I love words. They are incredible. They are used to express literally everything, and everyone uses them to convey certain messages to evoke certain emotions and realizations. There is no scarcity with them.. anyone can use them at any time! And your whole life experience is based upon the quality of words that you choose to plant into your mind and out into the world.
Without words we would not be able to express ourselves and communicate with one another to feel connected and loved, or have been able to enjoy the many great works of authors, poets, story-tellers and musicians that have added so much meaning and inspiration to life.
As a songwriter, writing has always been a therapeutic experience for me and has allowed me to reflect on all of life’s ups and downs, and transfer any harbored negative feelings onto paper to help lighten the heavy loads weighing down my own thoughts.
At the end of high school in 2011 I composed my very first song titled, “In Your Eyes”, and heavily played with nature imagery throughout the lyrics. At the time I had the song “One and Only” by Teitur on repeat which ignited the creative spark for me, and led me to write and record the very first song. With nervousness and hesitation I uploaded the song to YouTube.. and am so glad I did as it led me to experience how once songs are put out into the world they have a tendency to inspire others to keep the music going. Just as Teitur -someone I have never actually met- inspired me to write a song, someone I have never met made a cover of “In Your Eyes”! Once again…words are so cool!
In love with words and literature, and not knowing what I wanted to do with life after high school I ended up studying English in post-secondary school and continued to journal and write songs. Although half the time I was not confident in my decision to study in this field since I had no idea if it would lead to a job down the road, I stuck with it and was introduced to so many amazing poets and authors – which led to many more original songs being composed! “In Repose”, a song that will be on the upcoming album was the result of having to study and analyze Pablo Neruda’s Love Poems during a poetry course.
Since 2011 I have been making an effort to jot down my daily experiences whether good or bad; also making sure to document any song that is stuck in my head, or made me happy during the week.
Writing about your own life automatically gives you a greater drive to seek adventure and spontaneity – to be able to have interesting things to write about. It is great being able to now go back in time so to speak to see: how much growth has occurred over the years, become reminded of hilarious and cherished moments that would have been completely forgotten, gain insight into previous mistakes and hardships- gaining inspiration for songwriting, see how much I have developed as a musician, and even have a playlist on hand of songs that I can listen to to take a trip down memory lane and experience a burst of dopamine.
To end this post I want to share a quote from one of my all time favourite authors:
Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which, he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, and useless thoughts, cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, and useful thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.
James Allen – As a Man Thinketh
