Motivational Songs, More Than Just Music
As early as I can remember, motivational songs have always been a big part of my life. Looking back, I can recall all those hours as a child that I would spend singing and listening to everything, though…There are so many great memories of the whole family dancing around while Father played the guitar…Sister and I would have such a jolly good time while records played on the Hi-Fi…From Patsy Cline to Toots and the Maytals, we would listen to music of all types really.
We even got into show tunes especially the songs from the popular Disney films. “Whistle while you work,” and “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” or “You can fly, you can fly, you can fly,” just to name a few, were different from the rest. The lyrics and the rhythms together, gave you that “you can do anything” sort of feeling.
I can also remember after seeing movies from the “Star Wars” trilogy and how the the music would stay with me so much so that when I left there, I would be so charged that I thought I could take on the world! “Get outta my way, bad guy. You can’t stop me!” Those strong symphonic movements gave me the strength in my posture, the pep in my step, and that burning desire to move past all of those obstacles in life that ever distracted me and impeded my progress. Talk about powerful!
This type of music was different to me than the other songs I had heard on the radio. They were about much more than love and it’s tribulations. These songs gave me energy to be bold, strong, smart, and productive…To move mountains, take control, and change the world.
Motivational songs is what I like to call them, and they are so important because they do motivate, are self and life-affirming, and inspire you to move forward in life. Listening to several of them is like having a meal high in protein without any calories…or a drug without any side effects…Or better yet, petroleum with no emissions. You get the idea.
I am referring to motivational songs that stimulate in the most wholesome way, of course. However, there are quite a few that I find do just the opposite. They make me want to stay focused on crazy things like unrequited love, and suggest that I should care less about life and forget that I’m a lady…bad stuff. But, here’s the problem. Those tunes can be quite catchy. Those infectious hooks and melodies would play in my head over and over like a broken record resulting in all this negative imagery penetrating my consciousness and influencing my thought process. Not good!
Like Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Everyday Struggle” from the Ready to Die album. “I don’t want to live no more. Sometimes I hear death knockin’ at my front door.” Biggie’s music became the soundtrack of an era for us urban generation Xers, while his lyrics became the mantras for his own life. In fact, just three years later, when he was finishing up his second album Life after Death, Christopher Wallace was gunned down in Los Angeles, and the album and all the money he made had a long life after his untimely death.
Bottom line – music is motivational for the good and bad. Sure we’ve heard about extreme cases where perpetrators were so heavily under the influence of their own toxic mix of what they considered to be motivational songs, that they went out and committed heinous crimes like the “Helter Skelter” murders lead by Charles Manson. Or even the story about the former L.A. gang member and convicted killer, Monster Cody, who would listen to popular gangster rap music like Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up” before he would go out and commit his own unspeakable acts.
But by and large, we hear more about all the good things music is good for, e.g. its therapeutic qualities. Many hospitals now across the country use music therapy to help “motivate” the healing process in their patients – case in point, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They use music as part of their cardiovascular surgery healing program to “promote relaxation and reduce tension, stress and anxiety.” They find that music helps these patients to relax as it decreases their pain, improves their moods and helps them to sleep better, especially during the recovery period. Now that’s what I’m talking about!
So, to conclude, I’m saying nothing that hasn’t been written or said before. In fact, Samuel Johnson, English author of the eighteenth century, once said that “Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice.” I concur while acknowledging the exceptions, and will continue to be motivated and inspired by music and dedicate my life working to help people harness its power to improve their own lives.
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