My musical autobiography + how to write your own

Dear friends,

Music is magical. It’s one of many ways we can allow space for embodied feeling without having to think too much about it. Hearing a meaningful song elicits emotion – it’s also one of many ways our angels, the messengers of our hearts, deliver messages.

Have you ever heard a song that felt like it arrived at the perfect moment? Like it was written or played just for you and is exactly what you needed to hear?

Music has always been my most trusted ally. From blasting Ace of Base on repeat at 4-years-old through the present, I’ve listened to many songs on repeat to process something heartbreaking, inspire myself to show up with courage, and nourish heartfelt dreams that didn’t yet hold any viable evidence in the physical world.

Here’s a musical trip down my memory lane:

“Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” by Sweetbox. Picture me at age nine blasting this song from my boombox on repeat for months while lying on my bedroom floor, stuffed animals in attendance, while I existentially stared at the ceiling, letting these words permeate every anxious part of my 4th grade experience. I can still recite every single word of this song :)

“Something Good Can Work” by Two Door Cinema Club. It’s 2011. I’m getting off the M train in SoHo, New York City for another day at my internship at NYLON Magazine. My walk to the office is not a walk to the office. It is a ceremony to invoke my future with this song as the soundtrack. I picture myself as a magazine editor, traveling and living my lifelong dream (at that time) of writing for the magazine of my dreams. I am convinced this song helped curate a series of synchronistic encounters that led to writing freelance for the magazine and getting invited to travel the world (yes, still as an intern). “We want to hire you, but a position isn’t open yet – so we’re just going to send you on press trips all over the world.” My first press trip was test driving Bentleys in the Spanish countryside. (Side note: six months later, I had another existential moment of “how is this assisting humanity?” and quit, which eventually revealed the path I’m on today.)

“All to Myself” by Amber Coffman. It’s fall 2016, and I am heartbroken. My world fell apart; everything I thought I was – the direction of my life, the meaning of life – all shattered. I felt like I was living in integrity with my heart, yet out of integrity with what was expected of me. I felt alone and lonely, full of grief – this song met me where I was at and pulled me through.

“Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It’s 2018 and I’m moving to London and yearning for home, for love, for a new beginning in my life. This song held the flame of delicious coziness for me. I realized it’s how I wanted my future relationship and home life to feel – cozy and delicious. This song felt safe, like I could land into it even if and when my outer world felt chaotic and failed to meet my expectations. I listened to this song regularly for two years and credit it to assisting me in nourishing a sense of cozy delicious home within myself – and last year I met my boyfriend in our house (that we both moved into at the same time) with a cozy fire lit, flowers in the vase, two cats in the yard. Literally. (I’m referencing the lyrics here if you haven’t heard the song.) My life became this song. Music is magical!

While this is just a small handful of myriad songs that have felt like real life angels in my world, I’m curious – what songs hold meaning for you? You are welcome to inwardly reflect or perhaps journal on the following prompts:

If you look back on your life, what songs represent different eras of experience?

What are you called to nourish in your life here and now? This could be a quality – such as faith, surrender, trust, grace, self-love – and/or it could be co-creating something such as a job, relationship, home, or new way of being. This can also relate to the collective – nurturing a dream seed of a world that centers compassion, for example.

Is there a song that embodies the feeling of this heartfelt dream? If so, what is it? I invite you to play it, to receive the words and the feelings it invokes from within.

Music is a powerful co-creation tool because it helps to get in touch with what you're truly feeling – whether you’re moving through something heart-wrenching and challenging and/or simply want to feel the sensation of home on the darkest of nights. Music meets you where you are. It doesn’t ask you to change where you’re at, but simply sings as an invitation, as a prayer, as a blessing for being here.

Music isn’t just rooted in magic; it’s also deeply practical. Researchers from HeartMath Institute found that the heart quite literally remembers in song, and music has a unique power to elicit emotion within the heart. It’s a form of therapy that you can attune to throughout the many waves and seasons of life.

Music is a universal language, and yet - its message, wisdom, words, and ways can meet each of us in such an intimate, personalized way. Whatever you are moving through now, my invitation for you today is to lean into the practical magic, the compassionate care, the sage seer who speaks in melodies to meet you just right here and now.

And if you’re yearning for a dedicated space to dive deeper into the magic of song in relationship to bringing forth your most heartfelt dreams, this winter I’m facilitating a bi-weekly somatic group mentorship called Bring Forth What’s Within You: Inner Trinity.

This series is a space to nourish what holds meaning for you - no matter how close or far away it seems. I believe our heartfelt dreams are sacred dream seeds planted by the Divine into our hearts - and true fulfillment is less about the form it takes, more about the process and journey of becoming, of remembering.

If this is resonating with your heart, I invite you to learn more + sign up here! I updated the dates to begin on November 18th, and we’ll meet bi-weekly up until March 3, 2022.

If you have any questions and/or would like to share some of your most treasured song soul mates, press reply :)

With love and care,
Madeline