Could you imagine watching your favorite epic film without the music? Would Jaws be nearly as scary if the open water scenes were not accompanied by the infamous John Williams two note alternating pattern dun nun, dun nun. For more than 45 years that sound has been our collective cultural shorthand to signal danger. 

Would the shower scene in Psycho be nearly as memorable without the accompanying eek eek eek. What about watching Star Wars without the theme music - not nearly as powerful. 

Composers have long understood the ability of music to affect a listener's state of mind. And now the science and the research is catching up with what composers have known all along, music affects us in profound ways. 

As the kick off to the Confidence Series I wanted to start off with the ability of music to boost not only our mood, but our self esteem and our confidence. The following episodes in the series will tackle other confidence blocks including mindset shifts, silencing your inner critic, and body positivity. All of those confidence enhancers work over time. But music, music works in the moment. 

The Journal of Positive Psychology published two studies in 2012 which found that listening to music can boost a person’s mood. Self belief has been directly connected to self-esteem and music has a direct effect on our self esteem. There is research to back up the fact that music can make you more confident during interviews.  And today's doctors tell us that music can enhance the function of neural networks, slow the heart rate, lower blood pressure, reduce levels of stress hormones and inflammatory cytokines, and provide some relief to patients undergoing surgery, as well as heart attack and stroke victims. And let’s not ignore the healing power it will have when there will inevitably come a time in your life when you just need to blast some tunes and let your piece of shit ex boyfriend know that you don’t need his sorry ass anymore. 

Songs like this gives us the confidence to get through our bad days, and you know what - you have made it through 100% of your bad days and come out on the other side even stronger. You have the power to take control of all of the parts of your life - even the ones that feel out of control sometimes. 

The truth is music can change the way we perceive the world and ourselves. Musical patterns affect our auditory cortex which is the neural reward system as well as other areas involved in memory and emotion. Listening to certain songs can change our emotions or make us emotional. The truth is building self confidence and self love is not something that happens overnight. We will all have demons both internal and external that will affect how we see ourselves, and the following episodes in this series and others to come will certainly help provide the tools to face them, but now that you know that music can help you along the way - I have created a Spotify playlist for you which includes all the bad ass, confidence building songs that you shared with me on my LinkedIn and Instagram polls. This playlist is for all of us, so feel free to add your favorite songs to the list to inspire others to be more confident. 

This week's drink of the week is a cocktail called Brave Bull, which is just 1.5 oz of reposado tequila, 1 oz of kahlua and a lemon twist. That’s it. That’s it takes to be strong and brave like a bull. 

A special shout out to Sherri Snow, Executive Director at North End Music & Performing Arts Center and her students Hannah and Harper for providing the music for today’s podcast.   

Spotify Playlist