is love, if we want to be fed back love then we have to look at the artist that is producing the music we are choosing and observe the quality of life they are leading, if its loving, then its more than likely that the music will reflect that same love. Unfortunately, most of us are on struggle street and so there is a limited range of truly loving music that is energetically sound.
Thank you Suzanne, great great learning and supportive choice you have made to leave the music and come back to it with all that you have felt and discovered. A powerful saying , tht is so true and very very commonly lived, but now I can say : there is another way.
‘We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.’
The music band Glorious Music and Chris James have deeply supported me with that. Using my clearsentience and discern which energy I truly want to listen to. And skip the rest that in truth impose and make you feel uphigh or empty or in the absoluteness of emotion.
A great point about music being processed to present a version of perfection just like photoshopping an image. There feels to be something very sinister that wobbles and denies us as a vehicle of expression.
The thing is, how does such a change occur? How DO we go from being versed in potentially many facets/styles/training in music, and then realise that what is predominantly performed, produced and celebrated in the world today, does not honour the true healing art that music is and can be?
If I may be so bold as to share in a nutshell, what can bring about such a transformation… I would say from my own experience, that it takes a fundamental shift within oneself, an acceptance and re-awakening of sorts, that life is about returning to a lived embodiment of the love of our soul. It is the individual’s choice to embark upon such a ‘path of return’ (as it’s termed) to one’s soul or not – if chosen, so many pursuits in life that were the (false) glorification of the individual become exposed, and the purpose behind any one activity in time can become truly clear – that all is about The All, and nothing less.
Beautifully said Victoria.
Yes, very beautifully expressed Victoria. Having chosen to ‘return’, so many things I took for granted have now dropped away, including listening to music for emotional relief. Listening to the music of Glorious Music and other musicians like yourself there is no longer emotional relief, just a joy in feeling myself.
AWESOME to revisit this blog after what is likely several years here Suzanne. The dedication and work of Michael Benhayon and Glorious Music has similarly supported me beyond measure, to return to what I now know to be a true connection with music – one where the true healing art that this is has been restored, and there is not one iota of me seeking the identification in it (including merely to be seen as ‘good enough’) that I knew through so many years of my past.
Victoria you yourself or one of the most exquisite soulful musicians on the planet and your music brings healing to many people including me.
It is so true what you say about the image we aspire to and not allow ourselves to worship the beauty that we are ourselves. Music is such a topic so many people get lost in and are almost drowning in when they choose to let go of the care we hold for ourselves.
“I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.”
This is so true of the youth of today. They are so manipulated by music it is frightening to behold. Especially seductive are the videos clips that come with the music.
Suzanne you have exposed something that many that use music as a form of relief or release do not want to know. I remember putting on songs and depending on what I was feeling playing them very loudly either tearful ones if sad or aggressive one’s if angry – they became this outlet in which so much harm was absorbed or pushed out on to others. The moment I listened to Glorious music was the first time I ever felt held and nurtured and that I was listening to the sound of truth. Glorious music are showing the way forward for music, showing what clear and healing sound truly is.
I love what your brother expressed about how he felt you were a better piano player, even thought technically he would possibly be seen as the more proficient well rounded musician.. This shows that music can be felt not just heard and through this feeling, we can begin to find out how much music is really affecting us.
Glorious Music is a breath of fresh air in an industry that has suppressed and retarded mankind for many years now.
Absolutely! We are truly blessed by Glorious Music and Michael Benhayon.
Great points that you make- that we are constructing a life that is ‘perfect’ where all flaws are erased. This sets people up to aspire and measure themselves against something that is not true. It leaves them in a constant searching and never truly appreciating what is there. It is a constant looking forward and out rather than within.
On reflection, I have found that I manipulated my emotional state through the music I have chosen, hyper, sad, melancholy was a big one and others…I choose to do this, but as you expose the music industry is becoming more complicated and imposing and this can only affect us if we not aware or really being aware of the quality of the music and how it feels.
If all of life is a song, every part a harmony, are we tapping along to its true melody? Are we in sync, expressing our tune, our note that contributes with perfect grace to life’s divine symphony? Or like a jazz saxophonist on drugs, do we deviate, and noodle, drone and chaotically embellish every note? This might get us noticed, but as you beautifully show Suzanne – when we hold back or look to go off on our own, we miss out on playing our crucial part in God’s band.
We live in a world that torments and challenges us every day with the drama of emotional highs and lows everywhere we turn – and the highs and lows of much music of today is no different in feeding that same vicious circle.
There is a true grace in Michael Benhayon’s music that doesn’t impose in any way – it doesn’t try to pull you into any kind of emotion but gives us the space to be who we are in our essence and more than that it inspires us to let go of emotion and re-connect deeper with who we truly are. It is truly healing and beautiful to listen to and be supported by.
Just the other day I heard people talking about music and putting on the radio first thing in the morning, not being in the car without listening to music and getting uncomfortable when there is silence in the workplace. I am not listening to the radio for a number of years and not listening to music like you ‘I did allow myself to be emotionally played with’ and don’t want that anymore. Suzanne, are you already singing or playing an instrument again?
Suzanne your blog goes a long way to expressing what is going on when we listen to music and how it is set up to keep us away from our true selves, and yet there can be music beautifully played without imposing on another, as beautifully demonstrated by Glorious Music and Michael Benhayon.
It’s interesting how, on the radio, this morning I was listening to someone extol the virtues of an artist who could make people cry or be happy or basically manipulate our feelings. Is this what we really want ?
Such a difference to hear and feel when someone expresses who they are in the music and how joyful and healing this can be, to when people try to copy other’s, get things right or be something they think they should be which feels so artificial and remote. This kind of distancing is heard in most music and it promotes separation – indeed, much of the music industry is based on promoting the illusion that musicians are special in that they are musically gifted. The toil of this on musicians is evident in stereotypical behaviour of abusing alcohol or substances, or diva behaviour. And though people come together and go to concerts, a true connection isn’t fostered.
Music can influence us more than we care to realise. I find it’s like the television – when it stops I heave a sigh of relief. We can be bombarded by energies that are quite harming and interfere with our natural rhythm and harmony. Allowing ourselves to simply be with our essence feels so beautiful in comparison. We don’t need all the noise. The beauty of our essence is enough.
Brilliant Suzanne, I hope we all get to hear you sing, play and make true music. Perhaps this blog is the start of it? I am similarly moved by the truth of music. When I first heard Michael Benhayon’s songs it was as though the world had come alive. All the joy of a true sound with no hooking, emotion or imposition. Heaven sent. Now that I have this as a marker I cannot enjoy mainstream music as it falls far short of this standard.
Music is big business and like any business is it there to make money and to successfully promote artists, generally keeping humanity hooked on their product and the next new release, all the time keeping us away from connecting to our own essence and taking on the emotions of others, or deeply letting us spiral further into our own emotion.
Feeling the energetic quality of music expressed from the heart and that expressed with emotion is something to explore to gauge what feels true in our bodies. Does it feel light and non evasive or heavy and or draining to the body? It’s great to be able to distinguish the difference and feel the quality of music shared.
Basic question, do we want to be filled by music as in being stimulated into a certain vibe or mood or do we want to be confirmed, deepened and expanded in feeling our genuine self? Or asked differently, do we wanna glorify someone for producing emotions and sentiments or enjoying our own glory being activated?
A true loving symphony for all to enjoy, “… our own glory being activated?” a return to our true harmonious way.
I used to love listening to popular music and got drawn into the emotions of the songs every time. I would choose certain songs to feel happy or sad depending on what was going on in my life. But when I started to understand more about energy and how we can make choices that drain our energy, or not. I too started to take a break from listening to music that was emotionally hooking. Now when I hear popular music, I can clearly feel the energy behind it and be less drawn to the emotions. I also now would only choose to listen to music that is energetically clear, as in non-imposing and not emotional, leaving me to simply be more myself.
The catchiest tune or sweetest sounding vocals can come loaded with emotion that is actually harmful for all to hear and for those expressing it so. I don’t think in general that we appreciate enough the affect that music can have on us and the kind of energy it comes with – truly healing or harming?
So, so true Fiona. I certainly was not aware of this prior to attending Universal Medicine. I am now learning to apply energetic awareness to all aspects of life. To constantly ask myself and discern the energetic integrity to feel if something is healing or harming.
I only ever feel a warmth, joy, and held by listening or singing to the songs of Glorious Music.
That’s a great parallel you draw Suzanne between highly-crafted pop music and the airbrushed pictures we see in magazines. Both are a manipulation – not just of the pictures and music, but of those receiving these images and sounds. One has to question what the end goals of such manipulations might be.
I am in no way an accomplished musician of any sort, but my journey with music has been similar. How marvellous to come out the other side of being very into music, then thoroughly disenchanted with it, to now being able to happily listen to music produced by non-imposing musicians. This kind of music doesn’t want anything from me, and me from it.
Music today does seem to have been manipulated in order to achieve perfection, and when we listen to music from a time when recording of a song was simple, we are no longer satisfied and see it as less – but in actual fact it is more honest.
“I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.”
It is incredible what insights are on offer to us when we take the time to stop and be truly honest and open to what is going on for us.
That’s a great observation what you say about the similarity between music and images in the way they get enhanced and manipulated to achieve ‘perfection’. Really makes me wonder where we are heading towards as a species if we are setting ourselves up in such a way that says what is real is not good enough.
Great how you share about the tricks in the music industry being complex as they are in the media world, where images are morphed and warped to sell whatever is required. Yes, I can feel this with music, both are areas where many of us check out and do not discern in truth what we are receiving.
This so encapsulates what is going on “We end up worshipping someone else’s image”, whether that be music, art or film. Everybody wants to be someone else, wants to be famous at whatever cost, wants to make it – whatever it is. In that pursuit, we lose ourselves and easily become very competitive and nasty, is my observation.
You make a great point about the difference between the music we used to experience to what is played now, it seems that music is more than ever an assault on the sense, a cry for attention, a look at me and how high I can sing, or how I angry I can be, basically how much emotion can be crammed into the track. its not to say there was not that before, but the extent of this has grown a lot.
Listening to music from artists like Chris James and Michael Benhayon was strange at first as I had never heard music like it, I thought it was rather plane and lacking substance. But after a while I began to understand myself and my emotions, and was wanting to go forward without certain emotions, and this music was a perfect fit, it was supportive (and still is) for my unfolding wise choices. Now when I play this music I feel “wow, this is how music is suppose to be”
I reckon music is actually a drug, and one day they will class it under the same label, because it’s so incredibly addictive and you can use it to escape, bury emotions, to change your mood, to get out of bed, to energise you, to wallow in something – we can literally use it for anything – a lot more happens to our body when we listen to music than we realise.
There can be so much energetically going on in music that we ignore and don’t connect with what is actually being said or sung or played. I’ve come to realise how harming indulging in emotions is to us and how music can be really harming when it is calling us to wallow in something or be incited to be angry or disconnected.
Well-said Suzanne, and I can really relate to what you have shared here as I listened to music for many years, even putting it on as soon as I woke up, no wonder my emotions were up and down a lot of the time and I lived my life in quite a fog. Understanding about energy and music from Universal Medicine presentations has been a profound learning for me and answered a lot of questions I had around music and the feelings that were stirred in me when I listened to it. It was a great joy and blessing to listen to Glorious Music, as it has no emotional energy with it and you don’t feel bombarded by any harming energy coming through the music.
In the past ie from childhood, I never liked listening to any music as it was more like muSICK to me and felt like an assault in one way or another, generally demanding an emotional reaction. What a delight it was when I discovered GM Records – http://www.gmrecords.net. I absolutely love their music which is extremely joyful, connecting and totally unimposing.
I did not know that the music we listen to these days have been ‘music-shopped’. Images are photoshopped, music is musicshopped. There is a drive to make images and sounds ‘feel perfect’ to us. The fact is that we are buying into altered things as if they were the real thing and they are not. This is the basis for much more things that are promoted as truth and they are not.
Thank you Suzanne for sharing your love of true music, I remember getting hooked into the emotional aspect of those sad songs, now when I hear them my body shudders at how much of our power we give away in looking for love outside of ourselves. Glorious Music is my music now and it is indeed glorious bringing us back to empower who we truly are.
I remember a difficult time in my life and I remember consciously choosing which music I listened to. It was always the kind that played my heart strings and usually had a melancholic violin in there somewhere. At the time I thought the music soothed me as though I resonated with the music. Looking back I began to question whether I chose the music because I wanted to feel a certain emotion. Music is very powerful and it is quite astonishing how well it can call out an emotion in you. We think we are in control, but are we?
Agreed Suzanne, music was my go-to as well, both listening and playing. It was quite a change to not have music once I understood what it was doing but today I couldn’t be happier about it. When I go places and music is loud or constant these days I find it quite off-putting. And to have it on around home or in the car I find distracting and irritating. I have a whole new definition for noise pollution now and feel much healthier and happier for it.
I know what you mean Jenny, I recently realized how much I take for granted the lack of noise that I have in my life… when someone turns on the radio at work or when I exercise at the gym and music is blaring. This is the exact opposite of what I used to ‘enjoy’, if I didn’t have music on I had the TV on just for noise and driving in my car the music would be pumping so loud I’m surprised I didn’t have a car accident, being utterly distracted and caught up in the emotion or rah rah of a song.
Yes exactly… if I couldn’t check out on music in the car I was uncomfortable. It is amazing there are not more accidents… as I know many people do the same thing.
Music is a huge entertainment industry that is all geared to distracting us away from ourselves, so we do not have to feel the pain, the hurt, the suffering, it puts a bandaid on it instead of addressing the true cause of our misery which would eventually lead us back to joy.
I remember the feeling of worship when it came to music. Worshiping the image, the emotional torment the singer was in and thinking that that was living, that that expressing and being open and honest. Now, I don’t want to listen to that type of music, it feels indulgent and totally self serving to relieve the artists own tension onto others. Not all types of music are like this, but certainly the artists I gravitated towards.
Not for one moment in the past did I think about the energy coming through music – some I liked and some I didn’t and I thought it was simply a matter of taste. Boy oh boy, talk about naïve. It was such an ear-opener once I learned to feel and recognise the ‘hooking energy’ in most of our music today. Another classic example of how ignorant and arrogant we can be without being aware of it.
Beautiful, yes I guess, or this is what I feel, that we all have a natural expression both singing and not singing and that that in itself has a natural expression. The problem comes when we think we have to sing in a particular way or that we learn to sing in a way that is held as a technique when we don’t really need to learn a technique to sing naturally, we just have to let it out. It sounds easy and it is, but sometimes I think it’ll take some time to undo what we have put into us in forms of belief packages of how we think things should be like.
I’ve just listened to Glorious Music’s Dance Album 4 and the variety of genres is amazing. I was listening whilst driving along and it felt so non-imposing, it was truly enjoyable.
Great topic Suzanne – and really something we can apply to many aspects of life. Do we seek the perfect image to please our ‘trained’ eyes, or the perfect sound for our critical ears? Or do we feel the innate beauty of the person singing or the essence beyond their looks? Returning to living from our essence and seeing the same essence in others is the ‘true music’ of life in my experience, removing us from our self-created separations and coming home to the interconnectedness we are all from. This is the real harmony and rhythm we all know in our hearts and it is a symphony we all long for I feel.
Thank you Suzanne. The gym I go to plays top 40 music at quite a volume and learning how to be with this music has been as much of a workout as any exercises I have done. Lately I have begun to name the energy that comes through each song and to my surprise I have found that most happy and fun sounding love songs actually deliver a well of deep sadness and searching, other songs deliver rape energy or anger and assault. When I name the energy coming through I find that I am not hooked by catchy beats or swamped with emotion. Glorious Music truly lives up to its name as it conveys pure joy and evolution and the lyrics completely support this energy.
I feel that when we are children we are connected to that simple joy in music and feel so free to sing as an expression of who we are. We just do it without any inhibitions or expectations and it flows from us in the fullness of our being. This innocence is the heart of our true expression. What it exposes of course is all the conditioning we go through to become ‘adult’, the expectations of perfection, the pressure to get it right. But what if being who we are is what is truly right in this life rather than trying to conform to an outer expectation? Then things would be very different.
Love the raw honest expression through this article, I have used music in the way you describe my whole life, I also used it a lot so I didn’t feel alone. I find now that it all feels like it is lacking something, a true service of purpose beyond the surface, I see through the emotional hooks now and there is not a lot left once that is not affective. I do like the sound of lots of old songs but I know that the meanings to them are not great and I also like the taste of ice cream but I know that not good for me either. The point is the time has come for me to also step into making some true music, by the sound of it, that’s where you are at too!
There was a time in my life that I chose everything to fill me up and to produce/confirm a state of being. Food was essential. Music too. The gap between what I thought I was doing (enjoying the food and music of my choice) and what I was really doing with them was immense. I became aware of this only when I became a student of Universal Medicine. What was beautiful was that becoming a student allowed me to detach my body from how I had chosen to move in life. Before it was like I was part of a big bubble moving together in which the being was no different from anything I did. At some point, the being started growing up and the doing, got a new place. In that context, I could started feeling better that my choices had a consequence over my being and that in most cases were negative. This realisation opened up the possibility and desire to change deeply.
At a certain age in my life I tuned out of the what I used to call worldly music and tuned into the christian music, not a lot of difference there because even with God in it, it was still filled with the same emotions of pain regret and a so called love that was outside of oneself. With Glorious Music I feel the confirmation and inspiration of the love and joy that are part of my own being.
I remember in my early twenties choosing certain music depending on what I wanted emotionally. The music could easily transport me into sadness or happiness. That was conscious. But what about all the times we hear music and are affected emotionally?
Reading your words today Suzanne, I wonder about the thoughts that we have all day, what if these are like our own internal music? What is the quality and harmony that we hear? or do we have a band that is in disarray, playing heavy metal that and attacks our system during the day, do we layer our moments with sounds that entice and distracts? The connection and joy you describe in Glorious music is something I feel too and this blog reminds me that I can choose thoughts actions and movements that let this joy this to be my own internal soundtrack too.
Although I cannot always feel the direct impacts of today’s music, I now have a greater awareness of energy and how the energetic integrity with which someone lives can be carried through all that they express – I have witnessed my children listening to trance music on the radio and seen the change in their behaviours pretty instantly – I was particularly shocked when I observed my 6 year old dancing in a very sexual manner. as Serge Benhayon has presented time and time again I witnessed my son being a vehicle through which the energy of this music manifested itself – I needed no more proof than this.
Most music has so many emotional hooks and most composers and musicians talk about that being their intention – to get people to engage emotionally. I used to love intense sad folk songs and attempted to write similarly. Ouch! Music is everywhere – especially in shops and restaurants. Learning to not absorb or engage with it but to notice and think – Ah yes, its trying to draw me in – to buy more…. has made a difference to my going out into my community. There is now a selection of albums available that don’t impose – my current favourite being Jenny James’ album – Shining On – it’s fabulous.
I have had a very similar experience with music throughout my life. Even down to feeling I needed to stop completely for a while. It has been through Glorious Music and workshops with the magnificent Chris James that I have rediscovered the joy of singing. I am eternally grateful.
Dear Suzanne,
I grew up in a house where music was played constantly. I didn’t dislike this, in fact I enjoyed it. But something that I found interesting is that when I moved into my own home, one of the first things I wanted was a stereo system, only to find that it was not used as often as I thought it would be. I found that I loved the steadiness and stillness of no music, and spent a lot of time in my home with the company of silence.
It is fascinating how when we become attracted to music, we often seem to stop playing ourselves. It is like we feel we could not possibly compete with the ‘perfection’ or sounds we are served. And isn’t that a key indicator right there? for true music, glorious music, is the sounds that come from the real you. And the real you is not an ideal, not a picture perfect vision, but a breathing, loving, human being. It is high time we all started to play and have fun like you Suzanne and know we each have a beautiful song that is there to be sung.
A glorious appreciation of Glorious Music Suzanne. I would love to hear you sing too.
Learning to feel the effect of music in my body rather than just listening to the tune or the words, I have become increasingly aware of whether music imposes or leaves me free to be me.
Music like many things in life has become all about performance, and less about the simplicity of the harmony it can impart. As such, and all too often, it is therefore a bombardment upon the ears, calling to a beat not of our own making.
‘There is room for me to listen without someone trying to entice me into their emotional pain.’ This made me see how often, even in conversation, I feel like there can be a hidden ask to be drawn in to a conversation and sympathise or at least have empathy with the emotional pain that is being expressed however subtley. I can feel how I have done this in the past and still do if I let the world get the better of me. What a responsibility we hold: we can either spread and enforce the emotional energy in the world or choose not to entertain it and not let it run any longer than absolutely necessary, calling it out for what it is in the most loving way possible.
When we sing from the heart we are surrendering to our own essence and we can let go of the judgement or beliefs that we may have held to reveal the true power of our own expression. That is true harmony.
There are many hooks in life to distract us away from feeling the enormity of who we are. One by one they need to be addressed, leaving us be to feel the truth again.
Music is one of the most amazing forms of expression that we have on the planet. It is possible for music to provide a space where we can lift ourselves to some of the highest places we are capable of as humans. What we have done with it is create a place for us to hide, a place for us to attack one another, and a place where we can force our ideas upon others and manipulate them. This is a far cry from the glory that is potentially to be expressed in music.
I used to totally seek identification through the music I listened to, priding myself on listening to music that the majority didn’t, especially as a teenager and young adult. Seeing myself as different to others because I was into the unusual, the hip and trendy and definitely not mainstream. This influenced how I dressed, the friends I hung around with and even the air of feeling separate to others. I am only just realising the effect that music has had on my life and how I allowed what I chose ruled my life and not even notice how this was effecting me, when it so very clearly was. I look forward to more music that has no effects such as these as is a pure celebration of who we are.
It’s such a joy to listen to music that is not based on the experiences of emotional pain or hardship, and that comes from musicians who live a life that is truly loving.
Hmmm, I do not know that we consider just how powerful music is and how much it can emotionally affect us well after we have stopped listening to the music. Music is deceptive, because it feeds our desires. If you are sad, you will choose music to accentuate that sadness, not realising that you are then taking on a level of sadness that was never yours to begin with. You will not register the fact, because it appeals so much to what you want to here in the first place, and so you do not discern what effect it is truly having on you.
I can relate to this deeply, Suzanne. I took a looooong break from playing any music myself and had become a ‘professional appreciator’, being very good at picking out good music to listen to but not expressing it myself. I recently picked up an instrument and decided to start learning again after well over a decade of not engaging with music on this level, and it feels not only amazing to do so, but I am finding it is coming much more easier than it used to. I feel that that is simply down to the fact that I am getting myself out of the way and just letting the impulse to play, be exactly that: playtime!
Music that comes from the heart can be felt through the whole body and does not impose and drag you into the mental emotions of the players.
What you’ve shared Suzanne is so true about how pop music is emotionally hooking. I was fully hooked by it and feeling emotional whenever I heard a particular song and thought this was very normal and enjoyable. Now I cannot listen to some of the music I used to love because I no longer choose to give by power away by following the trend but now choosing to follow my heart and listen to my body in connecting to what feels true.
Much of modern day music has a pounding beat that can feel quite imposing as it penetrates and goes right through you. After reading this blog I wonder if some of this imposition could actually be the emotions of the performers and writers literally thumping you with their unresolved issues??
It is really refreshing to have music to listen to that doesn’t draw you in but simply leaves you to be you.
I can remember the emotional moods I would get in when listening to music, especially if I left something unresolved with someone. It’s interesting the music we then pick to not lift us up and help us understand a situation but music that helps to bury it further and confirm to push it down. Now though there is a plethora of clear music that I can choose to listen to and not feel imposed upon or enticed to conjure up an emotion or emotional experience. Thank you to Glorious Music and many more amazing artists who create music to support humanity.
I always had thought that music was safe, as I could turn it on or off, but what I came to realize is that music comes with energy, and that even though I turn down the volume or put up another song – I am always left to feel the energy that comes my way. It is through Glorious Music band that I discovered that many songs, much music is actually imposing on me (the listener) and that I choose not to listen to it, simply because I have felt how music feels and sounds when it is imposingless.
This is amazing, quiet revolutionary too. I mean , how could we think, we could get out of the cycle of emotional music and or playing it. It is through Universal Medicine also, that I had understand, that even though I had played guitar for 7 months, it did not complete me or made me truly feel good, only temporarily. And so I learned that I must first be in living connection to my heart – so that I can play this heavenly bound music from my heart ever again. One day, even though I do not play guitar today, I sing with my heart and express all that I am in all that I do – or the least I am learning this more and more every single day.
Love the clarity in your writing Suzanne thank you for sharing your experience here with music. It is so true we can hide in music, in the future i am sure it will be known by all how deeply harming music can be.
There is a familiar theme, a similar strain to that same old song that plays every day. This song of struggle, emotion, battle and false devotion reeks of neediness and emptiness. It wafts throughout our world in dobly stereo, to the extent we have become absolutely used to it and think it ‘normal’. But it is not, and it is possible to turn it off, at least in yourself. When you cease playing this record on repeat, you get to hear at last, the true music of life. Thank you Suzanne for reminding me about harmony.
This is a big one to enter because just about everyone has some form of addiction to music. I use the word addiction because that is what it is. We are pretty much addicted to have some form music playing in our ears many hours of the day. I haven’t yet been into a gym without having music playing in the speakers, shopping malls and shops as well. Perhaps this is what we use to avoid the stillness we would otherwise feel if we didn’t have it…
“… if I listen to an old Elvis Presley track from the 50’s and then stick on a track sung by any one of the numerous pop stars of today, it feels like the purity and warmth of the true voice that was there with Elvis and the simple production qualities of that time have now been lost or forgotten…” This is a great example to point out, there is quite a difference.
you present very clearly how the energy behind music can heavily effect us. There is nothing that is truly supportive of who we are in this. So it is a beautiful thing to hear and feel what Glorious Music plays, beautiful and real songs connecting to our inner heart. Not imposing any emotion on us.
I love this, true music doesn’t impose on us. It allows us to feel who we truly are, gloriously divine. I used to love folk music and got swept up in all the ‘poor me’ songs, the sadness and lost loves – the more emotional the better! What a relief now to listen to bands such as Glorious Music that is unimposing. And what music, straight from heaven.
Music, like everything else, can either be healing or harming. Emotional music has hooks and is harming as it lures us away from our innate inner connection, it takes us journeying away from who we are. Music that is written when the person is connected, is a joy, it is a piece of heaven that offers us the space to come back to ourselves.
Hi Donna, I spent many years listening to harming music from the moment I woke up till when I went to bed. My emotional state during this time was up and down and I would often get melancholic with certain types of music and spend a lot of time drifting off into my head, so I can certainly relate to being lured away from our own connection. Listening to Glorious Music I have never felt imposed upon or emotional at all, it is music that leaves you feeling light and joyful.
Music had always been a big part of my life and yet it also felt slightly foreign to me too as I never really enjoyed going to big concerts and gigs as the loud speakers always sent my body into a spin and I felt my body shirk up. Music is a form of expression and when we are connected to ourselves it is a true expression from the heart. That is glorious indeed.
Thank you Suzanne, your words are truly music to my ears. You remind me that whilst I used music harmfully in the past, today is not about abstinence or cutting it all out but savouring, enjoying and playing music truly from my heart.
Glorious Music is Literally a God send and very inspirational too. It is so great to have music to listen to that is not in the slightest way imposing.
A God send – every part of me wholeheartedly agrees Kev. Glorious Music’s sounds are heavenly.
Yes I agree Kev and Joseph, Glorious Music is heaven sent and I appreciate listening to music that is deeply inspiring and beautiful and not emotional in any way.
Great blog. In the past I have been completely sold out to music having several people I totally admired like Lennon and McCartney, Keith and Mick and many many more. I was in a rock band for a while myself and wrote all the songs. I never made a conscious decision to stop listening to the stuff I used too but it sort of just gradually dropped away and now most of it irritates me especially a lot of the modern stuff .
Absolutely Joseph. What we consider as normal and commonly acceptable practice of today does not mean it is necessarily true and loving. For us all to grow and evolve your comment has reminded me just how important it is that we always question ‘the norm’ to not get lost marking time in the same place and repeating the same unhealthy patterns.
Sometimes a car will pass me or pull up to the lights beside me and I cannot ignore the heavy pounding of the music that the occupants are listening to and how aggressive its unrelenting thump thump thump beat is…. a beat that feels like it can literally pound, penetrate and reverberate right through my body. I don’t enjoy it at all and cannot help but wonder why others seem to like it and are attracted to it so much.
So many things have become fodder for mass production Naren. Our food, clothing, car manufacturing and so on and so forth – all of it with little or no quality and no love in it however we are the ones who have had a big role to play in creating this market.
That is very true, Deborah. We are living in times where we have become very efficient at knowing how to make a lot of money by breaking things down into automated systems. However, this is being recognised as sucking the life out of what we are here to do: live divinely in a place that is less than divine. And expressing from that divinity is how we do that.
I have had a distant relationship with music in that I have never really sung or had an interest in listening to or playing music. I do know that I don’t enjoy a lot of current music and find that if I go into a shop/shopping centre and feel the music is bombarding me, I will leave as soon as possible. However in recent times I have begun to wonder if my reactions have been because I am actually much more sensitive to what is going on with the music that I had ever realised before. I am finding that I am slowly starting to enjoy listening more to the music from Chris James and Glorious Music so who knows what will happen in the future in regards to my relationship with music!
Music used to completely entrench my life too, as a teenager I would listen (though never sing!!) to my headphones from almost the moment I woke up, to the moment I went to bed, and in bed of course. If I wasn’t listening to my headphones I was recording my next tape of the radio – it was like a drug that got me up and kept me moving and changed my mood to whatever I wanted it to be – sad, elated, angry. It was all such a huge avoidance of what I really felt and how hard I found life. Changing the way I live has changed the way I use music, and I no longer use it as a drug, but simply something that is a joy to hear sometimes.
I love the celebration in this blog’s title Suzanne as someone who used to use music as a means of wallowing in emotional pain for many years I then chose to rarely listen for a long time and then when I was introduced to Glorious Music could instantly feel the truth in it and that I was not asked to be anything or change in any way. Re-connecting to the joy of music and allowing this to express in different ways has been so enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your experiences and expanding our insight into the hooks that so much music uses to entrap the unwary.
Beautiful blog Suzanne. Playing music or singing – or even speaking – from our heart wins out over technical ability any day.
Absolutely Sue and can be felt by all if they chose to it.
Well said – we can totally feel the difference between love and technical ability – and love makes all the difference.
So true Sue – there’s joy when it comes from our heart.
It certainly does Sue.
Thank you Suzanne for a great blog, I too, love Glorious Music, it definitely is heaven sent and takes me back to my heart of Divine love and joy when hearing it and singing along with it. I look forward to feeling you in the playing of your music one day.
It’s so true. Music was a place to wallow in emotion, to imagine emotions I hadn’t experienced and to wallow in that too. How beautiful it is to understand the energy in music and to appreciate Glorious Music for not imposing on us and for showing us what music can be. No more being slammed by other people’s undealt with emotional problems.
I completely agree with you Amanda. Music and seeing Iive bands was a huge part of my life but I can feel now how it kept me from connecting to me. It’s an absolutely joy to listen to Glorious Music and to experience what it’s like to be left alone and to not be drawn into any emotion by music.
Wow. I really loved reading about your insights into the music industry, especially the comparison between the photo shopping of images and the way music is produced to sound ‘perfect’. When I first began listening to Glorious Music I found myself deeply moved by the music yet cringing inwardly from time to time when I felt that something was not ‘perfect’. Now I see that the raw naturalness of Glorious Music is a part of its power much like the gorgeous and natural images I see on Unimed Living, http://www.unimedliving.com/.
There is something deeply wise shared here, something that many of us ignore or deny. And I know I did for some time, the ’emotional hooks’ that are within music and the intention behind the music is not seriously considered and exposed in music that is available on the radio, on the tv, in our homes. I know I used to wallow in it, the melancholy was a particular favourite of mine. Glorious music has been a revelation to me, joy, love and clarity and not imposing. I feel like me when I have stopped listening, more me in fact not a lesser, denser emotional version that I once did when I listened to some music.
Very true Joel L. Much of todays popular music is the equivalent of the photo shopped images we see in magazines. And just like in the magazines the version we get is not the real thing. This is most unfortunate as our expression is precious and to lose it in the pursuit and illusion of the complexity and heavily emotionally layered fashionable ‘music’ is sad for all.
I have also experienced being enticed by the emotion of a song and pulled to allow those emotions into my own body. I have come to see many songs now as an intricately configured web of emotions ready to suck you in and enter your body when you say ‘yes’ to them. And why do we say yes to allowing emotions that are not our own into our body? I have experienced choosing a song to listen to that offers the exact configuration of emotions that I need at that time to suppress what I’m naturally feeling in my body. By contrast, the music of Glorious Music doesn’t come loaded with the web of emotions. Not only is it clear of that but what you can feel in their music is truth – deep, lived truth behind every word and every note. After experiencing Glorious Music, I have since been able to feel the poison that it is in my body when I take on the emotions loaded into many other songs.
How you described today’s music as layered Suzanne is so true. ‘Fashionable’ music of today feels busy and excessively emotional and in truth rather reflective of modern day life – there is far too much stimuli going on at once that people are trying to pay attention to for any true enjoyment to occur.
Suzanne I wholeheartedly agree with you about Glorious Music when you write, “A true blessing and inspiration, so profound and ever expanding; something we can all be a part of!” I was in bands for going on 15 years and yet it is only since I started listening to Glorious Music that I have been able to let go all the ideals and beliefs I have piled onto myself and discover my deep connection with my voice and natural musical quality. I am eternally grateful to Michael Benhayon.
“The tricks of the music trade today are similar to that of the images we now see all around us where flaws are rubbed out and altered to achieve an image that seems to me to be so unattainable.” So true Suzanne. It’s amazing how it has become unacceptable to be our natural selves in both the way we look and sound. The ridiculousness of this is that it means that no-one is acceptable anymore if we use the majority of music we hear, and images we see as a benchmark for what is acceptable. Just as photos are airbrushed and manipulated, so too are vocal tracks auto-tuned and effect-ed. We might as well just program a computer to play and sing everything and cut out the middle man.
I agree Lucy, much music of today is not nearly as enjoyable as the simplicity of the tunes and singing of the past as the computer effect can actually make it feel like a synthetic version of the real thing.
Yes Joseph I love that we have the choice to question what we think is ‘normal,’ and take it to a deeper level of understanding for how it feels for us as individuals. This level of awareness can only bring great honesty and an opportunity to make another loving choice. Awesome.
How lovely it is to find that music does not have to be manipulative or emotional. It can be beautiful and clear. Thanks to Glorious Music I have been able to experience this and can learn how to make music without affecting others in any detrimental way.
It has been really interesting to observe music once I realised how emotionally hooking it can be. I can see how I chose particular songs at particular times and the fantasies or pictures they would build up in my head. Knowing that these pictures are not reality, and that they create false expectations of how my life can be, I now choose not to listen to music that I feel imposes on me in this way. Music now has a different meaning in my life. I no longer get lost in it, but rather enjoy singing along, moving my body and expressing all of who I am with no reserve. No pictures needed.
One of my most recent observations with music in the mainstream as we know it is how it actually uses and abuses you. Playing, singing or listening to music should not naturally cause you any physical injury but it actually does and I am seeing this more and more as I continue to unravel the hold it has had on us, taking us away from its initial reason for being with us and for us in the first place. Thanks to Glorious Music this is unfolding for us all.
I heard a radio programme today about the classic British film, ‘Brief Encounter’ and how Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was deliberately used in place of dialogue for much of the film, as it had been known that he had composed the music while in therapy and at the same time was suffering unrequited love for the therapist’s daughter. So the music is suffused with, indeed impressed with the emotion of an unconsummated affair of the heart and this is palpable, hanging heavily over the whole film, right from the opening credits. We therefore get imposed upon by his emotional pain and energetically depleted as a result of his composition of sound. It’s great therefore that by contrast, artistes such as Glorious Music and others are beginning to emerge who are able to offer truth in their music, without the emotional hooks. Great – and better for our emotional health and wellbeing!
Thanks Suzanne for this blog. I can so relate to what you are saying here: “As soon as I pressed play the first time I listened to the first album, I wept. This is the truth in music I was looking for all along and at last I felt validated.” It was the same for me, I couldn’t stop crying the first time I heard a song by Glorious Music, it is so healing to feel a true sound that does not impose. A song with a lyrics that is so true and non-emotional. A deeply healing experience and it also sparked the love for music and singing in me.
I agree Lieke, I now truly enjoy singing and am not afraid to sing along to my favourite Glorious Music tracks. The joy I feel when listening to this music is incomparable.
I really loved reading your blog Suzanne and I can relate to much of what you share with us. For many years I would wake in the morning and put music on straight away and then listen to it all day long and would often leave it playing while I would go to sleep. It became an addiction and a way to escape for me, and then eventually it became obvious to me that the music was emotionally manipulating me. I no longer need music to fill my emptiness, I now also chose to listen to Glorious music because of the lightness the joy and deeper connection with me I feel.
The way you approached finding the Truth to the music you had lived with is inspiring Suzanne – actually giving yourself space to really feel what your body was telling you in regards to music which was such a huge part of your life. I am finding myself that the only cd’s I reach for now are the ones produced by Glorious Music – most of my old favourite bands irritate me and make me uncomfortably racy – Glorious Music allows me to sing with my heart again.
Thank you Suzanne for sharing your experiences with music, much of which I can relate to. I also have been restricting my listening to the radio or TV shows such as singing competitions and making people a star, as so many of these shows are very emotional and it feels very hooking – as a result I find the song gets stuck in my head for days.
Suzanne, when you mention “…how compressed and layered the music is now; so much so that people are being trained or further removed from hearing a true voice.” What a trick this is! It made me realise just how much of todays life is about taking us away from our connection to who we truly are, away from our true and natural expression, and how much we all miss this! Thank God for Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine who make life all about true expression.
The difference between someone who plays music with an agenda e.g. releasing emotions, for recognition etc, and someone who plays from a place of “Because you can feel the music and express it in your playing” is huge. There is no imposition – the listener is left to be with themselves and they have a choice to accept what the music offers or not.
I love how you didn’t reject music forever but took a step back and looked at how it had played out in your life, and most importantly why it was that way. Being open to looking at all this allowed you to be open to something new i.e. Glorious Music – having felt what wasnt working with music previously, you could then feel how different Glorious Music was and… “As soon as I pressed play the first time I listened to the first album, I wept. This is the truth in music I was looking for all along and at last I felt validated. I had come home to me. A true blessing and inspiration, so profound and ever expanding” So beautiful Suzanne.
The line that stands out for me Suzanne is “I no longer need to be perfect, for perfection is not the goal. Truth is what I hear, and it doesn’t hurt to listen to it.” So much of life has become about perfecting something. There is a pre-conceived marker of how things ‘should be’, rather than feeling the truth of what is naturally there to be expressed, in whatever form that may be.
It does feel like music is a fashion accessory – to match the look of the moment.
When I listen to the lyrics of Glorious Music you can feel the direction and option that they offer to humanity calling them to reconnect and to truth. Music can be so powerful. I was trying to listen to some of my sons music the other day and the lyrics had so much aggression and anger it was overwhelming to listen to. I guess like anything we have a choice about what music we listen to – for me to have music that support develops and reflects connection and truth has been supportive.
Music has been a fashion for people for as long as there have been different groups of people on the planet. I used to be heavily identified with the music I listened to. Especially as a teenager, when there is such a common search for identity going on, music is an easy way to feel like you belong. The problem is that we do not discern what we are listening to, and instead give ourselves away to the need that that music is fulfilling for us.
The need to fulfill what we feel is missing from our lives – but what are we filling ourselves up with? Music is such a powerful tool. it is an interesting phenomenon that a lot of the times we don’t know what the lyrics are or the true meaning of a song only to be shocked when we find out what it really about. The need to be discerning about what we listen to and fulfill ourselves with because it can effect a mood for a significant period of time.
There is a definite lack of discernment needed in music, because more often than not what hooks us into a song is the melody and instrumentation, or the sound of the singer’s voice. The lyrics and what the song is actually saying is an after thought, desciphered once we get hold of the lyrics. I know I’m not the only one who has been shocked to find out what a song is actually about once I read the lyrics!
Yes there was a public outrage a few years ago when songs that seemingly has a poppy fun like sound were singing about x-rated topics, the tunes are so powerful they stay in the body to recall much more easily than the lyrics.
Yes, and the fact is that what the song is about is communicated through the whole package of the music. You can’t really say, “I like the tune, but don’t like what he/she is saying so I’ll listen to it anyway.” When we hear something we get all of it.
It’s so interesting to feel what is imposed when we play music. When I go back and listen to the old songs I liked, I realise how very emotional they are and how I used them to wallow in whatever emotion I was favouring. It feels so good to be aware of what I was allowing and to make the decision not to go down that manufactured emotional path.
There is a HUGE difference between music played emotionally and music played with True Love from our bodies. If we have not heard the difference and get attached to the emotionally hooking nature of music played without love and care then how are we going to know any different? I had to let go of my emotional attachment to music to allow myself to be open to enjoying and truly letting the music played with Love such as those from Glorious Music actually in in full and enjoy it.
The music Glorious Music plays is without any demand of the listener, that is what is truly beautiful. It only presents the love we all are through the beautiful tunes and lyrics they sing and play.
A great reminder here Joseph to ‘stop’, not only with music but with any activity we are doing… Not necessarily always stopping in a physical sense (although sometimes this is a first step) but in the sense of stopping to be more aware and feeling what is truly going on in our bodies… Without this stop, we can often simply continue in the activity and momentum of action and ‘doing’ without considering what is happening to our bodies, and this applies to listening to music as much as it does to any other activity.
Suzanne it is very inspiring to read your blog, and how you stop engaging with the music you were listening to. Glorious Music has produced several CDs now, and I have enjoyed and sung along with them smiling on the inside out.
I find listening to anything that glorious music has produced is like having a healing session
I totally agree Joe, a healing session that feels like it nourishes your very soul.
I have found when I walk through the supermarket there are so many older songs that used to hook me in once that I feel are dancing around me inviting me to come back to play. There was a period of time where I reacted or actually did get hooked, walking out with a song in my head. Recently I have been finding I walk in such a way that when in the supermarket I am able to feel the music for what it is and appreciate that I have a choice to emotionally attach myself to it or not.
I used to work in an environment where there was constant debate about people’s desire to have music playing in the background. People said they found the silence eerie and confronting. For me there was not silence there were the sounds of everyday activity talking to clients and on the phone, mobile phones ringing etc. At that was more than enough noise for me. Amazing how different the perspectives can be.
” … people are being trained or further removed from hearing a true voice.”
The information in this blog is great to assist us in seeing through the manipulations of the music industry – even calling it an industry reveals how far from its true spontaneity music can become. And to know that our young children and people of all ages are absorbing this music and thinking that this is how music is, without being given the opportunity to know the true humanness of music. Yep, may Elvis be resurrected, bring back the King!
Fabulous Suzanne. I used to use music as an emotional crutch, indulging all my emotional pains and struggles or achieve a false sense of euphoria. Thankfully today, I also listen to less imposing music from Glorious Music – only earlier I was super enjoying their latest powerful album – it connects me on such a deep level to not just myself but to all of humanity. I was dancing joyfully one minute, balling my eyes the next as I felt the sadness around the fact I had not been living the love presented in the songs for so long. Healing and confirming all in one. Absolutely incredible.
Beautiful Gina, we have all used ‘music as an emotional crutch… to achieve a false sense of euphoria’ and to try and escape what we don’t not want to feel.
‘ I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.’ This is what I have done for a long time, I swallowed all the emotions of the music played so I could indulge in those emotions as being mine or when I was sad already I would play a song which would bring up more sadness. You get the picture. I became aware I do not only listen to music with my ears but that my whole body is feeling the music and the effect of the emotions of others on me. I now choose to not have that anymore and choose to listen to music which does not impose emotions on me. Glorious music is a great example of expressing joyfully all that we are in various genres but always I feel the truth of what they present, love.
I know we have Glorious Music and that shows us that it is possible to express the absolute beauty and glory of life and the love we all are, but why keep choosing the difficult, hardship, heartbreak when we can listen to pure truth and crystal clarity in sound?
I have also taken a break from all the music for about 5 years, and then I have realized the amount of emotional downloading that happens when one listens to popular songs. I normally have to stop it, cause the emotional pain takes over, or I see how those thoughts start creeping into my body…I also went to a flamenco show with a friend that is a professional dancer, and for the first time found it very hard, very difficult to enjoy as it was so focussed on the pain and the expression of it. So it makes me wonder: why is it so popular to express the tough and the hard and the painful? why every love song is about lovelesness or heartbreak? Is music reflecting our pain as a human race? or on the contrary is it feeding the pain and having us all stuck in it?
Working with traumatized children I have noticed how they sing songs that mirror their angst and past experiences and then watch as the music hooks them emotionally and reignites the hurt and anger, stopping them from moving on by pulling them back without them even realising. I don’t think a lot of people are aware of exactly how insipid music can be.
I was interested to read that you mentioned how compressed and layered the music is now; so much so that people are being trained or further removed from hearing a true voice. I have certainly witnessed this with my kids. So much so that anything that isn’t highly altered sounds like “rubbish” to them I have been struggling to make sense of this,
I understand on an energetically level how imposing music can be. It seems that the layering is similar to the digital photo shopping of images there is the potential that we will be disappointed when we look at real life nature because it won’t look like the photo shopped images presented to us.
That’s great Suzanne. I too have felt less interested in listening to mainstream music these days. I’m so much more aware of how emotionally drained I feel when I’ve listened to the radio or, when I’m forced to listen to it at work. It’s not to say there isn’t a lot of it that I love, as it brings back fun memories of different times, it’s just that now I feel the hook that comes with the music and I am less attracted to that now.
Suzanne I love your sharing of your journey with music. I agree that Glorious Music does not hook us in like the emotionally charged songs written of lost Love and pain, especially those of the past few decades. Music should come with gentle upliftment and Joy for life, inspiring us to see the Love we all are. I know two little 2 year olds who just Love to dance to Michael Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon’s music, and ask for it to be played frequently!
Suzanne when I read your blog, I can’t help but wonder if you have gone back to playing music? What you raise here is so true. Today, I heard on the radio an old song that I use to love. I rarely have the radio on so I am not often exposed to popular music too much. I could feel myself being drawn into the song and losing myself in it. Part of me wanted to get lost in the memories of the song and music and it felt like an escape. It took quite a bit of effort to turn it off as I knew that I was disconnecting more and more from me as I listened to it. I then put on some of Chris James’ music and could feel the difference in that this music assisted me to reconnect back to me. A vast contrast to the song I was listening to on the radio.
In my teens I used to love boppy music which you could dance to or love songs with such emotion you just wanted to cry. But since attending expression workshops with Chris James I have learnt the difference between true expression in singing where there is no emotional hooks or imposition on you, just pure joy and love expressed and felt throughout your body. I love listening and singing to Glorious Music and music from Chris James. I feel expansive in my heart and can feel a warm pulsating sensation throughout my body.
I agree with you, Suzanne – the kind of music I enjoy listening to now is the type that leave me with myself, and not distract or hook me into emotions or a drive.
So true Suzanne we have lost the spontaneity that music has, everything is so contrived and mixed and the words can be harsh and unforgiving which makes the songs quite difficult to listen to. Glorious Music and Road Gloria on the other hand are a band that I could listen to all day long.
Recently I have been connecting to the innocence and joy I felt as a child, when I sing and play the Piano. Rather than how it sounds for other people listening. This feels amazing and freeing.
I agree Suzanne, the music of today actually feels harming to listen to. So beautiful to feel the love and truth in the music performed and produced by Glorious Music and Chris James.
The emotional hooks in music are far more damaging then I for a long time realised. As a troubled teenager i would get completely taken by emotional music either putting me into emotions i was not feeling before or deepening the ones i was in. Emotions are what keeps us from feeling what is truly within and so this music separates us from ourselves.
The music from Golrious Music on the contrary leaves us be and gently supports us to reconnect with what is within. And it is awesome at the same time!
“We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.” This is such a tragedy, but so common amongst all of us. Finding our own divine expression is about deeply getting to know oneself, healing hurts and being loving with yourself and all others. This is not small thing to do, but it is a must if we are to return to who we truly are.
There is so much music everywhere, it is like we have lost touch with being without it. Music has become such a big emotional distraction, which shows how we don’t want to be with ourselves.
I too was always ‘moved’ by music, I loved listening to it, especially when I was down, getting an old power ballard out. It was usually to keep me caught up in my emotional state of some kind. I would also have music on at home, in the car, when I was walking, what I realised was that it never allowed me the space to have any quiet time. I realised just how invasive normal music was. It wasn’t until I heard Glorious Music made by Michael Benhayon, that I actually felt I could go back to listening to music, as this music did not feel invasive at all, it didn’t feel imposing. It feels harmonious and supportive, which is really great.
When you share ‘I realised music had become a great place for me to hide’ it reminded me for many years that I would play certain music very loud and would dance in a way to fill a void in my life – hiding from the truth of what was really happening or not in my life, getting a real ‘buzz’ from behaving like this – just like an addiction. The heaviness and reality of it all would return! Listening to Glorious Music and the music of Chris James offers to the listener so much more and, as you share “I no longer feel bombarded or imposed upon”. A lovely sharing with us all Suzanne thank you.
After being involved with music for many years, in many different ways, I found that the more I was choosing to live with more truth and honesty in my life the more I could feel how harmful the music I was playing and was playing all around me really was. It so true, that music in our society today is being used to identify ourselves, to escape and to numb ourselves. The investment in identification and image is no different to the soulless images in a magazine and we now consume music in the same way we would for example, drink coffee or alcohol or eat certain food. True music is an expression and celebration of the truth and love that we naturally are though sound, and the joy of living this together. It does not impose a way to be or emotionally hook or ask you to be less or leave who you truly are. Glorious Music is showing us the way that music can be a powerful, joyful and inspirational expression and celebration of who we are in essence and the soulful way we can all live harmoniously together.
Music and rhythm have the power to either connect you with your innermost – or to disconnect you. No middle ground. My responsibility is to be aware of this whenever I am exposed to music or rhythms.
I can totally relate to what you are sharing here Suzanne. I have learned to play an instrument but the rigidness of the songs that I was taught to play never really felt great to play. After reading your story I realize this is because I did not express myself in making music, but the piece I played. Very inspiring.
Suzanne I too used to listen to an awful lot of music, particularly ‘dance’ music. I loved the lift that I got from it and would often go off into my head whilst listening to it and imagine that I was singing or some other scenario. Music instantly took me away from being with me and that is what I loved about it. But having changed the way that I live and there fore the way that I feel, it actually feels awful to be pulled away from myself now. When I do hear music it sounds so distracting and feels seeped in emotion. I do however listen to Glorious music which I find connects me to a deeper part of who I am.
Ouch Suzanne, yes: “I realised music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with.” – I have spent a lifetime immersed and absorbed in music (the more emotional the better) and subsequently the pain of others so that I could lose myself in the excuse that it was ‘normal’ to feel this ache and hence continue to wallow in it rather than stop and reflect on the steps I had taken away from true love, my truth.
I was in the chemist yesterday and they had some music playing and I felt how emotionally charged it was trying to pull me into the sadness and woes of the singer/songwriter. Growing up, as a boy in the UK there wasn’t music everywhere you go, like nowadays, it’s like a constant bombardment of music, music that is heavily laced with emotion.
This is also my experience of the difference when growing up and now. As I now look back my memories are of the shop assistants having more time for the customers and the feeling of more space and lightness. While today the feeling is much more ‘closed in’ and ‘pressured’ which feels very much as a consequence of the music. I have not reflected on this before.
Yes Thomas I don’t understand either the need to be surrounded by very loud music in shops. It is a true imposition on the whole body, making it hard to speak to sales assistants. Like images everywhere, it is another assault on our senses that leaves us depleted if we are not connected to our body.
I agree Patricia. The way some of todays popular music bombards and imposes on us with its pounding beat assaults our senses so much so you can literally feel like you are being thumped!
Reading this blog I realise what a huge part music has played in my life too, following a similar pattern to your own Suzanne. In the pasT 10 years in workshops with Chris James and presentations from Serge Benhayon I have allowed myself to focus on what I am feeling and become more aware of what is being conveyed in music and how it affects me and I am so much more discerning about what I listen to. I no longer feel that I have to be current with different genres of music. I find that being in silence is more supportive than listening to the music I used to play. Silence asks nothing of me. The music on the Glorious Music label I find very inspiring and that of Chris James also. There is definitely a different quality to this music which is difficult to define in words.
I love what you write about feeling the music and then expressing it. Music, movies, advertisement, it seems like the whole entertainment industry has become more and more about perfectionism and flawlessness and, particularly music, a means to dump (excuse the language) your emotional turmoil upon your listeners rather than about human connection and true laughter.
Hi Suzanne, I feel music is one topic that needs to be discussed more, in terms of what it really does i.e hook into you energetically or allow you to hide or wallow in emotions that may not be yours in truth anyway! Also as you have said how glamourised it has become with everything airbrushed and changed digitally. I could never understand how people could ‘worship’ others as you have said ‘We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.’ Why look on the outside to worship something that is not true instead of appreciating the true beauty and loveliness within ourselves first? : ) and I would also say if you have understood music as you say you have and it feels right to you then yes try expressing with it in the way you know is true now : )
Its true Suzanne that music is easy to be emotionally played with by. My mood will change a lot after listening to a song that is emotionally fuelled or I will use it to help ‘fuel’ the fire so to speak.. I’ll put on a song that will be aligned with what I’m feeling so that I can run with it. Ie, sad song when I’m feeling sad. Music I find is everywhere and I find it seeps in super easy.
I have also noticed this Emily, as in the past I was listening to music everyday and I did find that different music invoked different emotions and it was easy to get swept away with the sad emotions depending on how I was feeling. Now I avoid listening to the radio or music video channels on the tv, as the songs will repeat in my head for days.
Yes Emily and Julie I agree music can seep in very easy and can invoke different emotions. I have used music at my workplace as my profession is being a dance therapist. I used the music with the belief that the patient would feel more of them. Certainly sometimes the patient did not like the music – they found them too emotional. And I have to admit that what they felt was true. Now I am playing more often music from Michael Benhayon and Miranda Benhayon, or from Chris James, and the patients love to move to it.
Music is an extraordinary medium. Most music has been about the musician indulging in showcasing their talents. We assume that it is just sound that goes in the ears, but I have learnt to listen to music with the whole of my body. I have taken a long time to swallow my pride and accept that what I express in music is not just about the rhythm, the ‘message’, the melody, the hook, the emotions or the instruments. All these are first aligned to an energy that it serves. An energy can’t be heard, but it can be felt. Children feel it naturally. Re-learning to feel this energy and the imposing effects of emotional music was a turning point for me. It reminded me of the responsibility that musicians have and ought not overlook for the sake of recognition and acceptance, which for many is a seductive reward.
This is a very powerful comment Jinya … many do not realise the contract they have entered into when they allow themselves to be seduced by the recognition and acceptance this type of music offers them.
‘We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression’ This is so true Suzanne, how much do we give our power away to others, and especially famous musicians etc, placing these people on pedestals and not allowing ourselves to feel the beauty and power of our own expression.
Whilst reading your blog a realisation came to me that I had always thought that people who were talented and could sing were extra special than the rest of us, people who should be admired and that they are more popular than those of us who didn’t have the talent to sing, play an instrument or dance. To me this feels like a situation of looking outside for the admiration of others, to make me feel special for what I do and not who I am – incidentally I do not play a musical instrument.
Thank you for sharing your article Suzanne. I found it so interesting to read, as over the last year or so I’ve found I just can’t listen to the radio stations playing all the ‘current pop music’, it somehow seems so trashy, with a tinny quality to it and very empty. People are singing and strumming, but there’s no one home. And, don’t get me started on the music video clips that are shown on daytime TV – nothing short of soft porn. How on earth did we get to this?
Great blog Suzanne exposing that the quality of music listened to today is not the same.
There are now hooks in getting emotionally attached to it. Or it can be played to check out, or for distraction. However, thanks to Miranda and Michael Benhayon from Glorious Music and Chris James, music can be played where you feel held in love and not imposed upon.
I hadn’t really considered that the ‘tailored’ music we now here is a lot like the ‘brushed up’ photographs and images we see but you are right about that. There is less truth in what we see and what we hear now than there was when I was a child. I wonder why we have chosen that route of perfection which is filled with untruth? I have listened to the Glorious Music sound and it brings a quality not heard in music today.
The quality of sound and vibration has a powerful affect on the body. The more attuned I have become in my body I can feel more astutely the different qualities in sound. Most music played in shops these days I find assaulting. If there is no discernment around sound and the effect certain music is having on us, we can be ‘played’, just like any other instrument.
I have recently become more discerning about what I listen to. I no longer automatically switch on the radio. I have also chosen to stop watching so much TV. It was a constant background noise and it would be on, even if no one was watching it. I have also noticed how music can get stuck in my head and stay there for days. I don’t like that and so no longer put up with it by being very choosy about what I listen to and when.
Great article Suzanne, so true what you say about music/musicians of today where much of the music sounds and feels synthetic taking away any naturalness of the artist’s talent. Your words here are spot on in relation to music created more from a connected-feeling: ” I no longer feel bombarded or imposed upon. There is room for me to listen without someone trying to entice me into their emotional pain”.
What you share about popular music and the music industry is very insightful, especially coming from an insider. I have likewise felt the imposition of it and also how emotional and dishonest it is, and I have to say that the same applies to classical and other music as well.
In recent years I have also become very sensitive and aware of just how imposing and over bearing music can be. Like you Suzanne I was an avid fan of music and attended gigs and concerts a lot since my teenage years. But I have like you been feeling how I indulged and buried myself in music, allowing myself to get overwhelmed and taken over by the emotion and using it as a cathartic expression of how I was feeling, but in truth indulging in emotions that were very harming to my body.
I can remember a time when I worked in offices when I would have loved to be listening to the radio or watching TV. Now I work in a care home and the TVs and music are on non-stop and I feel bombarded by the constant noise, so I go around turning off music and TVs in empty rooms.
A few years ago, I would have without thinking switch the the radio on while I would go about my day but that stopped for me too. I love the quietness or sometimes I will listen to Glorious Music. It makes sense that I simply didn’t like the feeling of being imposed upon. Thank you for sharing Suzanne as reading your blog has given me an opportunity to feel this truth more deeply in my body.
I too have a long and extensive music background. From playing in the school band to playing at the QLD Conservatorium. I found that I had to take some time out to detach from my identification with music and to slowly start to play from my innate love for music and to share with others.
Suzanne this is really interesting for me to read. I have always felt I ‘ought’ to be in to music, and I often claimed I had favourite bands and songs but really I have struggled to either really like it or to care enough to maintain any sort of interest. That isn’t to say I didn’t do the teenage angst thing of learning the words to heartbreak songs or that I didn’t party hard to favoured house music, and certainly as a child we had family car songs I loved, but latterly, I was always the one turning the music down on roadtrips with friends, moving to quieter parts of the pub or surreptitiously switching the radio off when my partner was out of the room. It makes such sense to me now and I find it difficult to feel settled when there is radio music playing around me – like it’s imposing on my body somehow. Thank you for sharing your experience on this – it lends weight to something I have been pondering myself.
I was really into music as a teenager and in my early 20s. It was part of my identity being into alternative music and it was a rebellion from the norm. Looking back I can see the type of music I was drawn to had an emotion of longing and sadness. It made me feel I wasn’t alone but didn’t do anything to bring me back to feeling joy in life. Now I am like you and I love the sound of silence. I would rather spend time with people and be able to focus on them without distracting background sounds.
I too thoroughly enjoy listening to all of Glorious Music’s albums. Even though there are songs from many different genres and styles the quality of the sound and integrity in the musicians is consistent throughout. It’s never about venting an emotion or coming from a need and that is quite unique.
It is true fiona55 it is amazing to really enjoy music that has no dumping of emotions, and just lets you be you while you enjoy the tune.
Most music presented these days feels like it comes with a force, so mechanically orchestrated and/or emotionally charged and so imposing. Thank goodness for Glorious Music and the amazing depth there is to it, where there is no impositions being pushed at us and it gives us an opportunity to reflect, a lot on what we do or don’t do in the way we are living. It’s magic to listen to and the title “Glorious Music” is perfect for it truly is glorious.
Yes, you’re absolutely right, music today is very much the same as the ‘images’ we see in magazines and the media. All dolled up with layers and layers of protection so that no one can see through to the raw ingredient, the person. When did we decide we needed to go to such lengths to hide? I’m so baffled by this. I understand how it’s happened but have much trouble accepting it.
Well observed Elodie. Truth is easy to see when we make the choice to live it but when we do not then we are forever at the whim of whatever we are fed. Rather than lament the loss of such truth, I now make the choice to live it and with this clarity am able to spot such distortions a mile off. I am learning to accept that others have not made this choice and that no matter what their image, voice, words, songs may be communicating/protecting, if I stay with truth (love), my vision can never be masked.
Well said Elodie. Music of today is definitely ‘dolled up with layers of protection so no one can see through to the raw ingredient, the person.’ With what you share here I cannot stop thinking its kind of like a Russian doll each one hiding inside of the other to protect the one underneath.
Beautiful Suzanne. I liked this bit – ‘Truth is what I hear, and it doesn’t hurt to listen to it.’
It was a great point you made how musicians voices have pretty much been photoshopped. It’s true in saying the realness in music is pretty much gone, as it’s altered beyond recognition of the first draft.
It is unmistakeable when you hear music played by someone who is feeling it. To hear that divine expression of one who is connected to their heart and expressing from there is sound that is healing for all. Anything outside of this is really only noise.
I remember listening to the radio and a couple of times bursting out sobbing then thinking, what just happened, what was that all about.. Totally being toyed with the emotional aspect of someone else’s sadness or emotional turmoil it’s awful to feel this, the fact is we do feel it and up until now nobody has ever mentioned how harming sound and music can be, sounds like truth and that’s music to my ears!!
Suzanne, I too used to listen to music growing up and Elvis was a favourite but unlike you, music was never a big part of my life. Now, if I go into a shop where the latest song is being played it feels like such an assault on my body that I leave immediately. Now I only listen to music that allows me to be, such as Chris James or Glorious Music. I can endorse what you say, that in such music “there is room for me to listen without someone trying to entice me into their emotional pain”. This is so rare in music today. Thank you for sharing in this blog
It is great to hear that you can go back to music and express from your essence now.
I can see you playing the piano without emotions wunderbar Suzanne and I am looking forward to this. Thank you so much for describing so clear and simple what music means to you, I can now understand more about music. I like it if music is like you wrote: “There is room for me to listen without someone trying to entice me into their emotional pain.” So now I am looking for this kind of music and therefore I am listening to Glorious Music.
Thank you Suzanne for your interesting blog. I remember in the late 60s my favourite singer was Roy Orbison, but some family couldn’t understand why I wanted to listen to such “mournful music”, and looking back I can see it was my way of connecting with my emotions. There were many songs that were quite humorous at the time by other artists that I enjoyed and lots of Aussie Rock and Rollers that I liked but as I grew older I stopped listening to music. When in my 30s and 40s I attended events such as School farewells, 21sts etc. the music was so loud my heart was knocked out of rhythm causing palpitations so I dreaded attending these events. It is so lovely to listen to Glorious music and a totally different and beautiful experience.
I always found music very imposing and almost never listened to it or if I did could only manage for a few moments. When I say it was imposing I mean it felt like it was trying to make me feel a certain way or react or be emotional and I didn’t like that. I also had a few tears the first time I heard Glorious Music as it so lives up to its name and is truly glorious, joyful and non-imposing music.
Thank you for sharing your experience with music Suzanne. It was easy for me to see how I used drugs for escaping the difficulties of life but most people would believe that music is harmless and light entertainment but would never admit to it being another form of ‘drug’ to escape the world they live in.
I was in an indoor shopping complex today and was very aware that the music piped through the complex was very loud, and felt like an auditory assault … possibly this was less harmful that the music that seduces and lulls. Suzanne you make a good point bringing to our attention that music needs to be discerned as it can be very intrusive.
I can relate to what you say about just stopping, stopping listening to and playing music. For me it wasn’t music is was doing astrology. I reached a point where I knew it wasn’t right for me any more, even though I still knew there was a truth in it, I just felt I needed to leave it, let go of thinking through the astrological paradigm. After several years, I have returned to it, now with totally new eyes, and am finding a whole new science that feels very right. But I can see how important it was to fully let go of the old, to allow a neutral place to be found so that the new could come through. Thanks for your blog Suzanne.
I really enjoyed this Suzanne – I too had spent all my days from very young immersed in music – eventually becoming aware that I used it predominately to escape what I was feeling – even when I was young! This realisation shocked me at first and then as I became more aware it was obvious that just as food, drugs, alcohol etc. are used to dull our feelings, music acts in the same way – yet it is a little more sophisticated for we know exactly what song or track will lift us up, support our sadness etc.
Music I have seen can be extremely harmful, changing people and the way they feel. People actually know this and listen to music for this reason. How often have we heard people listening to “brake up music”. This music feeds and keeps the emotional pain growing. Or teens say they listen to music while studying to help them concentrate, is it possible the music just helps them block what they are feeling and thinking, so they get the sense it helps them concentrate. I agree music can be very imposing and harmful.
Suzanne thank you for sharing your experience of music. It is so important to expose the emotional hold it has over us, or the emotional soothing we can use it for. I too know the joy now of singing from my heart.
Thanks Suzanne for sharing your journey with music. Years ago I would love to go to the folk festivals enjoying the music, the performances and connection with everyone, but over the years became less enthused as I could see so much of the performances revolved around getting drunk together, and most of the audience and players were either drunk, stoned, high or hungover. It also seemed that many of the performers were a little lost with what they were really doing here, so put all their identification into their ‘muso’ status.
I was also finding the music more and more difficult to listen too and finally admitted defeat after one festival where I spent most of the 4 days trying to find somewhere silent and away from all the bombardment. And EVEN my own playing I didn’t like any more, as I knew it was purely for escape into daydreaming and checking out, so stopped that too. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered Universal Medicine and Glorious Music, and now have a far greater understanding of why it had all been so troubling. Finally it all makes sense. And yes one day too I can see us returning to true music played for true purpose.
Suzanne that gave me an insight into music that I’ve never taken the time with. I can feel what you write about with the layering of music these days. I often feel overwhelmed while listening to it and your explanation would explain why. The true music and voice has been smothered out. I too am enjoying Glorious Music and what it has to offer.
I love the point you make that we are loosing the real quality of people as time goes by. I can see this is creating a drive for perfection that none of us can really keep up with.
Thank you for sharing this Suzanne. I too have come to realise that I have used music to hide. I thought that I loved music – I had a soundtrack for everything cooking, cleaning, studying, exercising, for when I was happy or sad, or for when I wanted to be happy or sad. I would even listen to music while watching TV!! I came to realise that I was using music to hide in and using the emotional hooks in music to create an emotional reaction in me. I stopped listening to music for several years and gave myself the space to feel what was actually going on for me in those moments, no longer using music to hide, and it feels liberating to actually spend time with the real me. I have now listened to some of the Glorious Music albums and love the way that this music allows me to maintain my connection with myself rather than put me into an emotional state.
As a teenager I spent a lot of time listening to music and my favourite songs.
I have now noticed how when I hear these songs they take me back to a time and place and also bring up an emotional response from that time about trying
to fit in and be a certain way just to be liked.
I very much enjoy Glorious music because it has no agenda to impose upon me and lets me be me who I truly am.
I can relate to music being used to indulge emotionally. So I changed the music I listened just listened to dance music that is upbeat and fun and what I found was it brought me a raciness that was an indulgence/escape but it also affected my thoughts. I found my thoughts became more accepting of sexual objectification of myself as a woman. So I finally said enough is enough and I stopped listening to music that tries to change who I am.
So true, we have to appreciate the blessing Glorious Music has offered us by offering an opportunity to actually feel the truth of what music can be like when it is emotion-free.
Suzanne, lovely to read how you transformed your love for singing and making music to a truer way. As your brother so beautifully expressed “Because you can feel the music and express it in your playing” we have to feel and live the music from our inner heart and if we can express form there we will show our beauty that lives within to the world. Compared with when we express from our emotions, that are fed by pictures shown to us, we will add to the misery and the false joy, that is so widely spread nowadays, this is a blessing we give to the world when we do share the love and joy that live so naturally within us.
Suzanne I too found music had become a great place for me to hide and allow myself to be emotionally played with – the emotional play was more in my adolescent years, and later it became the new age relaxation to induce a feeling of relaxation when in fact my inner turmoil was unbearable. With Glorious Music I feel connected to myself and others, inspired to be me and I sing along heartily. What’s more every word in the songs of the albums of Michael & Miranda Benhayon’s and Chris James have meaning and give my heart the inspiration to be me in full.
I also had a love affair with music from when I was young. I remember singing my own songs in the backyard and how much I loved making up tunes and words. Then I found pop music and put out the welcome mat to all the emotions that came with it. It felt like a comforting blanket to feel the emotions of the singer that I could relate to. Listening to Glorious Music has been a huge change for me, rediscovering what it is like to feel music free of emotion and imposition, and able to remind you to return to you.
I am not someone who routinely listens to music but I can definitely say that I find most commercial music truly aggressive and jarring on my body. I also recognise that there is an intent to drag the listener into some sort of emotional reaction. In contrast, I enjoy listening to the music of Chris James, Miranda and Michael Benhayon and others whenever I attend Universal Medicine presentations as I can feel they have a different, less imposing quality.
I know what you mean Suzanne about layers in modern music-it is so laced with emotion that I could at times feel it pulling me in. When I listen to Glorious music I can feel deeply moved by some of the songs but it does not pull me in. It feels like this music is connecting and clearing me at a deeper level which is quite a different feeling than I feel with the modern music.
Music of today still is laced with lots of emotion like the earlier pop era but it has changed into something that seems more abusive, an assault on your body that is harsh and definitely not loving. Glorious Music is about bringing it back to love and connection something we all want for ourselves and each other. So why are we accepting less than this in music and consequently in our lives as a whole?
I agree Suzanne , I can often feel battered by some of todays music, it is often very harsh, sad or angry. Many shops now, particularly womens clothing stores, have loud ramming racy music, designed it seems to put you in a frenzy to buy more, you certainly can’t feel to make a natural choice with all the distraction it sends out.
I have often asked assistants if they could turn the music down and they have said that they aren’t allowed to, it must be at a certain level. They get checked on to make sure this is so. When I have asked how they cope many say that it does feel horrible but they have learned to numb themselves from it as they need the job.
To hear music that does not assault you either subtley or with a battering ram is balm, so sweet to feel and listen to. Glorious Music does that for me.
Tim you have touched on something important here. Not only does a piece of music come laced or interpreted by the artists, but as you say everyone involved in the production is adding more layers of energy to the mix. No wonder true music is a very rare but precious gem. Prior to Universal Medicine I had not realised that music is energy and that it can either heal or harm us.
Thanks Suzanne for your insightful blog. In the past I used music to medicate with according to what emotion I wanted to confirm in me at the time, this ranged from classical to pop. Like all drugs I have consumed, they had their run and then life was impossible with them and so I would eventually stop. It is a beautiful grace to listen to Glorious Music and have it confirm my rhythmic essence and feel me and not some emotion masquerading as me.
Using music to medicate … So true Paul … I was using music as a drug to numb me out with emotions instead of being honest about what I felt.
“We end up worshipping someone else’s image instead of worshipping and deeply connecting to our own natural beauty and divine expression.” this says it all about music these days, listening to “glorious music” allows me to reconnect and appreciate the divinity where we come from. Thank you for sharing.
An ’emotional bath’ – what a great way of expressing the experience of how we can use music as a comfort and a support for our emotions. Like you, Emfeldman., I thought I was gaining a deeper connection with myself but since encountering Glorious Music and Chris James I realise I was but using music as a means to cover up and/or escape from things that were uncomfortable. Now no longer.
This is an interesting post that resinates with me deeply. Years ago I dabbled in the music industry as a song writer. Other people wrote the music and performed the work. We managed to get one of our songs played at the Olympic Stadium in 2000 and achieved numerous awards and radio play.
At the time I remember consciously writing to hook people into the emotion of the song. I thought that’s what songs were meant to do. I also wrote so people could imagine themselves in the song as the underdog or the beautiful woman. Upon reflection it was all make believe and the song only worked because it drew people in and played with them in ways like giving them hope, allowing them to fantasise or run a whole string of different emotions. The song characters were most effective if they never gave up or yearned for something more than they could have…it was everybody’s checked out story… not being enough.
Not being enough works well as a hook because we are all conditioned to look outside of ourselves to find it. The path is agonizing and music sings our stories back to us. Sad, incomplete, hopeless. When I first heard Glorious Music I found most of it a little bland…. but I was still drawn to it. What I have gone on to realize is what I first thought of as bland is actually the absence of the layering you mention in your post….the result of which leaves room for me to expand with the song. What I also realize is that mainstream music can often leave me exhausted. It is very judgemental and aggressive and encourages us to look for something beyond ourselves. I have also noticed physical symptoms when I listen to mainstream music…my stomach tightens, my body becomes more tense, I come out of myself, I feel on the outer or the opposite and a little arrogance creeps in… Thank you for bringing music to our attention and for giving us the opportunity to comment on something that we know but would probably never have expressed.
Truth is what I hear, and it doesn’t hurt to listen to it. Awesome sharing Suzanne. I was never into music as I felt it always distracted me and when I listened to it I would repeat the same emotional song over and over again getting totally absorbed by it. It also could change my mood, and make me sad or not content with life, most songs I found where putting me down. On the other hand I was into electronic music and dancing, but it was the same a total check out (also consuming alcohol and drugs with it). I felt the influence music had on me always very strong and after years of electronic clubbing if I listened to an electronic beat during the day in a shop or wherever I was exposed to it I would get the urge of having an alcoholic long drink or literally feeling the taste of cocaine in my throat as the musics triggered this in me.
Since listening to Glorious music I got to feel what true music offers and the beauty of not being imposed by music.
“Most songs I found were putting me down” in essence this feels true Rachel. Like most religions it is about making you/us less than the love which is in us all.
Gorgeous blog. It doesn’t hurt to listen to truth; soo true and a loving way of finding where you are at with yourself.
Suzanne I loved reading your blog.
I have for so long now wondered why the lyrics to songs are so one dimensional with many of the themes being about ‘falling in love’ ‘falling out of love’ and the ‘manipulation of seduction.’ The songs are either upbeat and shallow, sad and dis-empowering or highly sexual and misleading. They feel empty of any truth.
Now enters Glorious Music. Bham! Songs about humanity, true connection, empowerment and true love which does not manipulate or coerce anyone.
The integrity and joy behind the lyrics they write and the music they produce is inspirational, easy to listen to and has a depth that feels like true ‘music to the heart’ 🙂
What your brother shared with you struck a chord with me Suzanne. It is not technical accuracy or proficiency that we remember – but that which is human, vulnerable and comes straight from the heart. What touches me about Glorious Music is that they use the same production and recording equipment as any modern group but the energy they make music in, is what makes them stand out. For too long we have settled for what sounds ‘good’ instead of what feels amazing. I too cried when I first heard Michael Benhayon’s music. So beautiful in energy and essence.
Dear Suzanne, as a child I was bombarded with music, it was played constantly in my home. So much so that when I moved into my own home I began to really appreciate the silence. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy music too, as I did, but for the most part I only ever played it when cleaning the house or cooking. As I have discovered I was actually putting it on to distract me from feeling what I was feeling while doing these tasks. This begs for me to ponder on just how much music has been used for this very same reason. Hence the massive popularity of music in todays society. The next thing that I am pondering on is, how much of our everyday lives are we wanting to numb ourselves from.
I agree Suzanne, when I stop and really feel some music it often feels very jarring and emotion provoking and not so great in fact. Sometimes it’s so imposing it almost feels abusive and I have to turn it off straight away. I’m really glad I found Glorious Music – they offer more simple and fun melodies with inspiring lyrics .. I love their albums.
Suzanne, I really enjoyed your exploration of music and your relationship with it. Music is such a huge aspect of life and as you said so much of it is laden with emotion. I too love singing along to Glorious Music as it feels the music allows me to be me and there is so much healing in that.
Just as you have noticed the drop in quality in our pop stars voices over time, we have lessened our quality pretty much across the board as a whole. Think about it.. We used to take more care with the way we dressed, whereas modern fashion is very lax and can appear careless at times. We used to make all our meals from scratch, with real ingredients. Now we have many unnecessary additives in our food. All cars used to built more solidly across the board, nowadays it seems only some vehicles have this same solidness. I read some old accounting text books and they were much more easy to digest than the latest text. Sitting with this I can’t help but notice overall, we are slowly loosing our old school values, dedication and commitment to bring integrity to what we do and the impact is massive, however I do find music produced by glorious music to be of this ilk. The quality, care, love and integrity in their sounds is palpable.
Thank you Abby, I agree lets bring back accountability and responsibility, so that we start to understand that life is not just about the fast lane. Thanks to the work of Universal Medicine stillness has become a way of life for me instead of that next quick fix.
I can relate very much to your story, Suzanne. I was in the music world as a singer my whole life and music was my best friend. Singing was my way to connect with people and deal with my emotions. I loved the drama in music. I was totally identified with it.
I also stopped singing around 6 years ago because I knew I had to detach from all the beliefs I had around music. Now starting singing again with a group of students, I find it so so joyful to sing without the emotional hook!
Here here, can’t wait to hear you perform. It’s beautiful that you were able to have a break to truly reflect on what you were feeling. Inspiring.
My awareness of music has changed a lot i can feel the how different artists/songs can have a pull into different emotions and can see how I would use these to go into my emotions. Glorious Music doesn’t do this, there is no emotional pull, it just allows me to stay being me with a feeling of joy, so refreshing.
I have found that as my connection with me has developed I am now able to discern what music has a tendency to take me ‘on a ride’ away from me, offering me the opportunity to escape and not feel what is really going on. Or there is music that doesn’t impose and if I choose to go deeper in my own connection it can offer support in this. It is lovely to be able to discern if music is harming or healing.
I love that Em, I also used to have frequent emotional baths in music, and used to believe it connected me to my soul. Now, after experiencing Glorious Music and Chris James, I can feel the difference, and how the old emotional splurge used to take me away from my soul, for it took me out of me into a place of total absorption, oblivious of everything and everybody else around me. Listening to Glorious Music, and singing along with it too, I am aware all the time of everyone else listening and singing as well, we are all one together, no getting lost in my own self absorption. This is because the music does not impose, and its intention is not to rouse emotions, but to be a natural expression from the soul that is within us all.
Yes all that emotional music took me off into a world of my own, identifying with the emotion instead of connecting with others. Now when I sing Chris and Jenny James’ songs or any of the Glorious Music songs I feel connected and with all of humanity as one. The songs are no longer calling me to be self absorbed but calling me to express the absolute joy true musical expression brings – true brotherhood and connection to God.
This is a beautiful blog Suzanne. I was recently contemplating TV as doing the same thing you say happens through music – the focus of another’s image as ideal instead of appreciating our own unique beauty. TV and music have had a profound negative effect by promoting the supposed specialness of a select few, without considering that each of us is equally beautiful, valuable, and indeed essential exactly as we are.
Suzanne your story really felt so similar to mine. I was obsessed with music at a very young age and sang a lot during school also going on to become a singing teacher. I stopped the teaching after a short time as I found myself being disheartened by students wanting to emulate there idols and sing in such a false state and not coming from there true selves, it upset me. Music also affected me quite strongly, in that I can actually feel music through my body. So if it was very loud or aggressive it would cause me pain. Now that I have found Glorious Music and the work of Chris James I have rekindled my love for music and my expression through singing again.
Thank you Kelly and Susanne, I am looking forward to a new album collectively or singularly. No rush, I will be back soon so next life time is fine.
I agree with you Suzanne, when you hear Glorious Music, and other music that is from a natural place of love, you realise just how hooking and draining all other music is, and cannot help but become ever so appreciative of love’s music.
Suzanne whilst I had absolutely no musical talent I most certainly “enjoyed” being swept up by it. However I would always then feel something was missing after, like I craved another music buzz. Like you I took a pause out from music and when I listen to music by Michael Benhayon, Chris James and a number of others it is very different from the “pop” and “dance” music that swept me away – it lets me be and enjoy the music. What I’ve come to understand is that when I used to listen to music I would get further away from me and so what I was missing was me. A bit like when I would drink or use drugs music had a similar effect.
“…to truly enjoy music without succumbing to the emotional hooks I was previously drawn into.” Yes I so agree. Both Glorious Music and the music of Chris and Jenny James doesn’t hook you, but leaves you (me) free. I used to use music to enhance my mood, playing sad songs to wallow and indulge in and upbeat tunes when I felt great. No longer. There is no imposing with the afore mentioned artists, leaving one free to feel what is there to be felt.
I recognise that wallowing and indulging, Sue, and have just remembered how I used to use music to either accompany my mood, that is become more depressed or joyful etc, or actually put on a piece of music so that I would be emotionally moved and be able to cry because I felt I was not feeling enough and needed some release. Now this feels like a totally false and superficial behaviour impulsed from the mind, and with Glorious Music and Chris James I am not allowed or encouraged to do those sorts of things. On the contrary I am given the space to become more connected with myself, my inner heart, on a deeper level, with no emotion.
So true Jinya … The artists are all the same in that they are all striving to be recognised instead of expressing the purity of love that comes from within. Until we are ready to get ourselves out of the way, music will indeed be the same old, same old. Glorious Music is leading the way!
Thank you Victoria. Your understanding of our personal connection and the sacredness of the relationship we all naturally have with music makes you such a lovely supportive music expression teacher. I only had one session with you and for me that was enough to feel that music expression truly is about sharing the love that we know, nothing more or less.
Truly beautiful Suzanne, and thank-you. As Serge Benhayon has said, “Everything is expression”. If we are committed to expressing in ways that are truly inclusive of all, then an expression of music that seeks personal aggrandisement just doesn’t fit the bill in my books (though we are so very used to it in our culture!). It only heads us further down the road of ‘us and them’, ‘more and less’… with no recognition of the amazingness that resides equally within the hearts of all men, whatsoever.
It’s really been great to come back to this article and reflect. I too stopped listening to music in my car and enjoyed the silence. Now I can see how much the car can be seen as being like the human body. In effect what I was doing was saying no to the music entering me until I had re-established a relationship with my body based on stillness. Now I am finding the car is a great place to sing and feel my voice resonate in my body … It’s a great little capsule to take the time to stop and feel in … Both the car and the body!