Precious Moments

Some moments leave lasting impressions.

Those moments are so awe-inspiring that they bring tears to your eyes. Prodigious experiences will fill your senses, such as the first time you lay eyes on a landscape like the Grand Canyon. The sheer size of something so immense and beautiful can leave even those with the most impressive gift of gab speechless.

Varied rock colors blending like a painter’s palette, contrasted by the soft clouds and comforting blue sky, leave all fortunate eyes mystified. Our size, in comparison, is humbling as questions of how and why fill the mind. The how and why of things are as vast as canyons and as deep as human life.

Little moments matter, too.

Then, there are those moments so subtle they can quickly go unnoticed. They occur unsuspectingly when your mind is busy with thoughts and worries. A cardinal that lands near your window as if to say, “It’s okay – take a break.” The grace of its simple life shared in a glance through the glass – short enough to take your breath away and give it back, yet long enough to linger in your thoughts for the rest of the day.

Even more subtle are those moments when the mind is quiet and expectations fade like smoke from an extinguished flame of a candle dissipates into the air. That moment defies gravity and boundaries as you forget all your needs and desires and feel at peace with what is as it is.

Gravity-defying moments like those we have before falling into a dreamless sleep, when engaging in a passionate creation, or sitting with only the sound of our effortless breathing. If noticed, cultivated, and appreciated, small moments can bring contentment into every day. A wondrous essence, yet unnoticed, emerges in the sense that the simple state of anything existing can have sacred meaning.

Every drop becomes a precious memory.

Slowly a half-empty cup becomes half full, and eventually, every drop of water is a miracle. These “drops” become more and more important at the end of life, especially with dementia-related diseases. A loved one with dementia suddenly opens their eyes wide, smiles, and taps their foot or hums along to an old favorite song – these are the precious drops.

Those drops appear when your loved one manifests joy and connection. Given the circumstances, joy is best because it is often as honest as possible. That joy signifies a connection between their thoughts and emotions and the people and events occurring around them. All your loved one’s expressions of joy, response to music, and interaction with others represent drops of connection.

These moments are the rejuvenating drops of water savored during the most challenging times. Such moments are necessary reminders that a drop of water from the Colorado River is as much a part of the Grand Canyon as a smile is a part of your loved one.

Music is the conduit from which these drops flow from the inner depths of our hearts, becoming released into the present moment. My mission as a music therapist is to bring out these drops and celebrate the majestic river of life they represent.