Music, Me, & Epilepsy

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Squatting down in the basement of my childhood home I can suddenly smell her perfume.

The musty boxes beneath me do not lend any sent,

Only hurdles my memory's nose buds have to jump in order to...

Get to the smell of her,

To wrap its buds around her,

Like the warm hugs she holds and reloads each time she gives one away.

I can smell her perfume,

Light Blue.

A memory I can recall.

Blowing into my past,

Light Blue attaches itself to faded leather seats flying down 304.

Transporting me to Avril Lavigne's "Keep Holding On"...

And so I do.

Rhythm from years passed retraces happiness along the curves of my brain,

I feel those words again.

I feel my youth fading as I'm carried away to my next memory.

As the sun crawls over the horizon I float into Mummu's kitchen,

A mixture of milk, butter and grains are building beneath her hands,

Farina!

Ten imperfectly perfect fingers that have walked the Earth 1,000 times gently guide the spoon.

I can taste the taste before she lets me sneak one,

My taste buds speak to me.

I am home.

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Smell, sound, and taste are three things that can bring you back in time. Have you ever been doing something and suddenly a memory rushes over you? In that moment you swear you can taste the food you're thinking of, smell what you're imagining, or feel who you were 15 years ago because of a song playing. I am often transported... lost in happy memories from who I was as a little kid.

Music can be emotionally and mentally beneficial for people from all walks of life. That is why it is so universally loved and understood. One piece of music can be interpreted in a similar fashion from a group of people who all speak different languages, or a group of people who speak the same language yet come from completely different backgrounds. Music is a uniter and great communicator, speaking a language that doesn't always need words or interpretation.

Russian classical composers have proved this through musical notes that American listeners can feel without a common tongue. Likewise, the works of American artists provoke emotion felt by Italian listeners in bent chords and tone of voice. Emotion in music is universal.

In our brain there is a neurotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is a good thing and we can increase our levels of it when we listen to music! I think we could all use a little more dopamine in our lives, am I right? In fact, your dopamine levels can raise if your favorite song comes on the radio. Within the auditory cortex of our brain, music has the healing qualities BeBrainFit.com claims that it has such as, "improves mood/stress reducer, makes you more productive/creative, benefits young brains, makes your brain smarter". If you are a music lover like me, you have noticed that music can be very calming.

Music has always been a significant part of my life, whether I was singing in the choir, shower, or buying CDs at Sam Goody #throwback and when I find myself getting stressed I listen to music. It helps to calm me down and even prevents panic attacks (from getting worse)! I once was in the midst of having a panic attack due to the medication I'm currently taking and when I started listening to the playlist I'm posting below for you, the panic attack symptoms lessened. Epilepsy can be pretty stressful and I'd like to make it just a bit easier to deal with through Epilepsy True!

Here is a picture of our brain when we listen to music! So cool!

I enjoyed reading the site that supplied this picture because they even include a video of how playing an instrument benefits your brain! https://drjonesmusic.me/2017/08/29/music-and-the-brain-online-discussion-1/

Keep reading to find the playlist that helped me out...

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Here is the playlist I created to help me relax...

I call this Spotify playlist my "chill" playlist. Click on the blue underlined words to open the playlist!

If you don't have Spotify, here are some artists that you may want to add to your own "chill" playlist!

Artists:

Alexi Murdoch

Iron and Wine

Gregory Alan Isakov

H.E.R

Jack Johnson

Khalid

Leon Bridges

*Matt Quentin (He's my favorite on this playlist, AMAZING! so relaxing)

Vance Joy

June Divided

Jackson Lundy, Aaria

John Legend

Rhye

bri.broskie

Patrick Paige II

Pink Sweat$

dontask

Ray LaMontagne

Ben Howard

L'Indécis

Tom Misch, Sam Wills

Hablot Brown

Oddfish

Bob Dylan

Jeff Buckley

Here is a complete list of the chill playlist:

My favorites have stars. My extra favorites have three stars!

Alexi Murdoch-

• Toward the sun

• At Your Door

• Some Day Soon

• Slow Revolution

• Through The Dark

• *The Light (her hands were leaves)

• Crinan Wood

• *All My Days

• Breathe

• Home

• *Song For You

• Dream About Flying

• Wait

• Love You More

• Blue Mind

• Shine

• 12

• ***Orange Sky

• The Ragged Sea

Iron & Wine

• Naked As We Came

Gregory Alan Isakov

• ***The Stable Song

• ***Big Black Car

• Dandelion Wine

• Light Year

• That Moon Song

• Evelyn

• Virginia May

• Master & A Hound

• This Empty Northern Hemisphere

• Idaho

• Words

• Fire Escape

• If I Go, I'm Goin

• One of Us Cannot Be Wrong

Joe Purdy

• I Love the Rain the Most

Daniel Caesar

• ***Best Part (feat. H.E.R)

• Get You (feat. Kali Uchis)

• Hold Me Down

• Neu Roses

• Loose

• We Find Love

• Blessed

• Take Me Away (feat. Syd)

• Transform (feat. Charlotte Day)

• Freudian

H.E.R

• **Against Me

• Every Kind Of Way

• ***My Song

• Focus

• Lights On

• Changes

Khalid

• This Way (feat. H.E.R)

• Location

Jack Johnson

• Banana Pancakes

Leon Bridges

• ***Beyond

Irie Lee

• Van Gogh

Matt Quentin (My favorite)

• ***Morning Dew

• East Healey Street

• Hereafter

• ***Tranquility

• Find a Way

• ***Waves

• ***These Moments

Loren Kramar

• My Life

Hablot Brown, Maths Time Joy

• Reason

Vance Joy

• Mess is Mine

June Divided

• Pluto

Jackson Lundy, Aaria

• Morning Time

Chris Stapleton

• Traveller

• Fire Away

John Legend

• Ordinary People

Rhye

• A Whiter Shade of Pale- Recorded at Spotify Studios NYC

bri.broskie

• Let's Go for a Ride

Patrick Paige II

• Voodoo

Pink Sweat$

• Honesty

dontask

• Ocean

Ray LaMontagne

• To the Sea

• Shelter

• Burn

• ***Hold You in My Arms

• Like Rock and Roll and Radio

• Trouble

• This Love is Over

• ***Let it Be Me

• It's Always Been You

• Jolene

• Empty

• Such a Simple Thing

• **For the Summer

• Airwaves

• Barfly

• **Can I Stay

• New York City's Killing Me

• Be Here Now

Ben Howard

• Old Pine

L'Indécis

• Le Sud

Tom Misch, Sam Wills

• In the Midst of It All

Hablot Brown

• She Said

Oddfish

• Indelible

Bob Dylan

• Meet Me in the Morning

Jeff Buckley

• Hallelujah

Here is my playlist to help me focus...

This playlist doesn't have song with words in them. I often listen to this one when I'm studying or working on something that requires my complete attention. I'm that person who can only listen to instrumental music while working because my mind gets so side tracked; I have trouble focusing. It's got a yoga mixed with classical music vibe... you'll love it! I call it my "relaxing" playlist. Click on the blue underlined words to open the playlist!

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Interesting articles:

https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/music-epilepsy.aspx

https://bebrainfit.com/music-brain/

xox,

Shannon