Music as Communication | When the Message is for YOU

Music might be one of the most beautiful forms of communication we have. It reaches places words alone simply can’t. It’s emotional and physical all at once—you don’t just hear music, you feel it. It moves through the body, through the heart, through memory. In that way, music carries the human experience with such tenderness and honesty. It tells the truth without needing to explain itself.

This often brings me to love songs, in particular. Most of us have been taught—quietly or overtly—to aim them outward…toward a partner, a crush, someone we miss, or someone we hope will arrive. But every so often, I like to ask a different question: what happens when we turn a love song toward ourselves?

One of my favorites is Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” (you’ll find it in my ultimate self-love song playlist below). If you’ve never tried this, I invite you to buckle up, plug in, or drop the needle on an old LP and listen as if the lyrics are being sung directly to you. To your own heart. Your own being. Your own becoming. Something shifts. What once sounded like romantic longing becomes a vow of self-loyalty. A promise to stay. A quiet commitment not to abandon yourself. There is something deeply powerful—almost reparative—about letting a love song be just for you.

We live in a culture that often elevates romantic partnership as the ultimate destination…the thing that will finally make us whole. And yet so many people are struggling in relationship—not only with partners, but at work, at home, and in their sense of belonging in the world. That makes sense to me. Across myths and wisdom traditions, there’s a shared story of separation, of forgetting our original wholeness. Mythology speaks of humans split apart, forever searching for our other half. Whether you take that literally or symbolically, the pattern echoes everywhere.

We learn to look outward, hoping someone else will complete us, fix us, or confirm our worth. And the quieter, deeper truth is this: we were born whole. Somewhere along the way—through life, conditioning, wounding, and the pressure to perform or please—we simply forgot.

This is where music becomes medicine.

So as we step into this new year, my invitation is gentle and simple: attune yourself to beauty. Let song find you. Let melody slip into the places that have grown guarded or tired. Let it reorient you home—to self-expression, self-acceptance, and compassion.

And maybe this year, the next love song you sing isn’t for someone you’re trying to find or hold onto. Maybe it’s for your beloved self, the one who has been with you all along. Practice this regularly. Notice how music helps you soften, steady, and remember—and watch how it reshapes not only your self-concept, but the way you meet the world.

I’ll be singing right alongside you.🎶

Mary’s Ultimate SELF-Love-Song PLAYLIST
I Want to Know What Love Is - Foreigner
By Your Side - Sade
Someone Like You - Van Morrison
Feels Like Home - Bonnie Raitt
Joy of My Life - Chris Stapleton
The Story - Brandi Carlile
Guiding Light - Foy Vance & Ed Sheeran
Robin - Taylor Swift
Only You Know - Dion
Lift Me Up - Rihanna
The Night We Met - Lord Huron
Looking for You - The Lone Bellow
I Love You - Sarah McLachlan
Moment for You - MEGA
If I Ever Lose My Faith in You - Sting
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
I Believe (When I Fall in Love it Will Be Forever) - Stevie Wonder

*Have a suggestion of a song that should be on this list? Message me!