The Great Symphony of Life

By Shevaun Rafferty

You are touched by music and sounds in more ways than you may ever know. In the scientific study of cymatics, both simple sounds and complex pieces of music can be shown to create patterns in matter: the higher the frequency, the more complex the patterns, the more beautiful and harmonious the sounds. You can find amazing examples of this on the web, such as this TEDx talk, and this YouTube video.

We all turn to music to find a resonance for our emotions, even to chose emotions we want to experience, such as when we seek uplifting tunes to stop feeling low. Music and musical sounds can be a great way to bring to our minds, hearts, and spirits the very vibration they need to be whole. It is no coincidence that people seek music to enrich the important ceremonies of their lives.

Choose wisely, surround yourself with sound, and you will find yourself opened and renewed.

Modern techniques of brain imaging have also shown that the experience of high frequencies of sound--which are beyond the level of human hearing, and also of all recorded sound--can have a visible impact on the brain’s endorphin centers. All live music and sounds include these higher, more complex, and harmonized frequencies.

Lift your spirits and open your heart: listen to live local music, visit churches with choirs and join in.

Make your own sounds. Not so long ago people whistled or hummed as they worked, mothers sang to their kids, and hymns were not just for the choir. Don’t be silent, believing you have to have talent. Singing or making music, both creating and hearing sound waves, is opening your heart twice!

Ring a Tibetan bowl or sound a bell. Listen to the reverberations as they gently fade. You will find your head has been cleansed, and you will hear silence: the sound of the universe before it takes its next noisy breath.

Connect with the natural world just by listening to it. Wherever you are, pause to listen and you will find something beautiful: raindrops pattering, insects buzzing, the wind whistling around skyscrapers, the breath of a loved one as they sleep.

Finally, take time to listen to another human being when they request it, not when you decide! Stop and really listen with full and unbiased attention. You will hear more than you heard before. You will find that you have re-opened both your hearts and renewed both your spirits.

Great symphony of life: Play on!

Shevaun Rafferty revels in all manner of delightful sounds, but she has absolutely no musical talent. She loves the sound and power of words. As a celebrant she is amazed by the beautiful things people say about each other, and yet believes they are no good with words. Shevaun lives with her husband and her youngest children on the north coast of Northern Ireland. She is a certified wedding, family, and funeral celebrant, and has performed ceremonies throughout Ireland.
Find her via email at [email protected], her ‘Seasons of Light’ website, or via the Seasons of Light Facebook page.